Mathematical Problems in Engineering
Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 139896, 17 pages
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/139896
Research Article

Modeling and Analysis of Reentrant Manufacturing Systems: Micro- and Macroperspectives

Fenglan He,1 Ming Dong,1 and Dong Yang2

1Antai College of Economics & Management, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 535 Fahua Zhen Road, Shanghai 200052, China
2College of Management, Donghua University, 1882 Yan-An Road, Shanghai 200051, China

Received 28 January 2011; Accepted 4 March 2011

Academic Editor: Ming Li

Copyright © 2011 Fenglan He et al. 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

In order to obtain the better analysis of the multiple reentrant manufacturing systems (MRMSs), their modeling and analysis from both micro- and macroperspectives are considered. First, this paper presents the discrete event simulation models for MRMS and the corresponding algorithms are developed. In order to describe MRMS more accurately, then a modified continuum model is proposed. This continuum model takes into account the re-entrant degree of products, and its effectiveness is verified through numerical experiments. Finally, based on the discrete event simulation and the modified continuum models, a numerical example is used to analyze the MRMS. The changes in the WIP levels and outflux are also analyzed in details for multiple re-entrant supply chain networks. Meanwhile, some interesting observations are discussed.