Romero-Silva, Rodrigo
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Romero-Silva, Rodrigo
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Romero Silva, Rodrigo
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rromeros
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Serial production line performance under random variation : dealing with the "law of variability"

2019 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Marsillac, Erika , Shaaban, Sabry , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

Many Queueing Theory and Production Management studies have investigated specific effects of variability on the performance of serial lines since variability has a significant impact on performance. To date, there has been no single summary source of the most relevant research results concerned with variability, particularly as they relate to the need to better understand the ‘Law of Variability’. This paper fills this gap and provides readers the foundational knowledge needed to develop intuition and insights on the complexities of stochastic simple serial lines, and serves as a guide to better understand and manage the effects of variability and design factors related to improving serial production line performance, i.e. throughput, inter-departure time and flow time, under random variation. © 2019 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers

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A framework for studying practical production scheduling

2014 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Santos, Javier , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

The aim of this paper is to present what we believe are the most relevant findings and results regarding practical scheduling in order to define practical production scheduling and create a framework that helps researchers to study the various topics that fall under the umbrella of practical production scheduling and to identify the current state of knowledge for each topic. Studies from different fields were analysed and included in this paper, contributing significant knowledge to build a definition of practical production scheduling. Finally, we discuss the applicability that scheduling, as a task, could have in real companies.

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Exploiting the characteristics of serial queues to reduce the mean and variance of flow time using combined priority rules

2018 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Shaaban, Sabry , Marsillac, Erika , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

This paper addresses the trade-off challenge from reducing either the mean or variance of flow time when using simple sequencing rules in balanced, multi-class, serial queues. Study results show that instead of the expected zero sum situation, a balance between the two objectives can be achieved by assigning different priority rules to different queues. The order of priority rule assignments in different queues is shown to be relevant because variability along the line creates unbalanced queue lengths for each station, depending on the characteristics of the line. Thus, it was found that a simple heuristic for reducing both the mean and the variance of flow time in non-heavy traffic environments is to assign the first queue a priority rule that reduces its mean queue length while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time. Conversely, for very-high traffic environments, performance improvements are shown from assigning the first queue a priority rule that reduces the variance of flow time while assigning the other queues a priority rule that reduces queue length. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

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A note on defining organisational systems for contingency theory in OM

2018 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Santos, Javier , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

This paper aims to improve the applicability and relevance of contingency theory research in the field of Operations Management. Based on the results of previous studies, we have identified a systems-based single definition of organisation types that could describe the fit between organisational environment and organisational structure. This definition of organisation type, which we call an ‘organisational system’, regards the organisation as an integrated whole instead of as a sum of its parts and can help to better classify organisations in order to identify fits between organisation types and emerging practices in Operations Management. © 2019, © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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A conceptual framework of the applicability of production scheduling from a contingency theory approach: addressing the theory-practice gap

2022 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Santos, Javier , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

In the last century, there was a general perception that scheduling theory was highly irrelevant to scheduling practice. Many recent studies, however, have suggested that the applicability of scheduling approaches is highly intertwined with the manufacturing environment in which the scheduling task is carried out. In this paper we used the constructs of Contingency Theory to suggest specific fits between scheduling approaches and manufacturing environments, after suggesting that the theory-practice gap in production scheduling research has been caused by three issues: (a) simplification of scheduling problems, (b) simplification of the practical scheduling task as a decision process, and (c) lack of relevance of the traditional scheduling approach to all manufacturing environments. Furthermore, we suggest that the dynamism of the state of the system and the complexity of the scheduling problem are the two constituting vectors that define the complexity of the scheduling task. We use both vectors to identify different types of manufacturing environments and propose specific fits with scheduling approaches. Finally, we hypothesize that the fit between scheduling approaches and manufacturing environments is only relevant in environments with high resource utilization where the scheduling task could have a bigger impact on a firm’s performance, and present three case studies to better exemplify the relevance of the conceptual framework. ©2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Alineación entre métodos y necesidades de programación de la producción

