Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 1 (1995), Issue 2, Pages 95-137
doi:10.1155/S1024123X9500010X
Mathematical theory of improvability for production systems
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor 48109-2122, MI, USA
Received 15 October 1994
Copyright © 1995 David Jacobs and Semyon M. Meerkov. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
A mathematical model for continuous improvement processes in production systems is formulated. Both constrained and unconstrained cases are addressed. A solution for the case of a serial production line with finite buffers and a Bernoulli model of machines reliability is given. In particular, it is shown that a production line is unimprovable under constraints if each buffer is on the average half full and each machine has equal probability of blockages and starvations. Based on this result, guidelines for continuous improvement processes are formulated.