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A problem relating to the manufacture of automotive body panels concerns the appropriate choice of production size or batch quantity of a body panel production run that ensures a minimum inventory profile is maintained while not compromising production efficiency. Due to underlying variation within the body panel production process it is difficult to determine a relationship between the batch quantity and production efficiency. This thesis determines the appropriate production batch size through the creation of an iterative modelling methodology that initially examines the nature of the variation within the panel production process. Further iterations of the methodology apply appropriate analytical modelling methods until a satisfactory solution is achieved. The modelling construction is designed so that it is potentially applicable to a wider range of manufacturing problems. As there is variation inherent within the system, regression analysis, experimental design (traditional and Taguchi) are considered. Since an objective of creating the modelling methodology is the potential of apply the methodology to a wider variety of manufacturing problems, additional modelling methods are assessed. These include the operational research methods of mathematical programming (linear and non-linear and dynamic programming) and queuing systems. To model discrete and continuous behaviour of a manufacturing system, the application of hybrid automata is considered. Thus a suite of methodologies are assessed that assess variation, optimisation and networks of manufacturing systems. Through the iterative stages of the modelling approach, these analytical methods can be applied as appropriate to converge on to the appropriate solution for the problem under investigation. The appropriate methods identified to quantify a relationship between the batch production quantity and production efficiency include regression modelling and traditional experimental design. The conclusion drawn from the application of both methods is that relative to the inherent variation present in the production system, lower batch quantities can be chosen for production runs without affecting the production performance. Consequently, a minimum inventory profile can be maintained satisfying the objective of a lean system. |
