Analysis of Operating Strategies in Test/Repair Areas

When a manufacturing environment involves test/repair cycles (until the product is judged defect free), many operating strategies effect the overall performance as measured by the service level, required capacity and safety stock. These relationships, in turn, depend on the process parameters like yield, set up time and product mix. In this paper, we develop a simple model to express these relationships and bring out underlying tradeoffs. We also quantify the advantages of the additional flexibility afforded by reduced set up times. Finally, we evaluate the contribution of the test/repair area to the overall variability of the manufacturing interval under various demand patterns and scheduling strategies.