The industrial requirement for shorter planning process makes the use of computer aided planning tools necessary. The planning of material flow systems, which is essentially influenced e. g. by shorter product life cycles, increased competition and rationalization, is mainly affected. A possibility to reduce the planning time is the utilization of simulation tools from the beginning. Beyond that, the connection of the simulation to existing data and the implementation of additional optimization methods, lead to a less time consuming planning stage. For this a draft is evolved within this thesis. A database, which includes all relevant planning facts, is the central element of this draft. The simulation model can either be built manually or generated automatically out of the data stored in this database. The developed optimization method supports the user configurating the system and results therefore in a more secure planning. First a static calculation and a parameter estimation deliver a preconfiguration. Based on this, an evolutionary algorithm generates an optimized system configuration. The implemented methods for modelling and optimizing a material flow system are verified and confirmed by a practical example. Compared to the common simulation methods, the results are available earlier, and therefore a huge time advantage for the whole planning process can be reached. The optimization methods present pos-sibilities how the material flow system can be enhanced and deliver a configuration, which enables a trouble-free material flow.
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The industrial requirement for shorter planning process makes the use of computer aided planning tools necessary. The planning of material flow systems, which is essentially influenced e. g. by shorter product life cycles, increased competition and rationalization, is mainly affected. A possibility to reduce the planning time is the utilization of simulation tools from the beginning. Beyond that, the connection of the simulation to existing data and the implementation of additional optimization...
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