Transient and steady-state analysis of multi-product serial lines with geometric machines

Abstract

The multi-product production line has become an important component of modern manufacturing. This study investigates a multi-product serial line with limited buffer capacity and machines obeying the geometric reliability model, analyzing both transient and steady-state production performance. We first provide an analytical analysis method for one- and two-machine lines. Then, for multi-machine lines, a computationally efficient approximation method is proposed based on an equivalent parameter calculation procedure that satisfies the production equivalence conditions. Numerical experiments validate the high accuracy of the proposed approximation method. Furthermore, the properties of the multi-product production line are investigated. Finally, a case study is presented to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model and the analyzing approach.