A Performance Comparison between Operation Strategies for Idle Vehicles in Automated Guided Vehicle System

An Automated Guided Vehicle System (AGVS) with a unidirectional loop guide path is modeled as a discrete-time stationary Markov chain. It is discussed how to estimate the mean response time, the utilization, and the cycle time of AGV for a delivery order. Three common operation strategies for idle vehicles - central zone positioning rule, circulatory loop positioning rule and point of release positioning rule - are analyzed. These different operation strategies are compared with each other based on the performance measures.