A collaborative production model for products with components of different colors

In traditional manufacture enterprises, a popular production mode is parallel lines within a department and sequential between departments. Such production mode may cause a large buffer between departments, long and complex transportation routes, and components mismatched at the assembly department. Based on the concept of collaborative production, this paper proposes a mathematical model and relative algorithm for collaborative production of products with components of different colors. A case study has been used to validate the proposed model, and the related future value stream mapping has been reached, compared with the current value stream mapping. The analysis results show that the proposed approach is promising.