Discrete tandem (DT) production lines, such as transfer lines, form the heart of critical industries such as the automobile industry, and are highly capital intensive. This effort aims to enhance the tools available for design optimization of DT lines. The approach involves using simulations of continuous tandem (CT) lines, where the product in the line is continuous fluid. This has the potential of resulting in more efficient simulations, and much faster optimization schemes--with perhaps two orders of magnitude reduction in CPU times when these two possibilities are combined. The methodology involves: (i) studying how to create accurate CT representations of DT lines, (ii) devising fast optimization schemes for these CT simulations, and (iii) translating the results to near-optimal DT line parameters. This research focuses on one configuration of a production line, it should make a fundamental contribution to the state-of- the-art in manufacturing systems analysis. It has the potential to provide a richer set of tools for analysis of other types of discrete manufacturing systems. It is expected that this research will have a short term practical impact and a longer term theoretical impact.
