A comparison of alternative kanban control mechanisms. I. Background and structural results

Abstract

The design of inventory control policies for serial systems is a topic currently being explored by a number of researchers. Our goal -in two papers - is to synthesize and extend some of these efforts. We consider, simultaneously, four sources of variability in production lines - processing time variability, machine breakdowns, rework and yield loss - and show some similarities and differences in their effects on the performance of the line. In this paper we introduce an enhanced model that accommodates raw material and demand uncertainity and demonstrate that many of the sample path results obtained previously can be extended.

The main objectives of this paper are: (1) to demonstrate that Constant-Work-in-Process (CONWIP) and the traditional kanban control are just two extremes in a finite family of implementable pull controls; (2) to show that while machine breakdowns, rework and random processing times have a similar effect in terms of the optimal decisions, yield losses in the line may have to be managed differently.