QUALITY ASSURANCE OF A MAKER-PACKER MODEL

We study a maker-packer production system in cigarette manufacturing w here two different types of detectors are installed on the making and packing machines to maintain the product quality. The making machine d etector has a continuously adjustable setting which determines the pro portion of defective cigarettes removed. The packing machine detector has only discrete settings. We develop an economic model to derive the optimal settings for these detectors to achieve a specified average o utgoing quality. The proposed maker-packer model is useful in other in dustries.