A study on the effectiveness of protective capacity in a re-entrant line

This paper addresses the effect of protective capacity on the lead time and throughput of a re-entrant line, where statistical fluctuations exist in the form of variation in processing times and machine breakdowns. The specific framework employed in the paper is a five station re-entrant line, structured as a closed network model. This paper argues that protective capacity can be used in conjunction with WIP inventory in order to reduce the lead time and to increase the throughput of a line. Simulation analyses are included to give insight into the effectiveness of protective capacity.