A Quantitative Comparison of Bottleneck Detection Methods in Manufacturing Systems with Particular Consideration for Shifting Bottlenecks

Roser, Christoph; Nakano, Masaru

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-22759-7_32

Cited by 20 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(9 reference statements)

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“…Bottleneck detection methods that use averages overlook shifting bottlenecks. For a comparison of methods and their accuracy, see the forthcoming paper [25], where the bottleneck walk outperformed all conventional methods and was second only to the mathematically more demanding average active period method. If the duration of the averages is reduced and the observation is repeated frequently, then the effect of inventory buffers will likely diminish the accuracy of the observations.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliable shop floor bottleneck detection for flow lines through process and inventory observations: the bottleneck walk

2015

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Bottleneck detection in manufacturing is the key to improving production efficiency and stability in order to improve capacity. Yet, common bottleneck detection methods in industry and academia lack either accuracy or practicability, or both, for dynamic systems. The new methodology is conducted by the observation of processes and inventories. Blocked processes and full inventories indicate a downstream bottleneck. Starved processes and empty inventories indicate an upstream bottleneck. Through subsequent observations of multiple process states and inventory levels within a system, it is possible to determine the direction of the bottleneck at the given time and hence to find the momentary bottleneck in the system. The shifting of bottlenecks can be observed directly. Work sampling techniques can be used to obtain a long-term picture of the dynamically shifting bottleneck. The new methodology does not require any calculations, statistics, or time measurements. Hence, the method is suited for practical use by shop floor supervisors and clerks. The direct observation of the bottleneck also gives additional information about the underlying causes of the bottlenecks, simplifying the improvement of the system capacity. Extensive field testing of the method received positive feedback not only from management but also from shop floor operators. The method is already in use at the Robert Bosch GmbH, where it is known as the bottleneck walk.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliable shop floor bottleneck detection for flow lines through process and inventory observations: the bottleneck walk

2015

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“…However, the active period bottleneck detection method is able to determine the location of the bottleneck at any given time based solely on the duration a process was active without interruption [8,9]. This method is highly accurate and can determine the influence of a process on the entire system with a very high degree of accuracy [10]. The method was also verified by independent researchers who compared this method to other bottleneck detection methods and found it to be superior [11].…”

Section: The Active Period Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direction of the Bottleneck in Dependence on Inventory Levels

Romeser¹,

Roser

2016

IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology

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Buffers decouple fluctuations in the material flow. It is common wisdom in industry that a full buffer indicates a downstream bottleneck and an empty buffer indicates an upstream bottleneck. Numerous different bottleneck detection methods use this approach to detect the bottlenecks. However, so far this common wisdom on the shop floor has not yet been verified academically. The authors tested this hypothesis using a bottleneck detection method that was able to detect the bottleneck in a system at any given time. The bottleneck direction can reasonably be determined based on the inventory levels of the buffer only for symmetrical systems. In asymmetrical systems, the likelihood of the bottleneck direction is biased toward the bottleneck.

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“…It is apparent that the first step, to identify the bottleneck, is of utmost importance (Pehrsson et al, 2016;Kahraman et al, 2020). Consequently, a large literature proposing different bottleneck detection methods has emerged (Roser & Nakano, 2015;Yu & Matta, 2016). This literature however typically focusses on production lines, i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bottleneck detection in high-variety make-to-Order shops with complex routings: an assessment by simulation

Thürer

Stevenson

et al. 2021

Production Planning & Control

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This study uses simulation to assess the performance of alternative methods for detecting momentary bottlenecks in high-variety contexts that produce on a to-order basis. The results suggest that using the utilization level of a station to detect bottlenecks leads to the best performance, but that this method suffers from high nervousness. Using the active period of a station appears to be a better overall choice for practice given its good performance and low nervousness. Meanwhile, methods that focus on the workload at a station are a viable alternative, but they may become dysfunctional in shops with directed routings and a limit on the queue. This negative effect is even stronger if the corrected workload measure is used, as recently suggested in the literature on short term capacity adjustments. Finally, using the interdeparture time detection method leads to the worst performance since: (i) it counterintuitively detects non-bottlenecks instead of bottlenecks; and, (ii) it is based on historical data, leading to a response delay.

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A Quantitative Comparison of Bottleneck Detection Methods in Manufacturing Systems with Particular Consideration for Shifting Bottlenecks

Cited by 20 publications

References 9 publications

Reliable shop floor bottleneck detection for flow lines through process and inventory observations: the bottleneck walk

Reliable shop floor bottleneck detection for flow lines through process and inventory observations: the bottleneck walk

Direction of the Bottleneck in Dependence on Inventory Levels

Bottleneck detection in high-variety make-to-Order shops with complex routings: an assessment by simulation

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