The two management set parameters which determine the performance of a material requirements planning (MRP) system are the lead time and the safety stock. The appropriate values of these parameters are influenced by the accuracy of forecasts over the lead time, the variability of processing time...

In this paper we consider a class of job shops with a dispatch area and a machine shop, where operational controls are exercised at the dispatch area as well as at the machine shop. For such dynamic job shops with these two levels of control, there are three categories of models. They are (1)...

In most integrated works, ingots are used as an intermediate form during the production of steel. These ingots, produced by pouring molten steel into molds, are too large to be used as input for the finishing mills which produce steel products. Hence, more manageable forms (blooms, billets and...

This paper reviews recent work on the development of analytical models of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs). The contributions of each of the groups concerned with model development are summarized and an assessment is made of the strengths and weaknesses of its modelling approach. A number...

An important aspect of the efficient design of an automatic transfer line is the ability to understand and predict the effects of the system parameters such as the size of the intermediate buffer storage space, the cycle times, failure times, repair times, and scrap rate, on the production rate...