OPTIMAL INPUT RATES TO A SYSTEM OF MANUFACTURING CELLS.

A manufacturing system capable of processing multiple part types generates input, at a given rate, R, to a set of m cells. Each cell processes a certain type of parts and has its own production and buffer capacities. We study the problem of allocating the production rate, R, among the m cells, such that the total throughput over all m cells will be maximized, while the blocking probabilities will be kept below a given set of limits. An optimization problem is formulated, which maximizes a concave function over a convex set. An algorithm is developed, which fully exploits the problem structure and efficiently generates the optimal solution. Several extensions of the model are also discussed.