Title: Using Interval Alignment policies for efficient production control of supply chain systems

Authors: Meimei Wang, James R. Perkins

Addresses: Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Center for Information and Systems Engineering, Boston University, 15 St Mary's Street, Brookline, MA 02446, USA. ' Department of Manufacturing Engineering, Center for Information and Systems Engineering, Boston University, 15 St Mary's Street, Brookline, MA 02446, USA

Abstract: This paper discusses a class of Interval Alignment (IA) policies, which result in the development of a new methodology for detailed scheduling in supply chain management systems. In the past few decades, as the use of takt times and the Just-in-Time (JiT) philosophy in lean manufacturing have become prevalent, much effort has been put into removing variability from the flow of material in systems. It is shown that the proposed IA policies, by adding intermediate delays to the system, effectively smoothen flow of parts, improve performance, and decrease average Work-in-Process (WiP) and system lead times. Also discussed are applications of IA policies in work cell design in supply chain systems and the implementation of IA policies using kanban controls.

Keywords: interval alignment policy; supply chain management; SCM; kanban control; lead time reduction; production control; cell design; detailed scheduling; parts flow; performance improvement; work-in-process; WIP; production planning.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2006.009051

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2006 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.87 - 108

Published online: 21 Feb 2006 *

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