Analytical Approximations for Kitting Systemswith Multiple Inputs

摘要

Kitting systems are commonly found in fabrication/assembly networks. This research analyzes a kitting system wherernmultiple components are grouped to form a predefined kit prior to assembly. The kitting system is modelled as arnfork/join synchronization station and component supply is assumed to be based on a kanban control policy. Staternspace explosion prohibits an exact analysis of the system to determine performance measures such as throughput. Tornovercome this limitation, first several easily computable bounds on system throughput are identified. Subsequently,rnusing these bounds closed form approximations for system throughput are derived. The accuracy of the approximationsrnis validated using numerical experiments.