نشان‏گذاری خودکار ساختار فیزیکی سیستم تولید انعطاف پذیر

It is essential to have a generic notation that can be associated to any problem involved in the flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Such a notation must allow any potential actor who has to deal with one of these points (researcher or industrialist) to present his FMS and the problem to be solved without ambiguity and in a unanimously recognized format. In this paper we propose a notation that both relies on basic elements given by the modelizer and on analyzed complex structures. Examples of notation are presented, as well as a presentation of the automatic notation software under development.

Researchers in the production management field need a notation that can be associated to any problem linked to flexible manufacturing system (FMS): be it modeling, designing, planning, scheduling, control, simulation, evaluation, logistic, etc. This notation must allow to present a FMS and the problem to be solved without ambiguity and in a unanimously recognized format. Using a common notation, it will then be possible to constitute common knowledge bases referencing various FMS specified problems and, in the long run, to associate them to already known resolution methods, be they exact or heuristic. This knowledge base could be an essential reference tool for anyone who, facing a problem, would want to know if solutions exist and find helpful bibliographical references. Just the same, a generator based on this notation can produce the control software adapted to a specific FMS. This dedicated software needs then to be copied on the computers in charge of controlling each actuator in the FMS, then compiled and executed. Whatever the FMS physical structure, the notation should allow to indifferently describe any resource involved in the FMS, be it a processing or a handling resource. The proposed notation is based on a generic model and integrates notation principles currently available in the literature. Lastly, any FMS notation can be automatically generated using a computer aided interface. The following section first presents the definitions and notations recognized in our research field and then highlights the purposes of the proposed notation. Section 3 defines the notation, its basic elements and the analyzed complex structures. Lastly, Section 4 develops three examples of notation as well as a presentation of the automatic notation software under development.

The main function of the proposed notation is to offer a common language permitting an easier communication between the various FMS designers and users. The DeSAP module is a step in the realization of a decision tool that generates and uses a data base of canonical FMS structures. It also appears as an important initial modeling phase to design a FMS. Now, the FMS designing phase also includes the simultaneous conception of its control software. The usual concept of co-design “product/production process” is now enhanced to become the wider concept of tri-design “product/production process/supervision”. Further researches concerning the connection of the DeSAP module to a simulation module are now in progress. The obtained FMS supervisor could then be first simulated and validated before being physically copied on the computer net within the workshop.