Comparing different strategies for the allocation of improvement programmes in a flow shop environment.

We conducted a simulation to compare the following two strategies for the allocation of improvement programmes in a flow shop environment with a single product type: (i) the allocation of improvement programmes focused on the capacity constraint resource and (ii) the allocation of improvement programmes distributed along the production line. Our results show that when the utilisation of the restrained resource is high and the difference in the processing time between the restrained resource and the non-constrained resource is significant (higher than 5 %), the allocation of improvement programmes focused on the capacity constraint resource is the best choice. Because utilisation of the restrained resource and the difference between the restrained resource and the non-constrained resource diminish, there are a growing number of cases in which the distributed strategy prevails. Based on our results, a third strategy is proposed, as follows: the allocation of improvement programmes distributed equally upstream from the restrained resource, including the restrained resource itself. Our results suggest that the third strategy is an interesting choice for situations in which focusing large improvements on the constrained resource is impracticable and the utilisation of this resource is high. Finally, we present an algorithm that enables production managers in a practical situation to make a proper choice among the three allocation strategies tested in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]