1990 年 56 巻 529 号 p. 2516-2520
In this paper, we consider an approximate solution method for a production rate in a multistage automatic transfer line. In this line, each stage has an unequal operation cycle time, and the number of machines installed in each stage is different. The approximate method consists of two steps. In step 1, the above line is replaced with the equivalent series line with one machine and equal operation cycle time using an imaginary buffer capacity. In step 2, the production rate of the equivalent series line is estimated by Yamashita and Suzuki's method. From the comparison between the approximate solution and the solution obtained by the Markov model or simulation method, it is demonstrated that the error is very small when the buffer capacity is greater than 2, and the error in step 1 disappears as the buffer capacity increases. Next we numerically analyze the effect of the number of machines and the position of the stage with more than one machines on the production rate.