IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/navres/v56y2009i1p42-56.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Design and control of agile automated CONWIP production lines

Author

Listed:
  • Wallace J. Hopp
  • Seyed M.R. Iravani
  • Biying Shou
  • Robert Lien

Abstract

In this article, we study the design and control of manufacturing cells with a mix of manual and automated equipment, operating under a CONWIP pull protocol, and staffed by a single agile (cross‐trained) worker. For a three‐station line with one automated station, we fully characterize the structure of the optimal control policy for the worker and show that it is a static priority policy. Using analytical models and extensive simulation experiments, we also evaluate the effectiveness of practical heuristic control policies and provide managerial insights on automation configuration design of the line. This characterization of the worker control policy enables us to develop managerial insights into the design issues of how best to locate and concentrate automation in the line. Finally, we show that, in addition to ease of control and greater design flexibility, the CONWIP protocol also offers higher efficiency and robustness than does the push protocol. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 2009

Suggested Citation

  • Wallace J. Hopp & Seyed M.R. Iravani & Biying Shou & Robert Lien, 2009. "Design and control of agile automated CONWIP production lines," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(1), pages 42-56, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:56:y:2009:i:1:p:42-56
    DOI: 10.1002/nav.20325
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/nav.20325
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/nav.20325?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. McClain, John O. & Thomas, L. Joseph & Sox, Charles, 1992. ""On-the-fly" line balancing with very little WIP," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 283-289, October.
    2. Wallace J. Hopp & Seyed M. R. Iravani & Biying Shou, 2005. "Serial Agile Production Systems with Automation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 852-866, October.
    3. Sennott, Linn I. & Van Oyen, Mark P. & Iravani, Seyed M.R., 2006. "Optimal dynamic assignment of a flexible worker on an open production line with specialists," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(2), pages 541-566, April.
    4. Mark L. Spearman & Michael A. Zazanis, 1992. "Push and Pull Production Systems: Issues and Comparisons," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 521-532, June.
    5. John O. McClain & Kenneth L. Schultz & L. Joseph Thomas, 2000. "Management of Worksharing Systems," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 49-67, July.
    6. John J. Bartholdi & Donald D. Eisenstein, 1996. "A Production Line that Balances Itself," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 44(1), pages 21-34, February.
    7. Paul Desruelle & Harold J. Steudel, 1996. "A Queuing Network Model of a Single-Operator Manufacturing Workcell with Machine/Operator Interference," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(4), pages 576-590, April.
    8. John J. Bartholdi & Donald D. Eisenstein & Robert D. Foley, 2001. "Performance of Bucket Brigades When Work Is Stochastic," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 49(5), pages 710-719, October.
    9. Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan & Douglas G. Down, 2001. "Server Assignment Policies for Maximizing the Steady-State Throughput of Finite Queueing Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(10), pages 1421-1439, October.
    10. Izak Duenyas & Diwakar Gupta & Tava Lennon Olsen, 1998. "Control of a Single-Server Tandem Queueing System with Setups," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 46(2), pages 218-230, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guodong Huang & Jie Chen & Yacob Khojasteh, 2021. "A cyber-physical system deployment based on pull strategies for one-of-a-kind production with limited resources," Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 579-596, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. S.M.R. Iravani & J.A. Buzacott & M.J.M. Posner, 2005. "A robust policy for serial agile production systems," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 52(1), pages 58-73, February.
    2. Eser Kırkızlar & Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan, 2010. "Robustness of efficient server assignment policies to service time distributions in finite‐buffered lines," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 57(6), pages 563-582, September.
    3. Eser Kırkızlar & Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan, 2012. "Flexible Servers in Understaffed Tandem Lines," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 21(4), pages 761-777, July.
    4. Sennott, Linn I. & Van Oyen, Mark P. & Iravani, Seyed M.R., 2006. "Optimal dynamic assignment of a flexible worker on an open production line with specialists," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 170(2), pages 541-566, April.
    5. Seyed M. Iravani & Mark P. Van Oyen & Katharine T. Sims, 2005. "Structural Flexibility: A New Perspective on the Design of Manufacturing and Service Operations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(2), pages 151-166, February.
    6. Yi‐Chun Tsai & Nilay Tanık Argon, 2008. "Dynamic server assignment policies for assembly‐type queues with flexible servers," Naval Research Logistics (NRL), John Wiley & Sons, vol. 55(3), pages 234-251, April.
    7. Peng Wang & Kai Pan & Zhenzhen Yan & Yun Fong Lim, 2022. "Managing Stochastic Bucket Brigades on Discrete Work Stations," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 31(1), pages 358-373, January.
    8. Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan, 2005. "Throughput Maximization for Tandem Lines with Two Stations and Flexible Servers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(3), pages 516-531, June.
    9. Gregory Dobson & Tolga Tezcan & Vera Tilson, 2013. "Optimal Workflow Decisions for Investigators in Systems with Interruptions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1125-1141, May.
    10. Wallace J. Hopp & Seyed M. R. Iravani & Biying Shou, 2005. "Serial Agile Production Systems with Automation," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 53(5), pages 852-866, October.
    11. Yun Fong Lim & Bingnan Lu & Rowan Wang & Wenjia Zhang, 2020. "Flexibly Serving A Finite Number of Heterogeneous Jobs in A Tandem System," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(6), pages 1431-1447, June.
    12. Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan & Douglas G. Down, 2001. "Server Assignment Policies for Maximizing the Steady-State Throughput of Finite Queueing Systems," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(10), pages 1421-1439, October.
    13. Wallace J. Hopp & Eylem Tekin & Mark P. Van Oyen, 2004. "Benefits of Skill Chaining in Serial Production Lines with Cross-Trained Workers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 50(1), pages 83-98, January.
    14. Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan & Douglas G. Down, 2007. "Compensating for Failures with Flexible Servers," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 55(4), pages 753-768, August.
    15. Ramesh Arumugam & Maria Mayorga & Kevin Taaffe, 2009. "Inventory based allocation policies for flexible servers in serial systems," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 1-23, November.
    16. Askin, Ronald G. & Chen, Jiaqiong, 2006. "Dynamic task assignment for throughput maximization with worksharing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 168(3), pages 853-869, February.
    17. Tuğçe Işık & Sigrún Andradóttir & Hayriye Ayhan, 2016. "Optimal control of queueing systems with non-collaborating servers," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 84(1), pages 79-110, October.
    18. Legros, Benjamin & Jouini, Oualid & Akşin, O. Zeynep & Koole, Ger, 2020. "Front-office multitasking between service encounters and back-office tasks," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 287(3), pages 946-963.
    19. Armbruster, Dieter & Gel, Esma S. & Murakami, Junko, 2007. "Bucket brigades with worker learning," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(1), pages 264-274, January.
    20. Jingui Xie & Yiming Fan & Mabel C. Chou, 2017. "Flexibility design in loss and queueing systems: efficiency of k-chain configuration," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 29(2), pages 286-308, June.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:navres:v:56:y:2009:i:1:p:42-56. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6750 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.