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Analysis, Control and Optimization of Complex Dynamic Systems pp 61–90Cite as

Evaluation of Throughput in Serial Production Lines with Non-Exponential Machines

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Abstract

This paper provides an analytical method for evaluating production rates in serial lines having finite buffers and unreliable machines with arbitrary unimodal distributions of up- and downtime. Provided that each buffer is capable of accommodating at least one downtime of all machines in the system, we show that the production rate (a) is relatively insensitive to the type of up- and downtime distributions and (b) can be approximated by a linear function of their coefficients of variation. The results obtained are verified using Weibull, gamma, and log-normal probability distributions of up- and downtime.

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Authors
  1. Jingshan Li
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  2. Semyon M. Meerkov
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. GERAD and École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    El Kébir Boukas  & Roland P. Malhamé  & 

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Li, J., Meerkov, S.M. (2005). Evaluation of Throughput in Serial Production Lines with Non-Exponential Machines. In: Boukas, E.K., Malhamé, R.P. (eds) Analysis, Control and Optimization of Complex Dynamic Systems. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-25477-3_4

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