The State of the Art in Simulation Study on FMS Scheduling: A Comprehensive Survey

Scheduling of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) has been one of the most attractive areas for both researchers and practitioners. A considerable body of literature has accumulated in this area since the late 1970s when the first batch of papers was published. A number of approaches have been adopted to schedule FMSs, including simulation techniques and analytical methods. Numerous articles can be found on each of these approaches. This paper reviews scheduling studies of FMSs which employ simulation techniques as an analysis tool, since simulation is the most widely used tool for modelling FMSs. Scheduling methodologies are categorised into simulation of general scheduling studies, multi-criteria scheduling approaches, and artificial intelligence (AI) approaches in FMSs. Comments on the publications, and suggestions for further research and development are given.