Flexible Manufacturing Systems (Continue)

Example 1:
A semi-automated flexible manufacturing cell is used to produce three
products. The products are made by two automated processing stations
followed by an assembly station. There is also a load/unload station.
Material handling between stations in the FMC is accomplished by
mechanized carts that move tote bins containing the particular
components to be processed and then assembled into a given product. The
carts transfer tote bins between stations. In this way the carts are kept
busy while the tote bins are queued in front of the workstations. Each tote
bin remains with the product throughout processing and assembly. The
details of the FMC can be summarized as follows:

The product mix fractions and station processing times for the parts are
presented in the table below. The same station sequence is followed by all
products: 1 2 3 4 1.

The average cart transfer time between stations is 4 minutes.

a) What is the bottleneck station in the FMC, assuming that the
material handling system is not the bottleneck?
b) At full capacity, what is the overall production rate of the system
and the rate for each product?
c) What is the minimum number of carts in the material handling
system required to keep up with the production workstations?
d) Compute the overall utilization of the FMC.
e) What recommendations would you make to improve the efficiency
and/or reduce the cost of operating the FMC?
(a)

Solution
WL1 = (3+2)(0.35 + 0.25 + 0.4) = 5.0 min
WL2 = 9(0.35)(1.0) + 5(0.25)(1.0) + 4(0.4)(1.0) = 6.0 min
WL3 = 7(0.35)(1.0) + 8(0.25)(1.0) + 6(0.4)(1.0) = 6.85 min

WL4 = 5(0.35)(1.0) + 5(0.25)(1.0) + 8(0.4)(1.0) = 6.2 min

nt = 4 for all parts, WL5 = 4(4) = 16.0 min

(b) Bottleneck is station 3:

Rp* = 1/6.85 = 0.146 pc/min = 8.76 pc/hr
RpA = 0.35(8.76) = 3.07 pc/hr
RpB = 0.25(8.76) = 2.19 pc/hr
RpC = 0.4(8.76) = 3.50 pc/hr
(c)
Minimum number of carts required in system: 16.0/nc = 6.85
Rearranging, nc = 16/6.85 = 2.34 Use 3 carts
(d)

U1 = (5.0/2)(0.146) = 0.365 = 36.5%

U2 = (6.0/1)(0.146) = 0.876 = 87.6%
U3 = (6.85/1)(0.146) = 1.0 = 100%
U4 = (6.2/2)(0.146) = 0.453 = 45.3%
U5 = (16.0/3)(0.146) = 0.779 = 77.9%

(e) Recommendations:
1. Reduce number of servers at station 1 to 1 server, and
2. Reduce number of servers at station 4 to 1 server.

Example 2:
A flexible manufacturing system is used to produce three products. The
FMS consists of a load/unload station, two automated processing stations,
an inspection station, and an automated conveyor system with an
individual cart for each product. The conveyor carts remain with the parts
during their time in the system, and therefore the mean transport time
includes not only the move time, but also the average total processing time
per part. The number of servers at each station is given in the following
table:
Station 1

Load and unload

2 workers

Station 2

Process X

3 servers

Station 3

Process Y

4 servers

Station 4

Inspection

1 server

Transport system

Conveyor

8 carriers

All parts follow either of two routings, which are 12341 or

1 2 3 1, the difference being that inspections at station 4 are
performed on only one part in four for each product (f4jk = 0.25). The
product mix and process times for the parts are presented in the table
below:
Product j

Part mix pj

Station 1

Station 2

Station 3

Station 4

Station 1

0.2

5 min

15 min

25 min

20 min

4 min

0.3

5 min

10 min

30 min

20 min

4 min

0.5

5 min

20 min

10 min

20 min

4 min

The move time between stations is 4 min.

(a) Using the bottleneck model, show that the conveyor system is the bottleneck in the
present FMS configuration, and determine the overall production rate of the system.
(b) Determine how many carts are required to eliminate the conveyor system as the
bottleneck.
(c) With the number of carts determined in (b), use the extended bottleneck model to
determine the production rate for the case when N = 8; that is, only eight parts are
allowed in the system even though the conveyor system has a sufficient number of
carriers to handle more than eight.
(d) How close are your answers in (a) and (c)? Why?

