BUFFER ALLOCATION IN UNRELIABLE PRODUCTION LINES USING A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEM

The optimization of production lines performance is a problem of great complexity and, therefore, of significant research interest. The prob lem may involve the optimization of many conflicting objectives, such as increasing throughput and reducing work-in-process time. The majori ty of existing studies have used various heuristics and search methods based on operations research. These methods have been proved to be co mputationally inefficient, especially for large production lines. This paper presents ASBA2, a knowledge based system that determines near o ptimal buffer allocation plans, with the objective of maximising produ ction lines throughput. The allocation plan is calculated subject to a given amount of total buffer slots, in a computationally efficient wa y. ASBA2 operates in close cooperation with a simulation method, which provides ASBA2 with performance measures concerning production line b ehaviour. Moreover, to evaluate results provided by ASBA2, we have uti lized an exact numerical algorithm for calculating the throughput of u nreliable production lines. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.