Simulation-based performance comparison between assembly lines and assembly cells with real-time distributed arrival time control system

This paper presents the results of a simulation-based performance comparison between assembly lines (AL) and assembly cells (AC) manufacturing systems with real-time distributed arrival time for just-in-time (JIT)-oriented production environment. This research adds to the sparse body of literature in this area. The previous performance comparisons were made in smaller scalability because of the combinational problem. In addition, the comparisons were addressed in centralised and hierarchical systems. In this paper, the distributed arrival time control (DATC) system is used to make performance comparison of two manufacturing systems scalable and practical in the heterarchical manufacturing system. It expands the range of the comparison between AL and AC into a real-time environment. In addition, this research includes four levels of the number of stations, four levels of assembly task time standard deviations, and two levels of system types. The results indicate that assembly cells have the ability to outperform assembly lines for the orientation of JIT production and to handle a wide range of variability with little change in mean squared deviation. It also shows that distributed arrival time control system can provide the stability of the scheduling of the manufacturing system.