Lot start agent that determines delta virtual WIP time for each bottleneck station in a multi-product and multi-bottleneck manufacturing environment

An automated system in a facility that manufactures m product(s), where m≧1, comprising:

• a virtual factory, the virtual factory containing objects corresponding to physical elements of the facility that manufactures m products;
• and
• a software object that provides for calculation of one or more bottleneck delta virtual work in process time (“VWIP”) values, each of the one or more bottleneck delta VWIP values representing the amount of time until one of n bottleneck workstations begins to risk starvation, where n>0;
• wherein the software object further provides for calculation of each of the one or more bottleneck delta VWIP values as a mathematical function of virtual WIP time for the corresponding bottleneck workstation and a lower control limit for the corresponding bottleneck workstation.

An automated system in a facility that manufactures m product(s), where m≧1 comprising:

• a virtual factory, the virtual factory containing objects corresponding to physical elements of the facility that manufactures m products;
• and
• a software object that provides for calculation of one or more bottleneck delta virtual work in process time (“VWIP”) values, each of the one or more bottleneck delta VWIP values representing the amount of time until one of n bottleneck workstations begins to risk starvation, where n>0;
• wherein the software object further provides for calculating a lower control limit (LCL) for the corresponding bottleneck workstation as a mathematical function of a safety factor (SF) and a weighted lead time (Lw).

A manufacturing facility that manufactures m product(s) where m≧1, comprising:

• n bottleneck workstations;
• a virtual factory the virtual factory containing objects corresponding to physical elements of the facility that manufactures m products including the n bottleneck workstations;
• and
• a software object that provides for calculation of a plurality of bottleneck delta virtual work in process time (“VWIP”)values, each of the plurality of bottleneck delta VWIP values representing the time until a corresponding one of the n bottleneck workstations begins to risk starvation, where n>2.

A manufacturing facility that manufactures m product(s), where m≧1, comprising:

• n bottleneck workstations;
• a virtual factory the virtual factory containing objects corresponding to physical elements of the facility that manufactures m products including the n bottleneck workstations;
• and
• a software object that provides for calculation of one or more bottleneck delta virtual work in process time (“VWIP”) values, each of the one or more bottleneck delta VWIP values representing the time until a corresponding one of the n bottleneck workstations begins to risk starvation, where n>0;
• wherein the software object further provides for calculation of each of the one or more bottleneck delta VWIP values as a mathematical function of a virtual WIP time for the corresponding bottleneck workstation and a lower control limit for the corresponding bottleneck workstation.