A simulation study of CONWIP assembly with multi-loop in mass production, multi-products and low volume and OKP environments

Abstract

This paper studies the performance of constant work-in-process (CONWIP) assembly system with multi-loop in mass production, multi-products and low volume and one-of-a-kind production (OKP) environments using simulation. We propose five basic design patterns of CONWIP loop and develop eight control policies of CONWIP loop based on the design pattern for standard assembly system. The performance of developed loop policies is evaluated in three production environments. In particular, control policies of CONWIP loop in OKP environment provide a valuable reference for OKP shop floor controlling. A heuristic algorithm of searching work-in-process (WIP) upper bound, the deadlock phenomenon in CONWIP assembly system and suggestion are introduced specifically. The summary of CONWIP installation guidelines in the mixed assembly system can apply CONWIP theory to practise.

Keywords:

• simulation
• CONWIP
• assembly
• production control
• WIP
• OKP

Acknowledgements

We thank three anonymous referees for their helpful comments on earlier versions of our paper.

Additional information

Funding

Funding. This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under [grant number 71171114]; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under [grant number 30920130121005].