Bottlenecks in Bernoulli Serial Lines With Rework

• Published in: IEEE transactions on automation science and engineering Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 208 - 217
• Main Authors: Biller, S., Jingshan Li, Marin, S.P., Meerkov, S.M., Liang Zhang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Piscataway, NJ IEEE 01.04.2010; Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Automotive engineering; Bernoulli Hypothesis; Bernoulli machines; Blocking; Boron nitride; bottleneck identification; Bottlenecks; Buffers; Computer aided manufacturing; Downstream effects; Effects; Exact sciences and technology; Inventory control, production control. Distribution; Machinery production industries; Manufacturing industries; Mathematical analysis; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Performance analysis; Performance evaluation; Production systems; Research and development; serial line with rework; Serials; Stability; System recovery; Throughput; Upstream; Performance evaluation; Production system; Bottleneck; Starvation; Bernoulli machines; serial line with rework; Reversibility; Production line; Buffer system; Bernoulli law; bottleneck identification; Downstream
• ISSN: 1545-5955; 1558-3783
• DOI: 10.1109/TASE.2009.2023463

The bottleneck (BN) of a production system is a machine with the strongest effect on the system's throughput. In this paper, a method for BN identification in serial lines with rework and Bernoulli machines is developed. The method can be applied using either calculated or measured data on blockages and starvations of the machines. For the case of calculated data, a technique for evaluating performance measures of Bernoulli lines with rework is developed. Along with these quantitative contributions, the paper provides three qualitative results. First, it shows that Bernoulli lines with rework do not observe the property of reversibility. Second, it demonstrates that downstream machines may have a larger effect on the throughput than upstream ones. Third, it demonstrates that BNs may be shifting not only because of changes in machine and buffer parameters but also due to changes in quality of parts produced.