Research on enhancement of TOC Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope system using novel generic procedures

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) Simplified Drum-Buffer-Rope (SDBR) system works effectively in typical job shop environments. However, according to the experiences implementing SDBR system in local companies, such environments have the following characteristics, which may block SDBR implementation: (1) capacity constraint resources (CCR) is not always located in the middle of the routing as assumed in SDBR. The CCR can be located in either the front or back end of routing; (2) multiple or interactive CCRs can exist rather than the assumption of just one CCR; (3) order insertion, including urgent orders, change in due-date (especially bringing it forward) is common. Two ways may be applied to overcome these characteristics: (1) move back to a traditional DBR; (2) address problems through the buffer management process. However, both these ways have limitations and complexities. This paper presents an alternative method enhancing SDBR system performance. With the enhancement, we expect that SDBR can be adopted by more companies, especially those that have the same characteristics.