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An Approach for Rapid Configuration Synthesis in Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) represent a new manufacturing system design and operation philosophy that allows a manufacturing system to quickly respond to changing production requirements through reconfiguration of system components. As such, the configuration of an RMS changes several times in the lifetime of the manufacturing system in a bid to match changing production requirements. Central to operating such a system is the issue of synthesizing a configuration that is appropriate for a given production scenario. This work discusses a modeling approach that can be used for rapid synthesis of a required manufacturing configuration. This approach is based on mapping production scenarios onto the operating scenarios. Analytical functions are based on a vector matrix representation of system operating states. Modeling concepts are illustrated through a modular multiparts manufacturing line. The suitability of generated configurations is evaluated through simulated manufacturing system performance measures. An illustrative example shows that the modeling approach can simultaneously identify operating regimes and the required mix of manufacturing modules. Collected simulation results provide evidence for the effectiveness of alternative operating regimes in the manufacturing system. Such evidence can then be used to select appropriate manufacturing configurations. INTRODUCTION Rapid changes in manufacturing environments have resulted in a number of emerging concepts that deal with issues related to the development and improvement of manufacturing systems. In the manufacturing arena, the need for such developments has always been linked to prevailing economic objectives. For example, the economic objective of traditional manufacturing systems has been reduced product cost, which was successfully attained in the mass production era. However, such traditional manufacturing systems are finding it difficult to cope with the dynamics of change in the manufacturing landscape. This is because the design and operation of mass production systems often assume availability of complete information about the product to be manufactured. As a result, subsequent changes to production requirements are assumed to be minimal. Consequently, subsequent adjustments to system operational characteristics beyond installed capacity are not anticipated once the system is running. Hence, such systems find it difficult to cope with the dynamics of change in manufacturing environments. With elapse of time, external influences and developments in the manufacturing arena resulted in increased competition and the need to survive harsh environments. Other economic dimensions emerged in the manufacturing landscape. Examples of such dimensions include increased product variety, which became a customer obsession that had to be satisfied. In