Performance analysis of split and merge production systems

Abstract

Production split and merge are widely used in many manufacturing systems to increase production capacity and variety, improve product quality, and carry out scheduling and control activities. In this paper, we present analytical methods to analyze such systems with exponential machine reliability models, operating under circulate, strictly circulate, priority and percentage split/merge policies.

Comparison of three flow line layouts with unreliable machines and profit maximization

“…The first is the decomposition method that is thoroughly explained in Gershwin (1994) and the other is the aggregation method explained in Li and Meerkov (2009). The overlapping decomposition method which has been described in Li (2005) and Liu and Li (2009) is a modified approach for calculating P(N) in a complex system such as split and merge lines. This approximation decomposes the complex system into overlapped serial lines and uses aggregations to modify the overlapping machine parameters for calculations as shown in Fig.…”

“…For type C, overlapping decomposition algorithm suggested by Liu and Li (2009) was extended and applied to our model. The detailed algorithm is explained in the ''Appendix''.…”