Production Line Throughput Estimation Using Bottleneck Subline Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for estimating production line throughput are complex and time-consuming, requiring extensive simulation setup and data input, making them inefficient for practical use in production management.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus that estimate production line throughput by obtaining process time and travel time parameters, selecting a bottleneck work station, calculating sub-throughput for bottleneck, upstream, and downstream sublines, and correcting process times to determine the overall production line throughput using simple data input.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If simulation environment is built on computer to estimate throughput, then throughput estimation can be obtained, but configuration is complex and long time is consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The production line is divided into multiple work stations with distinct process time parameters. Each work station is analyzed separately to identify bottleneck stations, and throughput is calculated by aggregating results from these segmented units rather than simulating the entire system at once.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention extracts only the essential parameters needed for throughput estimation (process time parameters of work stations, travel time parameters, and buffer quantities) from the complex simulation environment. By taking out these key parameters, the method achieves throughput estimation without requiring full simulation configuration.
2Measurement precision
If simulation environment is built on computer to estimate throughput, then throughput estimation can be obtained, but long time is consumed
Solution Approach 1:
The method performs preliminary classification of work stations into bottleneck stations and non-bottleneck stations based on process time parameters before calculation. This preliminary action allows the invention to focus computational resources only on critical stations, significantly reducing the time required compared to simulating all work stations equally.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the approach from time-consuming simulation to parameter-based calculation. By using process time parameters, travel time parameters, and buffer quantities directly in mathematical calculations, the method achieves rapid throughput estimation without the iterative time consumption of simulation.
3Measurement precision
If complex simulation configuration is used, then throughput estimation can be achieved, but simple data input is not sufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts and uses only the minimal necessary data inputs (process time parameters of each work station, travel time parameters between stations, and buffer quantities) to achieve throughput estimation. This eliminates the need for complex simulation configuration while maintaining estimation accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
The present application relates to a method and apparatus for estimating throughput of a production line, the method including: a data obtaining step, a bottleneck work station selecting step, a first correcting step, a second correcting step as well as a throughput estimating step.