Equivalence relations in queueing models of manufacturing networks

Fundamental equivalence properties, which include transfer line reversibility, are established for queuing models of manufacturing networks. The basic tool used for arriving at these properties is the analysis of hole (or empty space) motion in the networks. Specifically, it is shown that networks can be grouped into equivalence classes, where members of the same class can have different layouts. The relationship among the performance measures of members of the same class is exhibited. These results are of interest to designers of manufacturing systems. A simple queuing network model is used to introduce and prove these results. However, the same properties can be shown to hold for more realistic models.