An Approximate Method for Throughput Design of Inhomogeneous Assembly Systems considering Production Loss

To sustainably maintain the high competitions and prevent the cost, manufacturers usually pursue the accurate throughput design which helps avoid the production loss during the period of warming. Despite the extensive studies for throughput analysis of serial production systems, inhomogeneous assembly systems have received much less investigation. The purpose of this paper is to present an approximate method for the throughput design of inhomogeneous assembly systems without lacking any production loss during the period of warming. The method is proposed based on the ‘split-based’ model considering the component-level principles of inhomogeneous production, unreliable machines, and finite-capacity buffers. The model can be solved by using the fixed-point theory. Numerical studies demonstrate the high accuracy comparing with the simulation results. The dynamic model built in this research can also serve as an analytical tool for optimal design and management of assembly systems with complex layout.