Quantitative analysis of a transfer production line with Andon

In this paper, analytical models are developed to study the performance of a transfer production line featuring Andon. In addition to providing analytical expressions to evaluate effective production rates, we investigate conditions under which Andon should be introduced and implemented. Some practical rules are derived to guide operations management on the factory floor. We show that when average repair times are short, introducing Andon to stop the line and repair all defects on the line is an effective way to achieve a high throughput of non-defective jobs.