Optimality of the Symmetric Workload Allocation in a Single-Server Flow Line System

Hyoungtae Kim and Sungsoo Park
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Hyoungtae Kim: Machine Tool & FA Division, Daewoo Heavy Industries, 601-3 Namsan-Dong, Changwon, Kyungnam 641-090, Korea
Sungsoo Park: Department of Industrial Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Gusong-Dong, Yusong-Gu, Taejon 305-701, Korea

Management Science, 1999, vol. 45, issue 3, 449-451

Abstract: This paper provides a proof of the symmetrical allocation property (SAP), conjectured in an earlier work on the workload allocation problem for a manufacturing flow line system. The system consists of N single-Erlang servers in series having a common interstation buffer capacity. SAP says a symmetric workload allocation exists among the optimal solutions. We first show the reciprocal of the throughput is increasing and jointly convex, not component-wisely, in workloads. Then we apply the line reversibility property to obtain an alternative optimal allocation symmetric for any optimal workload allocation that is asymmetric. A sufficient condition for SAP to hold is also given, which relaxes the hypothesizing assumptions on the service-time distribution and interstation buffer capacities.

Keywords: flow line system; symmetric workload allocation; tandem queues (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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