Some new results on the analysis and simulation of bucket brigades (self-balancing production lines)

The bucket brigades are self-balancing production lines where each human operator can move from one station to the next to continue working on a given part. When workers finish their job, they walk back to take over the ongoing work of their predecessor. For the bucket brigades, the line balancing emerges spontaneously. Several mathematical models have been proposed in literature for the analysis of bucket brigades, often where the basic assumptions seem to be too constraining. This paper analyses the behaviour of these lines when relaxing some of the usual restrictive assumptions. Two approaches are developed: analysis and simulation. An original analytical model is suggested and using this model, the sufficient condition of self-balancing for a finite backward velocity is studied. Then, a novel technique for the simulation of bucket brigades is proposed. This model uses the software Matlab/Simulink™. The results of simulation study are reported and analysed. The simulation model is flexible and easily extensible, in order to allow further embedding of complex dynamics which have not yet been considered.