Modularity Technology in Manufacturing: Taxonomy and Issues

Bi, Zhuming; Zhang, W. J.

doi:10.1007/s001700170062

Cited by 97 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…For example, Hofer and Halman (2004;2005) suggest to focus on the modularization of the layout of complex products and systems, rather than on modularizing products themselves. Another example is a taxonomy of modularity technology in manufacturing that covers both the determination of a modular architecture and the determination of a modular system configuration (Bi & Zhang, 2001). Two very influential frameworks were introduced through two books during the 1990s.…”

Section: Concepts and Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities

Fixson

2007

Concurrent Engineering

144

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Research on modularity and commonality has grown substantially over the past 15 years.Searching 36 journals over more than the past 35 years, I identify over 160 references in the engineering and management literature that focus on modularity or commonality in the product and process development context. Each of the references is analyzed along the dimensions subject, effect, and research method. The subjects of these studies have been products, processes, organizations, and even innovations, although the set of references shows a strong preference towards products. Similarly, a broad range of effects has been studied, albeit with the topic cost dominating all other effects. A variety of research methods has been applied to the study of modularity and commonality but the distribution of research methods differs substantially for modularity and commonality research. Despite the wealth of existing research, there are still significant opportunities for future research. In particular, studies that incorporate modularity and commonality's multiple effects on various players along the supply chain, that combine multiple research methods, and that follow systems over time appear very promising.

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Section: Concepts and Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities

Fixson

2007

Concurrent Engineering

144

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“…To make a system adaptable, two primary methods are (1) to introduce flexible components which can be adjusted and controlled for different tasks and, (2) to adopt a modularized architecture where the system consists of different modules, and different types and number of modules can be selected and assembled in different ways for different tasks [7][8][9]. In this paper, we use the second approach to improve the system adaptability.…”

Section: Modularizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To replace human operators with better performance, the automation solution should not only be affordable, but also be flexible to accommodate as many different tasks as possible. Therefore, we are motivated to address the aforementioned concerns by using modularized architecture in the automated solutions for enhanced system adaptability [6][7][8][9], while the selections and assemblies of modular components in a system can be varied and tailored to the needs in given applications [10]. It is also worth mentioning that due to the complexity and uncertainty, full automation is often cost-forbidding in production lines with small or limited batch volumes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automation of Electrical Cable Harnesses Testing

Pomalaza‐Ráez

Hershberger

et al. 2017

Robotics

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Abstract:Traditional automated systems, such as industrial robots, are applied in well-structured environments, and many automated systems have a limited adaptability to deal with complexity and uncertainty; therefore, the applications of industrial robots in small-and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are very limited. The majority of manual operations in SMEs are too complicated for automation. The rapidly developed information technologies (IT) has brought new opportunities for the automation of manufacturing and assembly processes in the ill-structured environments.Note that an automation solution should be designed to meet the given requirements of the specified application, and it differs from one application to another. In this paper, we look into the feasibility of automated testing for electric cable harnesses, and our focus is on some of the generic strategies for the improvement of the adaptability of automation solutions. Especially, the concept of modularization is adopted in developing hardware and software to maximize system adaptability in testing a wide scope of products. A proposed system has been implemented, and the system performances have been evaluated by executing tests on actual products. The testing experiments have shown that the automated system outperformed manual operations greatly in terms of cost-saving, productivity and reliability. Due to the potential of increasing system adaptability and cost reduction, the presented work has its theoretical and practical significance for an extension for other automation solutions in SMEs.

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“…Numerous researches have been published on design and control reconfigurable systems to achieve these two objectives. For example, some previous works by this author on design and control of RMSs have been reported in literatures [38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. …”

Section: Premanufacturingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Revisiting System Paradigms from the Viewpoint of Manufacturing Sustainability

2011

Sustainability

122

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Abstract:A system paradigm is an abstract representation of system; it includes system architecture used to determine the types and numbers of components and their relations in the system. The design of system paradigm relies on customers' requirements and the characteristics of the manufacturing environment. Many system paradigms and design guidelines have been proposed for a variety of customers' needs including functions, cost, quality, personalization, and lead time of products. However, the consideration of sustainability becomes essential to today's manufacturing systems; a new challenge is how to evolve existing paradigms to accommodate the requirements of sustainability. In contrast to ample research activities on system paradigms in past decades, recent studies on system paradigms have been restricted, partially due to unclear research directions. Limited works can be found on conceiving new manufacturing system paradigms from the perspective of sustainability; most of the related literature concerns the new requirements of sustainability. The objectives of this work are (i) to examine the requirements of manufacturing systems in a wider scope; (ii) to revisit existing paradigms to clarify their limitations and bottlenecks; and eventually (iii) to identify some research directions, which will lead to a solution of sustainable manufacturing. To achieve these objectives, firstly, a brief description of today's manufacturing environment is provided. Secondly, the requirements of sustainability are discussed, and the relevant researches on system sustainability are surveyed. Thirdly, the reconfigurable system paradigm is focused, and the gaps between a reconfigurable manufacturing system and a sustainable manufacturing system are discussed. Finally, the future endeavors towards to the next-generation manufacturing system paradigms are discussed. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2011, 3 1324

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Modularity Technology in Manufacturing: Taxonomy and Issues

Cited by 97 publications

References 43 publications

Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities

Modularity and Commonality Research: Past Developments and Future Opportunities

Automation of Electrical Cable Harnesses Testing

Revisiting System Paradigms from the Viewpoint of Manufacturing Sustainability

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