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John Anthony Fresco
Part time student
Self-Structuring Drum Buffer Rope System
Research Project Outline
The Drum-Buffer-Rope methodology initially involves identifying the process within the manufacturing system that governs its throughput, ie the bottleneck. This process then determines the sequence with which individual work area schedules are developed within the system. This research, undertaken by an EPSRC research student, combined Genetic Algorithms with a simulation modelling system and used the integrated system to automatically identify the bottleneck process, the work areas for which schedules need to be developed, and the positions for buffer stocks. It then went on to develop optimum schedules and buffer sizes. Automating this process enabled quick system responses to be made to large variations in customer demands.
The research involved the use of Genetic Algorithms to undertake the complete range of operations planning functions within a manufacturing system controlled using the Theory of Constraints "drum-buffer-rope" procedures. It again integrates GAs with simulation but now uses the simulation models to identify critical planning points in the system such as the positions for buffers and schedules.
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