Investigation of performance evaluation of reconfigurable discrete manufacturing systems some simulation experiments

Abstract

Todays dynamic and competitive global market forces the manufacturing industries to strive hard to keep up their position in the market The dynamism of manufacturing environment like the uncertainty of market demand and high variants in products with shorter life cycle causes frequent changes in product mix It results in frequent changes of input sequence setup time and process time Hence the system configurations of manufacturing should be reconfigurable to meet the dynamic challenges To meet the stated needs Koren 1998 proposed Reconfigurable Manufacturing System RMS which overcomes the limitations of dedicated and flexible manufacturing system The key characteristics of RMS are modularity convertibility diagnosability scalability integrability and customization These key characteristics allow the manufacturing system for quick adjustment of production capacity flexibility and functionality in response to sudden changes in market or in regulatory requirements The objective of the study is to investigate the performance measures of reconfigurable discrete manufacturing system newline