A BUFFER STORAGE RESOURCE-ALLOCATION MODEL FOR CELLULAR MANUFACTURINGSYSTEMS

Among other functions, buffer storage facilitates the decoupling of pr oduction and materials handling in a manufacturing system. This can yi eld higher utilization of materials handling resources and reduced dis ruptions to production operations associated with response times for m aterials handling transactions. However, buffer storage requires the a llocation of capital resources for space, fixtures, and equipment. if it is not practical to flexibly reallocate these capital resources ove r the life cycle of a manufacturing facility, the initial allocation o f these resources in the design of a manufacturing system warrants car eful consideration. To address this problem, a model for the allocatio n of buffer storage resources is presented. The model is intended to s erve as an analytical decision aid in facility design. A sample proble m is used to illustrate the application of the model in the context of a cellular manufacturing system. Limited computational results for th e sample problem are used to demonstrate how the model can be used in buffer storage resource allocation and related aspects af manufacturin g facility design.