Bottleneck-oriented order release with shifting bottlenecks:An assessment by simulation

Abstract Bottleneck shiftiness is an important managerial problem that has received significant research attention. The extant literature has shown, for example, that protective capacity reduces the likelihood of the bottleneck shifting. Yet the actual performance impact of a bottleneck shift has been widely neglected. We posit that there are at least two interrelated effects that may impact shop performance: (i) the direct effect of the change in bottleneck position; and, (ii) the indirect effect of the order release method incorrectly identifying the bottleneck (i.e. assuming the bottleneck is Station X when it is actually Station Y). The latter is particularly acute in the context of bottleneck-oriented order release methods such as Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) as these release methods use feedback from the (assumed) bottleneck to control release. Using controlled simulation experiments we demonstrate that a bottleneck shift to a station upstream of the assumed bottleneck has a negligible effect on DBR performance while a downstream shift is detrimental to performance. Meanwhile, the distance, i.e. the number of stations between the actual and assumed bottleneck, has a negligible performance impact. These results have important managerial and research implications for DBR and other release methods.

[1]  Mark Stevenson,et al.  Card-Based Control Systems for a Lean Work Design: The Fundamentals of Kanban, ConWIP, POLCA, and COBACABANA , 2016 .

[2]  Robert M. O'Keefe,et al.  An order release mechanism for a flexible flow system , 1995 .

[3]  Mark Stevenson,et al.  Job shop control: In search of the key to delivery improvements , 2015 .

[4]  Wallace J. Hopp,et al.  Factory physics : foundations of manufacturing management , 1996 .

[5]  Wolfgang Bechte.  Load-oriented manufacturing control just-in-time production for job shops , 1994 .

[6]  Davood Golmohammadi,et al.  A study of scheduling under the theory of constraints , 2015 .

[7]  Lawrence D. Fredendall,et al.  Protective capacity positioning: Impact on manufacturing cell performance , 2001, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[8]  Anthony L. Patti,et al.  A comparison of JIT and TOC buffering philosophies on system performance with unplanned machine downtime , 2008 .

[9]  V. J. Mabin,et al.  The performance of the theory of constraints methodology: Analysis and discussion of successful TOC applications , 2003 .

[10]  S. H. Ashcroft.  Applying the principles of optimized production technology in a small manufacturing company , 1989 .

[11]  S. T Enns,et al.  The effectiveness of input control based on aggregate versus bottleneck work loads , 2002 .

[12]  Arnold H. Buss,et al.  SHIFTING PRODUCTION BOTTLENECKS: CAUSES, CURES, AND CONUNDRUMS , 2009 .

[13]  Lawrence D. Fredendall,et al.  Concerning the theory of workload control , 2010, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[14]  Marc Lambrecht,et al.  Buffer Stock Allocation in Serial and Assembly Type of Production Lines , 1990 .

[15]  Mark Stevenson,et al.  The theory and practice of workload control: A research agenda and implementation strategy , 2011 .

[16]  S. Rahman,et al.  Theory of constraints , 1998 .

[17]  Nuno O. Fernandes,et al.  Workload control in unbalanced job shops , 2014 .

[18]  Jan Olhager,et al.  Using Simulation-Generated Operating Characteristics Curves for Manufacturing Improvement , 2006, APMS.

[19]  Jeff Cox,et al.  The goal : excellence in manufacturing , 1984 .

[20]  Jochen Deuse,et al.  Reliable Shop Floor Bottleneck Detection for Flow Lines through Process and Inventory Observations , 2014 .

[21]  Minoru Tanaka,et al.  Shifting bottleneck detection , 2002, Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference.

[22]  Satya S. Chakravorty,et al.  A comparative study of line design approaches for serial production systems , 1996 .

[23]  Timothy D. Fry,et al.  An Investigation of Bottleneck Position in a Multi‐Stage Job Shop , 1987 .

[24]  Wendell G. Gilland.  A simulation study comparing performance of CONWIP and bottleneck-based release rules , 2002 .

[25]  C. Roser,et al.  Comparison of bottleneck detection methods for AGV systems , 2003, Proceedings of the 2003 Winter Simulation Conference, 2003..

[26]  Mark Stevenson,et al.  Workload control: Successful implementation taking a contingency‐based view of production planning and control , 2013 .

[27]  Satya S. Chakravorty,et al.  An evaluation of the DBR control mechanism in a job shop environment , 2001 .

[28]  Basheer M. Khumawala,et al.  A study on the effect of the extent and location of protective capacity in flow systems , 2000 .

[29]  Satya S. Chakravorty,et al.  The impact of free goods on the performance of drum-buffer-rope scheduling systems , 2005 .

[30]  Kenneth R. Baker,et al.  Job shop scheduling with modified due dates , 1983 .

[31]  John H. Blackstone,et al.  The evolution of a management philosophy: The theory of constraints , 2007 .

[32]  Zinovy D. Radovilsky.  A quantitative approach to estimate the size of the time buffer in the theory of constraints , 1998 .

[33]  Andrea Matta,et al.  A statistical framework of data-driven bottleneck identification in manufacturing systems , 2016 .

[34]  Gerard Gaalman,et al.  The performance of workload control concepts in job shops: improving the release method , 1996 .

[35]  Cristovao Silva,et al.  Three decades of workload control research: a systematic review of the literature , 2011 .

[36]  Cristovao Silva,et al.  Workload Control and Order Release: A Lean Solution for Make-to-Order Companies , 2012 .

[37]  Jacob V. Simons,et al.  AN EXPOSITION OF MULTIPLE CONSTRAINT SCHEDULING AS IMPLEMENTED IN THE GOAL SYSTEM (FORMERLY DISASTERTM) , 2009 .

[38]  Hans-Peter Wiendahl,et al.  Application of load-oriented manufacturing control in industry , 1992 .

[39]  Cristovao Silva,et al.  A case study of the successful implementation of workload control : A practitioner-led approach , 2015 .

[40]  Michael S. Spencer,et al.  The impact of a constraint buffer in a flow shop , 1995 .

[41]  Lawrence D. Fredendall,et al.  The impact of non-bottleneck variation in a manufacturing cell , 2002 .

[42]  D. J. FINNEY.  The Theory of Practice , 1959, Nature.

[43]  Cristovao Silva,et al.  Lean control for make-to-order companies:integrating customer enquiry management and order release , 2014 .

[44]  Carl E. Betterton,et al.  Detecting bottlenecks in serial production lines – a focus on interdeparture time variance , 2012 .

[45]  David L. Woodruff,et al.  CONWIP: a pull alternative to kanban , 1990 .

[46]  Mauricio G. C. Resende,et al.  Closed-loop job release control for VLSI circuit manufacturing , 1988 .

[47]  Matthias Thürer,et al.  Drum-buffer-rope and workload control in High-variety flow and job shops with bottlenecks: An assessment by simulation , 2017 .