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Abstract
Bottlenecks, as the key ingredients for improving the performances of the production networks, have been profoundly studied. However, the major definitions of bottlenecks are derived in terms of the throughput and based on the theory of constraints (TOC). Moreover, before the specific measures can be applied on them, it is not straightforward to localise dynamic bottlenecks due to their complex dynamic characteristics. Distinguishing from the traditional view at the bottlenecks, this article therefore develops a systematic and comprehensive definition of dynamic bottlenecks of the production networks based on both the TOC and the bottleneck-oriented logistic analysis. Afterwards, the defined dynamic bottlenecks are modelled by means of discrete simulation using practical data, aiming at visualising them in the production network. By applying the logistic operating curves, the practical application of the proposed research and its procedures is discussed as well.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the International Graduate School (IGS) for dynamics in logistics as well as the Intelligent Production and Logistic Systems department at Bremen University. This article was presented in the DET2009 conference held at the University of Hong Kong during 14–16 December 2009 and included in the conference proceedings published by Springer.