... buffers(e.g., two-machine lines with buffers of capacity less than six). Finally, as it wasmentioned in the Introduction, initial results on lean level of buffering in serial lineswith Rayleigh ... time).Remark 3. Although, as it is well known (Hillier and So, 1991b), the optimalallocation of a fixed total buffer capacity is non-uniform, to simplify the analysis weconsider only uniform allocations. ... large (typically, within 20%). Based on theseobservations, an empirical law for calculating the lean level of buffering as a func-tion of machine efficiency, line efficiency, the number of machines...