The reconfiguration issues in manufacturing systems

The main characteristic features of today's dynamic manufacturing environments are apparent and they can be listed as follows: stochastic demand, variable but smaller production batch size, frequent and unpredictable changes in product mix, highly variable processing and set-up times, variable production sequences, very high volume of information and a strong competition. To become competitive and thrive under such environments, the production system should be managed to respond quickly and cost effectively. To sustain competitiveness and agility under this unpredictable environment, appropriate design strategies for the reconfiguration of production facilities should be developed to improve their performance. In this paper, the reconfiguration issue in future manufacturing systems is highlighted and a new integrated approach for the reconfiguration of cellular manufacturing system is introduced. The proposed approach constitutes of sub-modules, namely: configuration and reconfiguration module, loading module, and simulation based scheduling module. The main focus of this research work is the configuration and reconfiguration module. Answers to two important questions "When do we reconfigure?" and "How do we reconfigure?" are provided. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.