Modelling of flexible manufacturing system: a review

A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) due to its ability of being flexible in nature is concerned with automatic production of different parts in medium range. In short, it can be regarded as an automated manufacturing system. In this paper, an insight on previous work in the area of FMS modelling has been provided with an overview of research and development for better understanding of FMS. It serves as a medium for investigation of work that are accomplished by using different modelling techniques in FMS like mathematical, artificial intelligence, hierarchical, multi criteria decision-making method, Petri Nets and simulation. This paper will help researchers who are keen to do research in the area of FMS modelling, by highlighting contribution of available techniques in the field of FMS. It will also help them in deciding which modelling techniques can be used for a given problem. At last, comparison of different parameters considered in the recent papers of modelling FMS has been provided in the form of Table, along with a clear vision related to those works that still need to be investigated.