Synchronized manufacturing at final assembly and feeder shops

Many manufacturing environments consist of a final assembly shop that receives components from various feeder shops. Suppose the final assembly shop assembles a mix of products, each requiring varying amounts of different components. Thus, the sequence in which products are assembled imposes time-dependent demands on the feeder shops. Such problems are often found in the assembly of high-tech telecommunications systems and in the assembly of mixed models of automobiles. We develop a variety of models that link the work-in-process inventory in the feeder shop and the finished component inventory to the component production interval and the final assembly sequence. The manufacturing disciplines considered include push, look-ahead and kanban. Feeder shops are assumed to manufacture components continuously, periodically, or at a fixed lot size. Simple performance characteristics of the feeder shop are derived to provide insight into synchronized manufacturing issues and to help evaluate the effect of different final assembly sequences on feeder shops.