The Optimum Assignment of Repairmen in Serving Automatic Machines : Part 3. Effect of walking length

Abstract

Sometimes a repairman takes care of several automatic machines which normally require no human care, but are liable to stop at random intervals and then require the repaiman's service, for a certain period of time before restarting. In the study of the effect of the synchronization time, or the time lost while a stationary machine is waiting for attention, the walking time from one machine to the next stopped one cannot be neglected, especially when an operative attends a large number of machines. In this paper the relation between the average walking distance and the layout of machines, which have different probability to stop, are dealt with in the case when no definite order of attention is specifled, and the optimal way of operating machines is discussed when ancillary work is too much to be handled while the operative is free from repairing.