Operation strategies for a shoe batch manufacturing system

A computer simulation model has been developed of a manufacturing system which produces a multi-style, multi-size product range, and which utilizes multiple stations machines. Manufacturing systems of this type can be found in the shoe and textile industries. The model has been used to examine such a system in relation to its major variables, and under different operating and control rules. The utilization of a factorial design has allowed the identification of the main effects and interactions between the major variables, which provided information about the mechanisms governing the system's behaviour. [Continues.]