Efficient Throughput Analysis of Production Lines Based on Modular Queues

Analyzing throughput is very important for the design, optimization, and management of production lines. In this paper, we present an efficient throughput analysis approach for production lines with merging, splitting, and recirculating topologies. In particular, we define a decomposition regulation based on queue modules for the decomposition of the various topologies, and we improve an iterative approximation method for calculating and iterating the queue module state probabilities until the throughput of the production line is obtained. To decrease the computation time and automate the calculation process of the queue module state probabilities, we build a queue module database that includes the solution equations of common queue module state probabilities. The numerical examples show that our approach calculates the throughput of production lines with merging, splitting, and recirculating topologies with high accuracy (≥90%) and efficiency (completed in ten min). Our contribution is an efficient throughput evaluation methodology that can be used to rapidly estimate the performance and the cost of production lines with various topologies in the conceptual design phase of production lines in the industry.