A New Algorithm for Buffer Allocation in Production Lines

In the paper a new efficient algorithm for the allocation of storage capacity in serial production lines is derived. The proposed method aims to find out the distribution of storage capacity between machines that minimizes the total buffer space assigned to the line satisfying a target production requirement. The algorithm relies on an iterative scheme that, starting from the minimal capacity required in each buffer to meet the production requirement, proceeds increasing the capacity of buffers until the target production rate is reached. At each iteration the buffer corresponding to the largest component of the gradient of production rate with respect to each buffer capacity is selected and its capacity is increased by a small amount of space. The effect of such an increasing is then estimated by applying the decomposition technique to the resulting line. Preliminary numerical results shows that the buffers distribution provided by the algorithm is optimal or near optimal and that the convergence is rapidly reached.