4.2.2. Assumptions
The simulation models have been developed with the
following assumptions: (1) the machines are all reliable; (2) the first station will never starve
for materials; (3) finished goods are being checked out at the end of each period; (4) the
travelling time of the kanban signal is negligible; (5) the travelling time of the WIP between
stations is insigni- ficant when compared to the processing time; (6) the machine can perform
only one type of operation at a time; (7) the due date and the demand sizes of all parts are known;
(8) a virtual message is available at the beginning of the simulation to initiate the first
production run in the Hybrid system; and (9) six virtual messages are available at the beginning
of the simulation to initiate the first production
run in the Pull system.