Monotone bounds on the productivity of fixed-cycle production lines

This research analyzes a class of fixed-cycle production lines. The main concern is the productivity of the lines. Productivity is defined to be the average number of items produced per unit time in the long run. Closed form solutions are derived for the productivity of a two-machine line with dependent machines. These solutions are used to obtain bounds on the productivity of longer lines. The transition matrix associated with an N-machine line is shown to be stochastically monotone yielding monotone increasing lower bounds and monotone decreasing upper bounds which converge to the productivity of the line. These results are then extended to include lines with Markov machines. With the transition matrix in this case having a conditional monotone property, the monotonicity of the bounds is maintained.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

Department dc:contributor.department

Industrial Engineering and Operations Research

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1983

Author dc:creator

• Chansaenwilai, Petcharat

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/106319

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106319