A Low-Cost Model-based Capacity Analysis in Production Environments

In this paper, we proposed a low-cost model- based capacity analysis approach that does not require a comprehensive simulation model or a costly data collection tool. In our proposed method, a production environment is modelled as a network graph with resources as nodes and job-flows (or routes) as paths, and linear programming technologies are applied to analyze the effective capacity on overall production and the constituent routes by considering both the individual resource ideal capacity and the expected resource sharing among different payloads (or jobs). Based on this simplified model, the efficiency analysis of production environments can be enabled in a cost effective manner without requiring time- consuming data collection and simulation, particularly as new customer demands being received or new resources (e.g. devices, or people) being acquired in production environments. Our proposed method demonstrates a greater adaptability to these changing conditions than other traditional methods.