Abstract: Through in-depth study on the reliability of non-series manufacturing systems with buffers, the reliability model based on generalized stochastic Petri nets is built. The occurring of assembly and disassembly, the working procedures with assembly or disassembly carried out per different proportions, and the influence of buffer availability on the machine availability are considered emphatically. On the basis of this model, the buffer availability theorem is adopted for classification and solution of the state transition probabilities of buffer and machine itself respectively, and the corresponding buffer availability and equivalent machine availability are calculated. Moreover, through the function reliability index, overall evaluation of the reliability of the whole manufacturing workshop is carried out. By starting from factors of time variable and production volume, the delay of processing time of related work pieces caused by the blocking of transmission path and stock shortage due to the unbalance of productivity and too small buffer inventory is measured. A manufacturing assembly cell with three machines and two work pieces is taken as an example to verify the effectiveness of the model and analysis method.

Key words: Buffer availability, Function reliability, Generalized stochastic Petri nets, Non-series manufacturing systems, Reliability modeling