Solution
(a) WL1 = (5+4)(0.2 + 0.3 + 0.5) = 9.0 min
WL2 = 15(0.2)(1.0) + 10(0.3)(1.0) + 20(0.5)(1.0) = 16.0 min
WL3 = 25(0.2)(1.0) + 30(0.3)(1.0) + 10(0.5)(1.0) = 19.0 min
WL4 = 20(0.2)(1.0) + 20(0.3)(1.0) + 20(0.5)(1.0) = 5.0 min
nt = 1 + 1 + 0.25 + 1 = 3.25,
WL5 = 3.25(4) + 9 + 16 + 19 + 5 = 62.0 min
Station

WLi/si ratio

1
(load/unload)
2 (process X)
3 (process Y)
4 (inspection)
5 (transport)

9.0/2 = 4.5 min

16.0/3 = 5.333 min
19.0/4 = 4.75 min
5.0/1 = 5.0 min
62.0/8 = 7.75 min

Bottleneck

Bottleneck is station 5 (transport): Rp* = 8/62 = 0.129 pc/min = 7.74

pc/hr
(b) Next bottleneck station after transport system = station 2. Find the
minimum number of carriers to eliminate the transport system as the
bottleneck.
62.0/nc = 5.33,
nc = 62/5.333 = 11.63 Use nc = 12 carriers.
With station 2 as bottleneck, Rp* = 3/16 = 0.1875 pc/min = 11.25 pc/hr
(c) N* = 0.1875(62.0) = 11.625
Given N = 8, case 1 applies since 8 < N* = 11.625
MLT1 = 62.0 min
Rp = 8/62 = 0.129 pc/min = 7.74 pc/hr
(d) Answers in (a) and (c) are identical. The reason is that the same
bottleneck is in effect, which is the number of parts allowed in the system,
whether that is determined by the available number of carriers in the FMS
or by the number of parts launched into the system.

Example 3:
A flexible manufacturing system is used to produce four parts. The FMS consists of one
load/unload station and two automated processing stations (processes X and Y). The
number of servers for each station type is to be determined. The FMS also includes an
automated conveyor system with individual carts to transport parts between servers.
The carts move the parts from one server to the next, drop them off, and proceed to the
next delivery task. Average time required per transfer is 3.5 minutes. The following
table summarizes the FMS:
Station 1

Load and unload

Number of human servers (workers) to be determined

Station 2

Process X

Number of automated servers to be determined

Station 3

Process Y

Number of automated servers to be determined

Station 4

Transport system

Number of carts to be determined

All parts follow the same routing, which is 1 2 3 1. The product mix and
processing times at each station are presented in the table below:
Product j
A

Product mix pj
0.1

Station 1
3 min

Station 2
15 min

Station 3
25 min

Station 1
2 min

0.3

3 min

40 min

20 min

2 min

0.4

3 min

20 min

10 min

2 min

0.2

3 min

30 min

5 min

2 min

Required production is 10 parts per hour, distributed according to the product mix
indicated. Use the bottleneck model to determine (a) the minimum number of servers at
each station and the minimum number of carts in the transport system that are required
to satisfy production demand and (b) the utilization of each station for the answers
above.

Solution
(a) WL1 = (3+2)(0.1 + 0.3 + 0.4 + 0.2)(1.0) = 5.0 min
WL2 = 15(0.1)(1.0) + 40(0.3)(1.0) + 20(0.4)(1.0) + 30(0.2)(1.0) = 27.5 min
WL3 = 25(0.1)(1.0) + 20(0.3)(1.0) + 10(0.4)(1.0) + 5(0.2)(1.0) = 13.5 min
nt = 3, WL4 = 3(3.5) = 10.5 min
The preceding workloads are for one unit/hr. For Rp = 10 pc/hr, the above workloads
would be 10 times the above values. The time available in one hour for each server = 60
min. Therefore, the number of servers at each station and the number of carriers in the
transport system are determined as follows:
Station 1: n1 = 10(5.0)/60 = 50/60 = 0.833 use 1 server
Station 1: n2 = 10(27.5)/60 = 275/60 = 4.583 use 5 servers

Station 1: n3 = 10(13.5)/60 = 135/60 = 2.25 use 3 servers

Station 1: n4 = 10(10.5)/60 = 105/60 = 1.75 use 2 carriers
(b) U1 = 0.833/1 = 0.833 = 83.3%
U2 = 4.583/5 = 0.917 = 91.7%
U3 = 2.25/3 = 0.75 = 75.0%
U4 = 1.75/2 = 0.875 = 87.5%