On the Capacity of a Process with Batch Processing and Setup times

To appear in Production and Operations Management

31 Pages Posted: 14 Oct 2020 Last revised: 28 Jun 2021

See all articles by Zhichao Feng

Zhichao Feng

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Milind Dawande

University of Texas at Dallas - Department of Information Systems & Operations Management

Ganesh Janakiraman

University of Texas at Dallas - Naveen Jindal School of Management

Date Written: October 4, 2020

Abstract

While batch processes are ubiquitous across industries, there is little understanding of the determination of the capacity (i.e., the maximum long-term output rate) of such processes. In this paper, we consider processes with collaboration (activities may require multiple resources simultaneously) and multitasking (the same resource may be needed for multiple activities), and characterize the capacity of an arbitrary deterministic, single-product process with batch processing and (activity) setup times. Such a process can be viewed as an "intermittent" process in which production occurs in discrete quantities; specifically, in multiples of the batch size. To obtain a corresponding "smooth" process, we use the most natural transformation that eliminates batching and setups, and simply prorates the processing and setup time per flow unit. The main result of our analysis is that capacity remains unaffected in this transformation. Then, using recent developments in the literature on process capacity, the capacity of the transformed process can be obtained by computing the fractional chromatic number of an associated graph - this latter problem can be formulated as a linear program.

Keywords: process capacity, batch processing, setup times, collaboration, multitasking

Suggested Citation

Feng, Zhichao and Dawande, Milind and Janakiraman, Ganesh, On the Capacity of a Process with Batch Processing and Setup times (October 4, 2020). To appear in Production and Operations Management, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3704617 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3704617

Zhichao Feng (Contact Author)

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University ( email )

Hung Hom
Kowloon
Hong Kong

Milind Dawande

University of Texas at Dallas - Department of Information Systems & Operations Management ( email )

P.O. Box 830688
Richardson, TX 75083-0688
United States

Ganesh Janakiraman

University of Texas at Dallas - Naveen Jindal School of Management ( email )

P.O. Box 830688
Richardson, TX 75083-0688
United States

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