A SLAM II simulation study of a simplified flow shop

Control of jobs being processed in a flow shop is important to management. Shop performance is affected by shop congestion, processing time variation, and the dispatching rule used to load the jobs. Most previous research has concentrated on the effects of varying these parameters in a job shop setting. A SLAM II net work model and simulation analysis of these parameter varia tions was applied in a two-work center flow shop. Performance of the flow shop was tested using combinations of 5 dispatching rules, 3 shop load levels, and 2 levels of processing time varia tion. Based on a series of performance measures, the shop using the shortest processing time dispatching rule in one work center and the due data based rule in the other compares favorably with the shop that used the shortest processing time rule in both work centers. Results indicate that shop congestion and process ing time variation affect the performance of the flow shop as well. Performances between the flow shop and job shop are com pared, and results indicate that the flow shop performance closely follows the job shop performance under the same dis patching rule at all work centers.