LEARNING AND LABOR ASSIGNMENT IN A DUAL RESOURCE CONSTRAINED CELLULAR SHOP WITH HETEROGENEOUS LABOR RESOURCES

摘要

Manufacturing cells are a key component of the production environment of firms operating just in time and lean manufacturing systems. They are also an important element of systems used by batch manufacturers seeking to improve production efficiency. One of the demonstrated advantages of cells is their ability to leverage the advantages of repetitive processing by teams of operators working together. Recent studies have shown that taking advantage of experience based learning not only allows cells to achieve high levels of performance, but that learning has important implications for labor assignment decisions. This study examines the impact of labor assignment decisions in a dual resource constrained cellular shop in which operators learn at different rates. Specifically, it examines the impact of differences in flexibility in labor assignments under different staffing conditions.