Title: Buffer allocation in asynchronous serial production systems with Bernoulli machines during transients

Authors: Wenchong Chen; Hongwei Liu; Ershi Qi

Addresses: College of Management, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, China ' College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China ' College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin, China

Abstract: Some asynchronous production systems can never be truly balanced. This phenomenon demands the incorporation of asynchronism and unreliability in buffer allocation problems (BAPs). This paper reports a BAP in an asynchronous serial production system with Bernoulli machines. A profit-based integer programming model is formulated to maximise the throughput and minimise the buffer capacity simultaneously. Because the production run is finite in the current mass customisation environment, a transient analysis is used to estimate the system performance. Piecewise closed-form expressions are derived for a two-machine case based on Markovian structures. For M > 2 machine lines, an efficient recursive algorithm based on aggregation is developed. Considering the nonlinear characteristic of this BAP, a dynamic-objective particle swarm optimisation with neighbourhood searching is developed. This approach is verified by a case from an assembly plant. The results demonstrate that the programming method can increase the system profit by 1.85%.

Keywords: buffer allocation; asynchronous serial production line; Bernoulli machines; transient analysis; dynamic-objective particle swarm optimisation; DOPSO.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2021.118263

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2021 Vol.39 No.2, pp.176 - 204

Received: 21 Apr 2019
Accepted: 01 Nov 2019

Published online: 18 Oct 2021 *

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