Deadlock Avoidance and Re-routing of Automated Guided Vehicles (agvs) in Flexible Manufacturing Systems (fms)

A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a manufacturing system in which there is some amount of flexibility that allows the system to react in case of changes, whether predicted or unpredicted. This flexibility is generally considered to fall into two categories. The first category, machine flexibility which enables the work stations to perform different operations simultaneously on a part when there is a sudden change in demand. The second category is routing flexibility which literally expands the work floor by utilizing multiple numbers of machines to perform the operations via routing. Automated Guided Vehicles fall into second category and acts as hosts for the execution of functions which includes picking and dropping, docking and undocking required when routing flexibility comes into play. The objective of the paper is to develop an algorithm and code it in a software language which when executed generates a safe sequence to be followed to avoid deadlock. Key Words— AGVs, Deadlock, FMS, Machine cell, Rerouting.