Lot Splitting in Stochastic Flow Shop and Job Shop Environments

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Authors
Smunt, Timothy L.
Buss, Arnold H.
Kropp, Dean H.
Subjects
Job Shop Scheduling
Lot Splitting
Machine Scheduling and Sequencing
Process Design
Simulation
Advisors
Date of Issue
1996
Date
Spring 1996
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Abstract
In recent years many firms have been implementing small lot size production. Lot splitting breaks large orders into smaller transfer lots and offers the ability to move parts more quickly through the production process. This paper extends the deterministic studies by investigating various lot splitting policies in both stochastic job shop and stochastic flow shop settings using performance measures of mean flow time and the standard deviation of flow time. Using a computer simulation experiment, we found that in stochastic dynamic job shops, the number of lot splits is more important than the exact fonn of splitting. However, when optimal job sizes are determined for each scenario, we found a few circumstances where the implementation of a small initial split, called a "flag," can provide measurable improvement in flow time performance. Interestingly, the vast majority of previous research indicates that methods other than equal lot splitting typically improves makespan performance. The earlier research, however, has been set in the static, deterministic flow shop environment. Thus, our results are of practical interest since they show that the specific method of lot splitting is important in only a small set of realistic environments while the choice of an appropriate number of splits is typically more important.
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Article
Description
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Department
Operations Research
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Citation
Decision Sciences, Volume 27, Number 2, Spring 1996, pp. 215-238
Distribution Statement
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This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.
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