Analysis of assembly systems controlled with kanbans

This paper deals with the problem of evaluating the performance of assembly systems managed with kanbans. In particular we analyze kanban systems functioning with different control policies depending on how kanbans are released in assembly stages. Simultaneous and independent releases of kanbans are considered in the analysis as alternative control policies to be used in assembly systems. Queuing network techniques are used to calculate the major system performance measures such as throughput of the system, percentage of satisfied orders, average level of finished products and average time delay of unsatisfied orders. Simultaneous and independent kanban assembly systems are compared in some numerical cases. The differences, in terms of performance, between the two alternative kanban control policies are evaluated so that the proper control policy can be selected in the design phase of the system. Simulation results are also reported to validate the approximation of the analytical method used to calculate the performance of assembly kanban systems.