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ABSTRACT
In this article, an iteration approach is introduced to study closed-loop production lines with a constant number of carriers. A Bernoulli machine reliability model is assumed. The closed-loop system is decomposed into multiple small loop lines and further down to two-machine loops, in which the distributions of carriers are derived. Then an iteration procedure is presented to estimate the interactions between the small loops to modify the carrier distributions. Upon convergence, the system production rate can be estimated using these distributions. The convergence of the procedure is proved analytically, and the accuracy of estimation is justified numerically. It is shown that the method has good accuracy and computational efficiency. In addition, a case study at an automotive assembly plant is introduced to illustrate the applicability of the method.
Acknowledgement
The authors thank the plant engineers and managers of the auto body shop for their support and help on this project.
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Notes on contributors
Yuan Feng
Yuan Feng received his B.S. from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2012. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University. He was also a visiting student in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from 2015 to 2016. His research is mainly about the analysis, modeling, and optimization of manufacturing systems.
Xiang Zhong received her B.S. from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, in 2011, and her M.S. in Statistics and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2014 and 2016, respectively. Currently, she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Florida. Her research interests include stochastic modeling and data analytics with applications in healthcare, service, and production systems.
Xiang Zhong
Jingshan Li received a B.S. degree from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, an M.S. degree from the Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering systems from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1989, 1992, and 2000, respectively. He was with General Motors Research and Development Center, Warren, Michigan, and University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, from 2000 to 2010. He is now a Professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison. His primary research interests are in modeling, analysis, and control of manufacturing and healthcare systems. He is an IEEE Fellow and received the 2010 NSF Career Award, 2006 IEEE Early Industry/ Government Career Award, and multiple best paper awards in IISE Transactions, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and prestigious international conferences. He is a senior editor of IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, department editor of IISE Transactions; associate editor of International Journal of Production Research, Flexible Service and Manufacturing Journal, and International Journal of Automation Technology; and was an associate editor of Mathematical Problems in Engineering.
Jingshan Li
Wenhui Fan is a Professor in the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He is Vice Chairman of China Simulation Association and is associate editor of Chinese Journal of System Simulation and Simulation: Transactions of the Society for Modeling and Simulation International. He has worked on complex system simulation and virtual manufacturing and is the author of five books and more than 90 research papers.