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Evaluating the scalability of reconfigurable manufacturing systems at the design phase

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  • Audrey Cerqueus
  • Xavier Delorme

Abstract

To face market volatility, reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) aim to efficiently and cost-effectively react to changes. We focus on one characteristic of RMS: the scalability (ability to adapt the volume of throughput). In the literature, the only few indicators for scalability are not always formally defined and usually only consider a partial view of scalability. Moreover, most of them are actually more suited for the configuration planning rather than for the design. However, the design of the RMS has a high impact on its scalability. We propose the first combinatorial definition of this problem and a new measure to fully assess the scalability of a system at the design phase. This measure, based on a multi-objective approach, can assess the scalability of single-product manufacturing systems, analysing all configurations that it can implement. We present numerical experiments to compare this indicator with a state-of-the-art scalability indicator and with some classical production line design indicators, and we show that future research should focus on scalability as a specific criterion to optimise during the design of an RMS. In addition, the results obtained allow us to infer some managerial insights on the best levers to use when performing a reconfiguration for scalability purpose.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrey Cerqueus & Xavier Delorme, 2023. "Evaluating the scalability of reconfigurable manufacturing systems at the design phase," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 61(23), pages 8080-8093, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:61:y:2023:i:23:p:8080-8093
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2022.2164374
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