A measurement method of routing flexibility in manufacturing systems

Abstract

This paper focuses on routing flexibility, which is the ability to manufacture a part type via several routes and/or to perform different operations on more than one machine. Specifically, the paper presents a comprehensive method for the measurement of routing flexibility, in a generic manufacturing system. The problem is approached in a modular way, starting from a basic set of flexibility indexes. These are progressively extended to include more comprehensive and complex routing attributes, such as: the average efficiency, the range and the homogeneous distribution of the alternative routes. Two procedures are finally proposed to compare manufacturing systems in terms of routing flexibility. The first one uses a vectorial representation of the previously defined indexes and the second one is based on data envelopment analysis, a multi-criteria decision making approach. The paper concludes with a numerical example, supported by discrete event simulation, which validates the proposed approach.

Evolution Management of Production Facilities by Semi-Automated Requirement Verification

“…Flexibility Machine flexibility -Number of operations each machine can perform [23][24][25] -Number of operations to be performed for all production processes -Efficiency of each operation -Frequency of occurring operations Process flexibility -Probability of assignment of work piece to a specific machine [25] -Number of operations to be performed for all production processes -Number of machines Material handling -Number of transport connections between all machines [26] flexibility -Number of machines Routing flexibility -Number of routes to produce each product [22,27,28] -Machines needed on that routes -Number of machines -Number of product types -Number of operations to be performed for all production processes -Efficiency (duration) of each process step on the machines -Efficiency (duration) of the transport at each transport component -Availability of all machines and transport components Operation -Processing order for each product [29] flexibility -Needed operations to produce the products Product -Number of machines [30] flexibility -Number of operations to be performed for all production processes -Efficiency of each operation …”

Development of an Intelligent Warehouse and Autonomously Controlled Intralogistics Scenario to Investigate the Mastering of Short-Term Turbulences at Werk150

“…Process flexibility A defined set of part types can be produced without major set-up changes and ability to alter between the production of different parts or products [7,8] Number of parts/products that can be produced Product flexibility Ease (time and cost) to introduce products into an existing product mix which enables the production system to produce various part types using the same equipment [7,9,10] Ease (time and cost) to introduce products Routing flexibility Number of feasible routes to manufacture all part types or a certain number of part types under the condition that operations can be performed on several machines [7,11,12] Number of feasible routes for manufacturing…”