A NEW APPROACH FOR OPTIMAL BUFFER ALLOCATION IN UNRELIABLE PRODUCTION LINES

The optimal allocation of buffers is an important research issue in designing production lines. The buffer allocation problem, i.e. how much buffer storage to allow and where to place the buffer, can be formulated as a nonlinear integer programming problem. In this study, we present a new solution approach to determine the optimal buffer allocation plans for a serial production line with unreliable machines. This approach combines subgradient algorithm proposed by Gasimov and Ustun (2007) and genetic algorithms within the same framework to maximize the throughput of the production line. To evaluate the throughput of the line an analytical decomposition approximation method is used. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by a case study