Most important performance evaluation methods of production lines: A comprehensive review on historical perspective and emerging trends

Production is one of the most significant building blocks that strengthen the sustainable economy of companies and thus contribute to the countries’ welfare. Performance indicators of the production line affect planning operations and the efficiency of the supply chain to which the factory is connected. The key indicators for production line designers and performance analysts to monitor and improve include production rate, resource utilization rate, and average inventory level. The production rate is the most important indicator closely affecting an industrial plant's productivity and efficiency levels. From this perspective, accurate and fast estimation of this indicator is very critical. Production rate can be calculated by simulation, analytical technique, or artificial intelligence methods according to the production line characteristics. In this comprehensive review, the most important performance evaluation methods are discussed historically and systematically about the buffer allocation problem using the snowball sampling method. With this explicit motivation, 145 papers were reviewed and classified according to production line topology, hypothetical/real-case line, machine reliability, previous method on which the method is based, and originality and/or line characteristics. To present a comprehensive comparison, the methods considered were analyzed according to different criteria. This review provides general/in-depth qualitative and quantitative discussions and highlights insights to practitioners and scholars. In addition, the impact of recent key work on production line analysis in the field is assessed along with emerging trends, evolving manufacturing paradigms are discussed, and the challenges associated with performance analysis are addressed.