Introducing reconfigurable manufacturing systems to agriculture

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), which possess the advantages of both dedicated manufacturing lines (DML) and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), are increasingly accepted concept in industries, however, little has been done to discuss that RMS provide new opportunities and value in the agriculture community. Furthermore, as the agriculture transitions from mass production to mass customization or individualization, RMS will become a critical system architecture that satisfies the production requirement. This paper follows the guidelines of systematic literature review (SLR) and adopts a mixed-method to investigate the expected benefits of RMS for agriculture. We review limited literature within RMS in agriculture, covering years 2006–2023, from which we identify 29 use cases and compare them with 84 use cases in other application areas between 2018 and 2022. We compare 5 reported benefits, 6 reconfigurable characteristics and 3 technology readiness levels to assess the extent of RMS application in agriculture. We distill the RMS characteristics that can provide benefits to agriculture from the reviewed RMS applications. Then, inspired by RMS applications in agriculture and other application areas, we provide a roadmap for RMS in agriculture, consisting of different specific levels of RMS. Lastly, we conclude this paper by identifying the distinctive characteristics of agricultural RMS (ARMS) in terms of the inherent variability of agricultural products, research topics, and enabling technologies, and by giving a clear definition to encourage researchers and practitioners to develop studies in this field.