6.1: Introduction

Previously, the effect on part lead time when the current machine at a workstation was replaced with a new machine with less variance in operating time was studied. In this chapter, a more extensive study of a single workstation is performed using both analytic and simulation models in a complementary fashion. The effects of operational detractors, batching with setup, machine downtime, and part reworking are analyzed. Again, such a study can be done before a new machine is acquired to help validate the future state in a lean transformation. The workstation operates on one independently identifiable part at a time. The part resides in an input buffer while waiting for processing.

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