Optimal Job Releasing and Sequencing for a Reentrant Manufacturing Line with Finite Capacity Buffers

This paper presents an optimal policy for the problems of job releasing and sequencing in an adapted version of a benchmark reentrant manufacturing line (RML). We consider a finite state space and an infinite horizon discounted cost optimization criteria. The resulting optimal policy provides a trade-off between throughput maximization (i.e., profits) and minimization of inventory costs. The policy is defined by two indexes of the inventory costs, profits, system parameters, and discount factor. Results show that when no profits are obtained, the policy also presents Blackwell optimality characteristics. In addition, the optimal policy reflects the effect of discounted and undiscounted profits during state transition intervals