Part ordering through simulation-optimization in an FMS

One of the most important scheduling and control problems that must be solved concerning the efficient operation of FMS is the part ordering problem, i.e. finding the optimal sequence of parts to be released into the manufacturing system. Methods currently available for handling this problem are based on heuristic dispatching rules. In this paper an approach for solving the problem using the simulation-optimization technique is proposed. Currently available heuristic approaches can only try to get the optimum at a local level because of the complexities of the system and the dependencies of its components, whereas the proposed approach tries to get the global optimum.