Effect of product mix on multi-product pull control

• Published in: Simulation modelling practice and theory 2015-08, Vol.56, p.16-35
• Main Author: Onyeocha, Chukwunonyelum Emmanuel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Assembly line; Healthcare manufacturing; Kanban allocation policies; Multi-product systems; Product mix; Pull production control strategies
• ISSN: 1569-190X; 1878-1462
• DOI: 10.1016/j.simpat.2015.04.005

•A simulation technique provides less computation especially for searching for optimal settings of complex assembly lines.•Product mix influences pull performance.•S-KAP uses the least authorisation cards.•S-KAP frees PAC resulting in rapid response to product mix variations.•BK-CONWIP has better product mix flexibility than its alternatives (GKCS and EKCS). Product mix influences the performance of pull production control strategy in multi-product manufacturing systems. The complexity of product mix on the performance of a manufacturing system is primarily based on the characteristics of the demand and production control strategies. Demands are mainly characterised by volume and product-type while production control strategy is characterised by material release time, part flow, inventory control and throughput times. In multi-product systems, pull production control strategy operates dedicated or shared Kanban allocation policy. This paper examines the performance of the Generalised Kanban Control Strategy (GKCS), Extended Kanban Control Strategy (EKCS) and Basestock Kanban-CONWIP (BK-CONWIP) control strategy operating Shared Kanban Allocation Policies (S-KAP) or Dedicated Kanban Allocation Policies (D-KAP) for a healthcare parallel/serial assembly line with setup times. A simulation based multi-objective optimisation technique was adopted to examine the effect of different product mixes on the strategies and policies. A ranking and selection technique for multiple systems was used to screen the performance of the strategies. It was shown that product mix variability in a system influence the inventory levels of the pull control strategies examined. However, the performances of the strategies vary with strategies operating S-KAP having better inventory control than strategies operating D-KAP. Similarly, BK-CONWIP outperformed its alternatives.