Reliability evaluation for a manufacturing network with multiple production lines

This paper focuses on performance evaluation of a manufacturing system with multiple production lines based on the network‐analysis perspective. Due to failure, partial failure, or maintenance, the capacity of each machine is stochastic (i.e., multi‐state). Hence, the manufacturing system can be constructed as a stochastic‐flow network, named manufacturing network herein. This paper intends to measure the probability that the manufacturing network can satisfy customers’ orders. Such a probability is referred to as the system reliability. A graphical representation is first proposed to transform a manufacturing system into a manufacturing network. Thereafter, we decompose the manufacturing network into general processing paths and reworking paths. Three algorithms are subsequently developed for different scenarios and multiple production lines to generate the minimal capacity vectors that machines should provide to satisfy demand. The system reliability can be derived in terms of such capacity vectors afterwards.