Reliability of a production system with intersectional lines

Abstract

This article addresses reliability evaluation for a production system with intersectional lines and multiple reworking actions, where the reliability is the probability of demand satisfaction. First, the production system is constructed as a capacitated-flow production network by the revised graphical transformation and decomposition techniques. Capacity analysis is implemented to determine the input flow of each workstation subsequently. Second, two algorithms, including a general algorithm, are proposed to generate all minimal capacity vectors that workstations should provide to satisfy demand. The reliability is derived in terms of such vectors accordingly. A real-world case of printed circuit board production system is utilized to demonstrate the performance evaluation procedure.