Optimal buffer allocation in short mu-balanced unreliable production lines

Optimal buffer allocation in short mu-balanced unreliable production lines

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Article ID: iaor20013255
Country: United States
Volume: 37
Issue: 4
Start Page Number: 691
End Page Number: 710
Publication Date: Dec 1999
Journal: Computers & Industrial Engineering
Authors: ,
Keywords: buffer allocation
Abstract:

In this work, we investigate the optimal buffer allocation in short mu-balanced production lines consisting of machines that are subject to breakdown. Repair times and times to failure are assumed exponential, wheras service times are allowed to follow the Erlang-k distribution (with k=1, 2, 4 and 8). By an improved enumeration procedure and applying the evaluative algorithm of Heavey et al., for the calculation of throughput, we have examined in a systematic way several systems with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 stations and with a different total number of buffer slots. We have been able to give answers to some critical questions. These include the effect of the distribution of the service and repair times, the availability of the stations and the repair rates on the optimal buffer allocation and the throughput of the lines.

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