THE AGILITY OF BUCKET BRIGADE PRODUCTION LINES
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Abstract:
Bucket brigade production lines can be configured to be spontaneously self-balancing. This confers an agility that is inherent, guaranteed, quantifiable, and stronger than conventional use of the term. We discuss the practical implications. In a "bucket brigade " production line there are fewer workers than stations. Workers carry product from station to subsequent station; then, when the last worker finishes an item, he returns to take over the item of his immediate predecessor, who returns to take over the work of his predecessor, and so on, until the first worker on the line starts a new item. The idea is that, by abolishing fixed work zones, workers can locally adjust how work is shared and so improve the instantaneous balance. However, we have discovered an even more powerful effect: If the workers are sequenced from slowest to fastest, then global balance will spontaneously emerge and the line will achieve the maximum production rate [Bartholdi and Eisenstein,
Citations
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| 2 | Design of bucket brigade production lines", submitted – Bartholdi, Eisenstein, et al. - 1995 |
| 2 | Dynamics of 2- and 3-worker "bucket brigade" production lines – Bartholdi, Bunimovich, et al. - 1995 |
| 1 | Dynamics of 2- and 3-worker \bucket brigade" production lines – Bartholdi, Bunimovich, et al. - 1995 |
