Evaluation of postponement in manufacturing systems with non-negligible changeover times
This article aims to examine the cost or benefit implications of employing postponement in the manufacturing environments characterised by non-negligible changeover times incurred when switching production from one product to another. Four manufacturing configurations are distinguished based on the choice of manufacturing technology and on whether or not postponement is employed. Analytical evaluation methods based on queuing models are used to assess operational measures for each configuration and solution algorithms are developed to determine the optimal decisions that may include stocking level, batch size and differentiation point. A numerical experiment is carried out to identify how the system performance is affected by different parameters.
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe maintenance in a generic process model, in order to support an alignment of maintenance with other company internal processes aimed at fulfilling external stakeholder requirements.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed maintenance process model is based on existing theories and is illustrated by examples from a paper‐mill case study related to the maintenance of DC‐motors.Findings – The proposed model supports a holistic view of maintenance and the alignment of the maintenance process with other company internal processes, in order to fulfil external stakeholder requirements.Research limitations/implications – Further research could include an application of the proposed maintenance model to test its usefulness to identify stakeholders and also hazard diagnosis.Practical implications – The importance of vertical and horizontal alignment between the maintenance process and other processes in order to achieve effectiveness and efficiency is illustrated....