Optimal and Heuristic Resource Allocation Policies in Serial Production Systems

We have studied the optimal server allocation policies for a tandem queueing system under different system settings. Motivated by an industry project,we have studied a two stage tandem queueing system with arrival to the system and having two flexible servers capable of working at either of the stations. In our research, we studied the system under two different circumstances: modeling the system to maximize throughput without cost considerations, modeling the system to include switching and holding costs along with revenue for finished goods. In the maximizing throughput scenario, we considered two different types of server allocations: collab-orative and non-collaborative. For the collaborative case, we identified the optimal server allocation policies for the servers and have proved the structure of the optimal server allocation policy using mathematical iteration techniques. Moreover, we found that, it is optimal to allocate both the servers together all the time to get maximum throughput. In the non-collaborative case, we have identified the optimal server al-location policies and found that it is not always optimal to allocate both the server