Deliberately slowing down output in a family production context

SUMMARY

In this paper we consider a piece of manufacturing equipment dedicated to the production of a family of items. With known level demand rates for the individual items the policy used is to cycle through production of all of the items every T units of time. As usual, T is a decision variable, but we also permit the individual item production rates to be treated as controllable variables (within prescribed limits). We develop procedures for establishing the appropriate production rates and these are illustrated with numerical examples. It is shown that, under certain circumstances, significant potential costs savings can be realized by slowing down the production rate of just one key item in the family. Slowing down production reduces inventory levels consistent with a Just-in-Time manufacturing philosophy.