Analysis of the Relationship Between Production Process Determinants and Production Flow Control Methods

Production flow control is a key area affecting the productivity of production systems. The use of an appropriate control method ensures that customer requirements are met while maintaining an acceptable level of production costs. In many cases, the choice of control method does not allow for significant improvements in production processes, as the known guidelines are not very detailed. This article presents research on the impact of factors related to products, production processes, and customer orders on, for example, the number of technological operations, the number of production stations, product demand (product, process, and order conditions—PPOC), and the effectiveness of production flow control methods. This research was conducted for selected product families (water and gas fittings) for which various production flow control solutions were developed. The most popular control methods were used: push–schedule, supermarket-type pull, sequential pull, mixed pull, and drum-buffer-rope. The criteria for evaluation were in-process stocks and lead time of materials in the production process. As a result of the ranking, relationships were identified by indicating how the values of PPOC factors affect the effectiveness of a given production flow control method. The results of this research can serve as guidelines for companies in selecting the most appropriate method of controlling production processes.