Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | IISE Transactions |
| Early online date | Jul 2024 |
| Publication status | E-pub ahead of print - Jul 2024 |
Abstract
The design of flow lines is an extensive area of research whereby most publications focus on buffer allocation to cope with random influences like breakdowns or random differences in processing times. In addition, spare parts can directly increase the machines’ availability. However, only a few papers consider the simultaneous optimization of buffer space and the possible number of spare parts in stock. The literature hardly even considers the evaluation of such systems. We are the first to introduce the joint optimization of buffer space and spare parts for flow lines of arbitrary length. First, we aim to allocate buffer capacities and spare parts efficiently. Since the buffer allocation problem is NP-hard, we can expect only to find near-optimal solutions. Second, we demonstrate the algorithmic behavior of different greedy and metaheuristics on this design problem. We illustrate how to exploit the problem structure to solve it almost optimally. Third, we generate managerial insights into allocating spare parts in manufacturing systems with buffers. We show that spare parts tend to be more effective when arranged at or near the center of a flow line, as it is already known for buffers. Moreover, we provide details on the combined buffer and spare part allocations.
Keywords
- buffer allocation problem, heuristics, Manufacturing, spare parts, stochastic flow lines
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Engineering(all)
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
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In: IISE Transactions, 07.2024.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Design of unreliable flow lines
T2 - How to jointly allocate buffer space and spare parts
AU - Sachs, Florian E.
AU - Kiesmüller, Gudrun P.
AU - Helber, Stefan
PY - 2024/7
Y1 - 2024/7
N2 - The design of flow lines is an extensive area of research whereby most publications focus on buffer allocation to cope with random influences like breakdowns or random differences in processing times. In addition, spare parts can directly increase the machines’ availability. However, only a few papers consider the simultaneous optimization of buffer space and the possible number of spare parts in stock. The literature hardly even considers the evaluation of such systems. We are the first to introduce the joint optimization of buffer space and spare parts for flow lines of arbitrary length. First, we aim to allocate buffer capacities and spare parts efficiently. Since the buffer allocation problem is NP-hard, we can expect only to find near-optimal solutions. Second, we demonstrate the algorithmic behavior of different greedy and metaheuristics on this design problem. We illustrate how to exploit the problem structure to solve it almost optimally. Third, we generate managerial insights into allocating spare parts in manufacturing systems with buffers. We show that spare parts tend to be more effective when arranged at or near the center of a flow line, as it is already known for buffers. Moreover, we provide details on the combined buffer and spare part allocations.
AB - The design of flow lines is an extensive area of research whereby most publications focus on buffer allocation to cope with random influences like breakdowns or random differences in processing times. In addition, spare parts can directly increase the machines’ availability. However, only a few papers consider the simultaneous optimization of buffer space and the possible number of spare parts in stock. The literature hardly even considers the evaluation of such systems. We are the first to introduce the joint optimization of buffer space and spare parts for flow lines of arbitrary length. First, we aim to allocate buffer capacities and spare parts efficiently. Since the buffer allocation problem is NP-hard, we can expect only to find near-optimal solutions. Second, we demonstrate the algorithmic behavior of different greedy and metaheuristics on this design problem. We illustrate how to exploit the problem structure to solve it almost optimally. Third, we generate managerial insights into allocating spare parts in manufacturing systems with buffers. We show that spare parts tend to be more effective when arranged at or near the center of a flow line, as it is already known for buffers. Moreover, we provide details on the combined buffer and spare part allocations.
KW - buffer allocation problem
KW - heuristics
KW - Manufacturing
KW - spare parts
KW - stochastic flow lines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85203088719&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/24725854.2024.2382803
DO - 10.1080/24725854.2024.2382803
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85203088719
JO - IISE Transactions
JF - IISE Transactions
SN - 2472-5854
ER -