LAUSR

Abstract The complexity of manufacturing systems makes the accurate prediction of production throughput difficult because of many variables. Continuously developing and implementing scientific methods can advance the understanding of the throughput of complex manufacturing systems. This throughput study addresses the main factors of manufacturing systems in the setting of a serial line. The factors include the reliability and cycle time of workstations, the length of a manufacturing line, and the capacity and locations of internal buffers in a manufacturing line. To effectively study these factors, the authors propose and use Design of Experiments (DOE) and Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) to analyze and predict the throughput of a manufacturing system under different settings. The study results provide a new understanding of the impacts of these factors on the production throughput of serial manufacturing lines. The study outcomes can be a valued reference for the development of such complex manufacturing systems to achieve the desired throughput.