Date/Time
Date(s) - July 19, 2019
11:35 am - 12:45 pm

Location
CSE 107

Categories No Categories

James R. Morrison, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Kaist, South Korea

Abstract: Flow Line Theory and Applications in Smart Production Systems

Flow lines, or tandem queues, can serve as prototypical models for a host of systems including assembly lines and semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Despite having been studied since the 1960’s, there remain many unresolved issues and opportunities. We review classic results in the theory of regular flow lines and consider systems featuring practical extensions of the classic systems. For these extended systems, we demonstrate the existence of recursions for the customer exit times. These recursions imply partial or complete server reordering principles that can then, under some conditions, be exploited to identify queueing systems with the same queueing behavior as in the extended flow line systems.

An understanding of flow line theory has implications for smart production systems. We demonstrate how flow line models can be used to support optimization of equipment operation in high technology manufacturing. Next, we show how flow line behaviors enable the development of new simulation models for manufacturing systems that are expressive, accurate, and computationally tractable. The new models are of particular interest as the current models for cluster tools, which are increasingly common in next-generation manufacturing, can be substantially inaccurate. Finally, further implications and future directions in theory, simulation, and optimization are mentioned.