2016 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Santos García, Javier , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

Este artículo sugiere una alineación entre entornos de producción y metodologías de programación de la producción de acuerdo a las necesidades de programación de cada tipo de entorno de producción. El estudio considera dos tipos de entornos de planificación y, dependiendo de sus necesidades de planificación, propone los métodos que mejor se puedan ajustar para soportar la tarea de la programación de la producción

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The effects of supply variability on the performance of assembly systems

2022 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

Assembly processes play a big role in the current business context as global supply chains depend on many subcomponents to produce a single finished product. Previous studies have shown contrasting results regarding the effect that supply variability (the variability of feeding stations) has on the performance of assembly systems, as opposed to the variability of the station matching and assembling the components. This paper aims to close this gap by studying the behaviour of simple assembly systems with differing degrees of variability allocation among the stations through an experimental simulation study. Results suggest that a reduction in feeding station variability results in higher throughput, even in systems where the variability of one of the feeding stations increases while the other decreases. Furthermore, in scenarios with high total variance, the highest throughput is reached by transferring both variance and work from one of the feeding stations to any other station, whereas in low variance systems symmetrical work transfer to the feeding stations results in the highest throughput, as previously shown. Finally, reducing feeding station variability decreased the time spent in the assembly station (waiting time for component matching plus time for the assembly operation) only in experiments with high total variance. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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Reducing the variability of inter-departure times of a single-server queueing system : the effects of skewness

2019 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Marsillac, Erika , Shaaban, Sabry , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

A critical performance measure in serial production lines is the variability of inter-departure times of a single-server queue. Increasing upstream inter-departure time variability generates greater downstream variability, diminishing overall line performance. Theory suggests that the variability of inter-departure times of a single-server queue is reduced by decreasing the variance of inter-arrival and service times. This study investigates the effects of the skewness of inter-arrival and service time distributions on the variability of inter-departure times. Contrary to previous results suggesting that mean waiting times of a GI/G/1 queue can be reduced by increasing inter-arrival time skewness, this experimental study of a GI/G/1 queue with triangular inter-arrival and service times shows that the inter-departure time coefficient of variation is reduced through a combination of negative inter-arrival time skewness and positive service time skewness. These results also suggest that the absolute value of the negative autocorrelation between consecutive departures is reduced by the same combination of negative inter-arrival time skewness and positive service time skewness for low values of server's utilization, while positive skewness for both inter-arrival and service times reduces this value for high values of server's utilization. Finally, it was found that queue capacity constraints increase the coefficient of variation of inter-departure times, as has been previously suggested, as well as the skewness and the absolute correlation values of the inter-departure time distribution. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

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The difference of mean waiting times between two classes of customers in a single-server FIFO queue: An experimental study

2017 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita

Previous studies have shown that the distribution of mean waiting times of different classes of customers is different for each class in a GI/G/1 queue with FIFO discipline. This experimental simulation study is motivated by those results as it investigates which are the conditions causing a difference of mean waiting times between two classes of customers using a FIFO discipline. Results from the study show that having a difference in the squared coefficient of variation of inter-arrival times between classes is the most important factor to determine whether a difference of mean waiting times between two classes exists. Furthermore, if a difference of mean service times between the two classes exists, the class with the highest mean service time will tend to have the smallest mean waiting time between the two classes, resulting in an unfair policy.

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Is the scheduling task context-dependent? A survey investigating the presence of constraints in different manufacturing contexts

2016 , Romero-Silva, Rodrigo , Hurtado-Hernandez, Margarita , Santos, Javier

Most studies regarding real scheduling constraints only consider the constraints related to the specific manufacturing environment studied, limiting the possibility of drawing general conclusions. A survey of 50 companies was conducted in order to discover which constraints were present and what their relationship was with the scheduling context. This paper investigates which practical scheduling constraints are present in the manufacturing industry and whether the scheduling task is context-dependent. Results of this study show that some practical production constraints are context-dependent. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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