Transient analysis to design buffer capacity in dairy filling and packing production lines

In dairy filling and packing lines, due to line unbalance, extra time is required for the upstream filling station with lower production rate to work in advance to build work-in-process so that the downstream packing station can operate at a higher productivity during a shift to achieve the desired production volume. In this paper, we present a study to determine the buffer capacity in such lines through transient analysis. We evaluate the system production rate and work-in-process during transients, the necessary extra time of the filling station, the system operating time, and the blockage and starvation of the filling and packing stations, respectively, for different buffer capacities. In addition, we investigate the impacts of filling station efficiency and initial inventory on system performance. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.