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An important issue in the operational control of an automated job shop is the prevention and resolution of shop deadlocks. In this paper, we discuss the problems and solutions of deadlocks in manufacturing systems with automated guided vehicle systems, describe a banker's algorithm for the control of material flow in job shops, and present the results of simulation experiments to compare the performance of several deadlock handling methods.

This paper introduces the segmented bidirectional single-loop (SBSL) flow topology for carrier-based material handling systems. This configuration is based on a single-loop flow-path structure that is divided into non-overlapping segments, each containing a single carrier operating in a bidirectional mode. The design procedure comprises a 0 - 1 mixed-integer formulation to determine the single-loop including the pickup and delivery station location. The second stage is a segmentation procedure to determine the non-overlapping segments in the loop. Finally the performance of the SBSL is evaluated by means of simulation., 1. Introduction Material handling continues to play a critical role in the operation of manufacturing systems. Although not a value-adding step in manufacturing, an efficient delivery system of materials on [...]