A Discrete-Time Queuing Analysis of Conveyor-Serviced Production Stations

Abstract

This paper analyzes production stations that operate in conjunction with conveyors. Two types of production stations are considered: (1) loading stations that load processed material to the conveyor, and (2) unloading stations that remove material from the conveyor. An operating policy, the sequential range policy, is proposed as a method for operating the production stations. An analysis of the sequential range policy is given. The system is considered as a discrete-time queuing process with a stationary Bernoulli arrival rate. In-process storage is treated as a Markov process discrete in time and discrete in space. The expected number of units in storage and the expected delay per unit produced are derived. Certain economic problems are considered.

The analysis of a conveyor-serviced production station

“…In a number of articles probabilistic models have been developed for the single worker-unloading production station, see e.g. [1][2][3][4][5]. Research is focused on the development of efficient unloading policies which should minimize unloading delay and consequently increase the productivity of the work station.…”

“…In this paper a new unloading policy .is introduced and an analysis of this policy is given. This policy is more general then the state-dependent policy investigated by Matsui and Shingu [4], both policies being generalisations of the 'Sequential Range Policy', introduced by Beightler and Crisp [ 1 ].…”

The Optimal Look-Ahead Policy for Admission to a Single Server System

“…In fact, this policy will maximize the average number of customers served per unit of time. Special cases of this model have been considered in the literature on "Conveyor-serviced Production Stations" (see Beightler and Crisp [1968], Matsui and Shingu [1978], Nawijn and De Jonge [1981], and Nawijn [1983).…”