QUEUEING MODELS FOR FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS SUBJECT TO RESOURCE FAILURE

This thesis deals with the analysis and application of queueing models for single and multi stage flexible manufacturing systems that are subject to resource failure. Modeling the failure of a resource is accomplished with a finite priority source. The single stage system is modeled as a simple queue for which exact steady state results are derived. The multi stage system is modeled as a closed network of queues that is not of product form. For the network we develop approximation methods that are consistent and accurate. We validate the approximations by comparing their performance estimates against the exact global balance solution of several queueing network models of manufacturing systems