The semi-automated chrome plating production line is similar to a flow-shop in that one job can be processed in only one machine; one machine cannot process more than one job at a time. The following are the characteristics of the production line:
So, the processing time for each batch is exactly 24 minutes. It seems that this leaves us very little room to manipulate anything. But what we are modeling is the setup and tear-down processes that are going on in the back-end
These 3 activities need to be completed within the time window constraint of 24 minutes, but in what order. The order of activities and equations needed to simulate the system are given below.
THE MODEL