Abstract:
This research aims to determine optimal control factors of automated guided vehicle (AGV). The concerned factors were pickup and drop-off rules, number of AGV, capacity of AGV, buffer size and AGV selection rule. This research is different from the others in two main points. Firstly, we studied two more factors, which were order sequencing rule and reorder point since these factors directly affected to the use of AGV. Secondly, a shop floor in this research was a job shop with assembly operations, which is different from the other researches reported in the literature. The responses of interest were throughputs, flow time, work-in-process, machine utilization and AGV utilization. The simulations were performed by Arena 15 and the results were analyzed by Minitab 16. The results showed that all main factors including some two-factor interactions had significantly affected to the responses. To maximize all responses simultaneously, the system must be set based on the following suggestions, which are 1) order sequencing is SPT, 2) reorder point is 3 days, 3) AGV capacity is 12 units, 4) Number of AGV is 2 units, 5) buffer size is 30 units and 6) AGV selection rule is FCFS.