Modeling and Simulating of Time Buffer Control for Engine Remanufacturing System

Time buffer is a common control strategy that drum-buffer-rope (DBR) method applies to achieve production planning and process control in manufacturing system. The effect of time buffer control is hard to be verified as to reduce uncertainty in remanufacturing system and improve production performance. In this paper the end-of-life engine remanufacturing flow simulation model was developed. And then time buffer control simulation model was founded and experimented dynamically with four uncertainty factors in remanufacturing system including processing time and routing uncertainty, machine failures rate and repair rate. Outcomes from experimental simulations show that time buffer control enables resource utilization of bottleneck increase, average work in process (WIP) decrease and system productivity improve.