Several researchers have previously studied the problem of allocating buffer storage to maximize the throughput rate and/or minimize the mean buffer average of a transfer line for a given total amount of buffer space. But there seems to be very little difference in performance between intuitively reasonable and optimal allocations. This paper proposes and illustrates a methodology, based on the robust design concept of Taguchi, to allocate buffer storage of long transfer lines with a given total amount of buffer capacity when up and down times follow exponential distributions, respectively. We show how this procedure using simple heuristic rule can be used for design of long transfer lines.