The Streamlining Company manufactures various types of automobile parts. Its factory has several production lines, all versions of the series system in Figure 14.30, with varying numbers of stations...

The Streamlining Company manufactures various types of automobile parts. Its factory has several production lines, all versions of the series system in Figure 14.30, with varying numbers of stations and machines. In an effort to improve operations, the company wants to gain some insights into how average throughput times and other output measures are affected by various inputs. (The throughput time is the elapsed time from when a part enters the system until it finishes processing at all stations.) Specific questions of interest include the following:

Objective To use simulation to learn how the inputs to the system, including the configuration of buffers, affect such output measures as throughput times.