Flow lines with limited buffers: Dekomposition approach for exponential processing times

A flow line comprising M stations with finite buffers and exponential processing times is decomposed into M subsystems, which are modelled with the help of a single-server lost-arrival queueing model.

If no external arrival rate is entered, first algorithm 5.3 as described in Buzacott/Shanthikumar (1993), Chapter 5, is used to compute the maximum throughput of the flow line.

With known external arrival rate algorithm 5.1 as described in Buzacott/Shanthikumar (1993), Chapter 5, is used to compute the work-in--process.

Assumptions:

• exponential distributed processing times at all stations

Literature:

- Buzacott/Shanthikumar (1993), S. 195-200
- Dallery, Y. und Y. Frein, On Decomposition Methods for Tandem Queueing Networks with Blocking, in: Operations Research 41(1993), S. 386-399