Abstract
In automatic production lines, the effectiveness of instaling buffer storages decreases as the mean repair time becomes longer.Therefore, a larger buffer capacity must be provdied for a higher production rate and the production engineers must consider the buffer cost and space. This paper discusses the effect of paralleling the series lines and analyze the effectiveness of it. Especially, the effect of the paralleling on the buffer capacity is discussed using an imaginary buffer capacity. Consequently, it is shown that paralling is very useful to increase the production rate by a small buffer capacity.
