Push Can Perform Better than Pull for Flexible Manufacturing Systems with Multiple Products

We study the performance of a flexible manufacturing line producing multiple products under different material control strategies. Specifically, we compare the throughput versus average inventory characteristics when the line operates under pure pull and pure push strategies. Using simulation we show that the pure push strategy has a higher throughput for a given level of inventory than the pure pull strategy in systems with product mix changes affecting demands and processing times of the different products. The better performance of the pure push strategy suggests that specific hybrid (push/pull) strategies might be required to control production on such lines.