Article ID: | iaor2003140 |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Volume: | 40 |
Issue: | 11 |
Start Page Number: | 2557 |
End Page Number: | 2567 |
Publication Date: | Jan 2002 |
Journal: | International Journal of Production Research |
Authors: | Grosfeld-Nir Abraham, Magazine Michael |
This study considers serial production systems with exponential processing times. The systems are balanced, i.e. all resources have the same production rate capacity. Proceeding the system there is a ‘gate’ set to regulate the flow of material into the system. A control strategy directs each resource when to work or stay idle. The trade-off is between throughput (TP) and work-in-process (WIP). G-MaxWIP is a production control strategy allowing resources, except for the gate, to work unconstrained. The gate ‘shuts’ once the system's WIP reaches a maximum allowable level. We study the properties of G-MaxWIP and compare it to ‘simple pull’ and CONWIP. Our main findings are: G-MaxWIP is superior to simple pull. For any simple pull system operating a fixed set of resources it is possible to find G-MaxWIP systems that operate the same resources with less WIP while maintaining the same (or higher) TP. G-MaxWIP is superior to CONWIP. For any CONWIP system operating a fixed set of resources it is possible to find G-MaxWIP systems that operate the same resources with less WIP while maintaing the same (or higher) TP.