Abstract:

    The uncertainty of routing and processing time, the machine failure rate and the maintenance rate are 3 major stochastic factors affecting the stability of the remanufacturing system. Considering the effects of these stochastic factors, a time buffer model was built for the remanufacturing based on the drumbufferrope(DBR) technique. Taking the endoflife automobile engine as an example, combining the modelling and computer simulation, a complete remanufactruing time buffer control mechanism was established based on DBR to solve the uncertainties existed in the remanufacturing system. The simulation results show that the developed time buffer control mechanism improves the resource utilization of the bottle neck operation, cuts the average work in process(WIP) upstream the bottleneck and the total WIP, enhances the output rate of the system.

Key words: mechanical manufacture and automation, remanufacturing, time buffer, drumbufferrope technique, bottleneck, simulation