Simulation Based AGVs Routing Analysis for Internal Logistics in Automotive Manufacturing

Abstract

Effective transportation of goods and raw materials can increase factory efficiency and productivity. However, in the real production plant there are complexities of the system and constraints which make internal logistics management difficult. In this research, a computer simulation was used to analyze routing plans for a pickup truck factory, which currently uses Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to transport materials and components. The efficiency of the current system is low and an increase of 16.97% in productivity has been planned, so there is a need to adjust the internal logistics to be more suitable. Therefore, two new designs of AGVs routing based on zone control are proposed: a two-loop path and a tandem three-loop path. The two-loop path is the best design, using the minimum number of AGVs for both the current and the future production levels,it has a short total distance and travel time, but has six crossover paths. Five AGVs are sufficient for the current level and six AGVs are adequate for the future production level. The design is more effective and economical than the existing AGVs routing plan. Although the tandem three-loop path has no crossover path, the distance is longer than the two-loop path for this case study. The tandem path is recommended in the existing research, but for the real-world problem, it is not always the best because it depends on layout configuration and zone design.