Fall 1999

ME/IE 8773-8774

Operational Analysis of Storage Carousel with Independently Controlled Rotary Racks

by

Pius J. Egbelu
Professor and Chair
Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011

Wednesday, October 13, 1999
1:25 - 2:15 p.m.
Room 108 ME
Broadcast on UNITE Channel A
Coffee will be available in 152 ME following the seminar

Rotary carousels are used in manufacturing for work-in-process storage. They have advantage over other storage systems because they can be installed closer to the points of use. In traditional carousel design, all rows of the storage rack rotate as a single body. Not only is the whole body rotation very energy inefficient, it also fails to take advantage of overlapping and independent motions of the horizontal racks to reduce the material storage and retrieval times when multiple orders that require different racks exist simultaneously in the system. In this presentation, an alternate design of carousels based on independently controlled rotary racks will be discussed. Analytical model to characterize the performance of such system design is developed. Finally, comparison of the operational efficiency of both the traditional and the proposed design will be presented.

Dr. Pius J. Egbelu is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering at Iowa State University. Prior to joining Iowa State University, he was a Program Director for the Operations Research and Production Systems Programs at the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C. He had held full time faculty positions at Syracuse University and Penn State University. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Louisiana Tech University and an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from Virginia Tech. His research interests are in the areas of automated material handling, robotics, production planning and control, and manufacturing systems. He is a recipient of several awards and had served on NSF and FAA Advisory Boards. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of three journals and is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial Engineers.

Informal Faculty Luncheon: Wednesday, October 13, 1999, 11:45 am, Room 402, Campus Club. Professor Egbelu will be able to attend.