The variance of inter‐departure times of the output of an assembly line with finite buffers, converging flow of material, and general service times

In this paper, we propose an approximation for the variability of the inter‐departure times of finished products in an assembly line with finite buffers, converging flow of material, and general service times. We use the coefficient of variation as the relevant measure of variability. Exact procedures are not available for that case. The quality of the proposed approximation is tested against the results of various simulation experiments.