A simulation study on CONWIP system design for bicycle chain manufacturing

The aim of the study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of Constant Work-in-process (CONWIP) pull system to bike chain production. Two multi-CONWIP production systems (developed by Kaizen, as well as by looking at the bottlenecks) were proposed to prevent WIP accumulations. Simulation was performed on the average lead time and the total WIP of the two multi-CONWIP systems in comparison with those of a current bike chain production system. Results of the comparisons showed that the Kaizen multi-CONWIP system outperformed all the other systems on the average lead time (with up to 42.8% improvements). The bottleneck multi-CONWIP system were able to reduce the WIP volume by over 50%, outperforming the Kaizen multi-CONWIP system and the current production system. These results show that multi-CONWIP has its potential in reducing production lead time and WIP and can better satisfy customer demands.