An economic manufacturing quantity model for a two‐stage assembly system with imperfect processes and variable production rate

This article considers a two‐stage assembly system with imperfect processes. The former is an automatic stage in which the required components are manufactured. The latter is a manual stage which deals with taking the components to assemble the end product. In addition, the component processes are independent of each other, and the assembly rate is variable. Shortage is allowed, and the unsatisfied demand is completely backlogged. Then, we formulate the proposed problem as a cost minimization model where the assembly rate and the production run time of each component process are decision variables. An algorithm for the computations of the optimal solutions under the constraint of assembly rate is also provided. Finally, a numerical example and sensitivity analysis are carried out to illustrate the model.