Analysis of Series-Parallel Production Networks without Buffers

Unreliable production networks are examined in this paper. The aim is to find simple quantitative models to compute average production and throughput rates for series-parallel production systems without buffers. This is done using elementary probability. The analysis of complex networks relies on existing results for simple series and parallel networks. Two exact algorithms are presented for computing average production. Computation of throughput rates is done approximately. Simulation studies showed that the approximations were good for a network for one work station connected in series with two parallel work stations. The main virtue of the results of the paper is their simplicity.