Analysis of Production systems with Variable Transfer Batch Size

In this paper, we propose a new queueing networks decomposition method for the analysis of production systems with variable transfer batch sizes. In many production and manufacturing systems, jobs arrive in batches and they are moved between stations also in batches. Batching decisions have a considerable impact on costs and lead times. Most of the literature assumes that the batch size remains constant throughout the process. However, in many real-life situations, different transfer batch sizes are used between stations due to practicality or different setup times. We consider queueing network models that incorporate this feature. Since exact analysis is possible for only a limited class of queuing networks, the decomposition methodology is used to obtain approximate results.