Abstract: | In this paper, we present a direct method for solving linear systems of a block‐Toeplitz matrix with each block being a near‐circulant matrix. The direct method is based on the fast Fourier transform (FFT) and the Sherman–Morrison–Woodbury formula. We give a cost analysis for the proposed method. The method is then applied to solve the steady‐state probability distribution of a hybrid manufacturing system which consists of a manufacturing process and a re‐manufacturing process. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |