An example
A furniture manufacturer has decided to apply automation in its material handling process. Powered roller conveyors are installed at the production lines and across the assembly stations. At present, furniture parts at the end of the produc- tion lines are transferred to the assembly stations using hand trucks. Management ®nds that the manual material handling method is inef®cient since the load capacities of hand trucks are very low. Further, the labor cost incurred in material handling is very high. As a result, automation becomes a possible alternative.
Initially, MHESA collects the information on equipment attributes by asking questions of the user, following the search path constructed in the knowledge base. It then matches its knowledge to the speci®c values of the attributes, and informs the user the equipment type being selected.
The following questions are presented to the user during a typical program consultation:
1. Which type of material handling function is being considered?