Increasing availability of production flow lines through optimal buffer sizing: a simulative study

In flow shop highly automated production lines the absence or undersize of inter-operational buffer between consecutive stations is an occurrence as frequent as detrimental for the productivity of the entire production line. A correct sizing of buffers mitigates or even eliminates the propagation, on the entire production line, of small inefficiencies due to stops and / or slowdowns of the single station. This paper describes a simulation approach to investigate the effect buffer between two successive stations and measure its effects in terms of change in the overall efficiency of the line. A wide range of typical production parameter is considered. This allows to extend the paper results to many different production system and to evidence some interesting analogies in production effectiveness behavior depending on buffer size. The introduction of an analytic experimental relation allows to describe the evidenced behavior and to size the buffer without need for further simulations.