Production Control Systems: A Guide to Enhance Performance of Pull Systems

Selecting a suitable production control policy is a challenging task for managers because the superiority of one control over the other is controversial. This book analyzes pull production systems and provides a guideline to choose and implement a proper control policy in production processes. By employing a proper control policy the maximum possible throughput of the production system can be achieved with the minimum work-in-process inventory. Kanban, CONWIP, and base-stock as wellknown pull control policies are analyzed and analytical comparisons among them in multistage serial and assembly production processes are presented. Illustrated by carefully chosen examples and supported by analytical solutions, discussions provided in the book clarify the complexity of the comparisons that show there is no general superiority among the control systems. Th e book explains which structural parameters decide the superiority of one control scheme to the others, and how they are related. Given a confi guration of parameters, such as processing times and number of cards employed in the system, the superior control policy can be selected.

Dr. Yacob Khojasteh is an associate professor at the Graduate School of Global Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. He received his Ph.D. in engineering from the University of Tsukuba, Japan. He also received his M.Sc. in policy and planning sciences, and in industrial engineering from the University of Tsukuba, and Tarbiat Modares University, respectively. He has over six years of professional experience in industry and consulting. His research interests include production and operations management, supply chain management, logistics and warehousing, systems modeling and optimization, and lean production systems.