Analytical Models for Pull-type Control Strategies in Manufacturing Systems

摘要

This paper discusses a new approach for analyzing queuing models of pull-type control strategies (kanban) in manufacturing systems. These strategies regulate the flow of jobs at various stations of a manufacturing system using a combination of card loops and authorization signals. Queuing models of such systems are composed of closed queuing networks with fork/join stations. The fork/join stations model the synchronization constraints imposed on jobs and cards. Exact analysis of such networks is hard and approximation methods must be used. We propose a new approximate approach based on the parametric decomposition technique. Using results from recent analysis of fork/join synchronization stations, we develop efficient algorithms for the analysis of a wide class of manufacturing systems.