Integrated analysis of quality and production logistics performance in manufacturing lines

Abstract

This paper presents an analytical method for evaluating the performance of production systems, jointly considering in a unique framework quality and production logistics performance measures. In the literature, quality and production logistics have traditionally been investigated using independent approaches. Thus far, only a few recent contributions have focused on their mutual inter-relation, showing that benefits can be achieved from an integrated analysis. This paper contributes to this growing research by considering, for the first time, production systems in which the behaviour of the machines is monitored by statistical control charts. The control action performed by the quality control system on the machines is directly modeled. Moreover, the impact of the quality control action on the logistic flow of parts in the system is taken into account. In order to estimate the performance of such systems, an approximate analytical method based on the system decomposition technique is developed. The accuracy of the method is assessed by comparing the results with those obtained by simulation. Analysis of the results provides new insights into the relations among the quality and production logistics performance measures and paves the way to the development of integrated design techniques for improved configurations of the system as a whole.

Keywords:

• quality control
• control charts
• manufacturing systems engineering
• Markovian analysis
• buffer sizing

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Professors B.M. Colosimo and Q. Semeraro at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, for their interesting comments and suggestions. This research is partially funded by the Roberto Rocca Project ‘Interactions Among Quality and Productivity Performance Measures in Production Systems’ in collaboration with Dr. Stanley Gershwin and Dr. Irvin Schick from the MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity.