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Efficient algorithms for buffer space allocation

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Abstract

This paper describes efficient algorithms for determining how buffer space should be allocated in a flow line. We analyze two problems: a primal problem, which minimizes total buffer space subject to a production rate constraint; and a dual problem, which maximizes production rate subject to a total buffer space constraint. The dual problem is solved by means of a gradient method, and the primal problem is solved using the dual solution. Numerical results are presented. Profit optimization problems are natural generalizations of the primal and dual problems, and we show how they can be solved using essentially the same algorithms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02139‐4307, USA

    Stanley B. Gershwin

  2. Analytics, Inc., 101 Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA

    James E. Schor

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  1. Stanley B. Gershwin
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  2. James E. Schor
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Gershwin, S.B., Schor, J.E. Efficient algorithms for buffer space allocation. Annals of Operations Research 93, 117–144 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1018988226612

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