The Impact of Stochastic Tool Life on Shop Performance: A Simulation Study

Abstract

Much of the research in tool management has ignored the potential impact of tool life on shop performance. Tool management research has typically assumed that tool life is deterministic and can be predicted accurately. Since tool life is a function of its quality, cutting speed, depth and other environmental factors, no two identi cal tools exhibit the exact same tool life. An as sumption of stochastic tool life is more realistic on the actual shop floor. In this paper, we have developed a simulation model to examine the effects of stochastic tool life, dispatching rules and tool failure penalties on shop performance.