Comparison of push and pull systems with transporters: A metamodelling approach

This paper analyses push and pull systems with transportation consideration. A multiproduct, multiline, multistage production system was used to compare the two systems. The effects of four factors (processing time variation, demand variation, transporters, batch size) on throughput rate, average waiting time in the system and machine utilization were studied. The study uses metamodels to compare the two systems. They serve a dual purpose of expressing system performance measures in the form of a simple equation and reducing computational time when comparing the two systems. Research shows that the number of transporters used and the batch size have a significant effect on the performance measures of both systems.