AN OPERATIONAL STRATEGY FOR THROUGHPUT MAXIMIZATION AND BOTTLENECK CONTROL IN AN ASSEMBLY-LINE SYSTEM - BY SELECTION OF THE PROCESSING RATES

In this paper, an optimal operational strategy is developed to optimiz e the system utilization while controlling the bottleneck problem in a finite capacity integrated assembly line system (consisting of a set of tandem workstations, a set of inspection stations, a loading statio n and an unloading station, linked by a set of transporter stations). To develop the proposed operational strategy, a stochastic optimizatio n model is developed for selecting the optimal processing rates of the workstations and the transporter stations, such that the total throug hput rate from the system is maximized while the resulting probability of finding either a workstation or a transporter station blocked is s ufficiently close to zero.