A comparison of push and pull production controls under machine breakdown

Production control for high-mix production remains a complex issue. Common pull system replenishment generates large works-in-process (WIPs) for each part type, especially under breakdown. This paper attempts to solve this by presenting a production control that classifies parts into two categories. The performances of three production control mechanisms under breakdown are compared. The production control mechanisms in consideration are push, shared constant WIP (CONWIP), and parallel CONWIP. A full-factorial simulation experiment was conducted. ANOVA was performed to determine the significant effects of input factors. Response surface methodology was used to demonstrate the behavior of performance measures in terms of these significant input factors. The results prove that parallel CONWIP is superior over shared CONWIP in terms of the average flow time per part. If categorical dispatch rules are employed, parallel CONWIP outperforms shared CONWIP in terms of service level. With high card count, parallel CONWIP generally produces lower bottleneck utilizations while maintaining a low average flow time per part than shared CONWIP.