Sequencing in an assembly line with blocking to minimize cycle time

The authors consider an assembly line with m stations in series having finite capacity buffers. Blocking occurs when buffers are full. There are M different types of products to be assembled, each with its own processing requirements. There is a production target set for each type. The problem is to operate the line to maximize throughput. The authors propose heuristic approaches to this problem based on an equivalent maximum flow problem and on critical path techniques.