Analysis and synthesis of asynchronous, asymptotically reliable, asymptotically controllable serial production lines

Synchronous serial production lines are advantageous from the production rate point of view whereas asynchronous ones ensure a higher quality. Both, however, are usually run in a balanced mode where the cycle times of all machines are identical. It is shown that asynchronous lines being run in an appropriate unbalanced mode, could have a production rate close to that of the synchronous lines. Analysis and synthesis methods are presented for a certain class of asynchronous lines and synthesis methods are presented for a certain class of asynchronous lines consisting of the so-called asymptotically reliable, asymptotically controllable machines. The results are applied to a case study of a paint shop operation in a modern automobile assembly plant, and an 11% improvement in the average production rate, predicted theoretically and observed practically, is reported.<>