Influence of Storage Bin Capacity on the Average Standstill Time of a Production Line

We consider an automatic machine tool line with storage bins at some points. Let P be the probability that a line without bins is in disrepair, and $\Pi $ the probability that the same line with bins is in disrepair. A method of calculating $\Pi / P $ is given, which is approximate for more than one bin. The optimum location of the bins minimizing $\Pi / P $ is given in § 4.