A Class of Optimal Operation Planning for Kanban Managed Multi-Stage Production System

This paper deals with the evaluation of an operation planning for a multi-stage, single-product kanban managed production system with varying production rates at different work-stages. Raw materials are replenished at the first work-stage and processed through multi-work-stages to generate the finished products. Simultaneous releases of kanbans are considered to determine the orders of raw parts at all stages. The study pursued is to determine the optimal orders of raw materials at the first work-stage with a varying (linear) demand pattern to minimize the total inventory cost incurred due to raw materials, finished products and work-in-process (WIP) inventories. This decision eventually determines the number of kanbans at each stage, and the economic deliveries of the finished products. This paper further studies the effect of the configuration of the production rates at different work-stages on the total inventory cost. Simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed optimal operation planning mechanism for the multi-stage kanban managed production system