Computational Design Synthesis of Reconfigurable Cellular Manufacturing Systems: A Design Engineering Model

An uncertain business environment makes organizations seek for rather flexible approaches to manufacturing. The concept of reconfigurable cellular manufacturing systems (RCMS) may represent a viable solution, as the possibilities to rearrange the modular system resources enable to balance system capabilities and capacity. Yet at an early stage of designing the RCMS, decision-makers implicitly set the performance boundaries of the system while determining large parts of investments. In this task, software applications based on Computational Design Synthesis (CDS) can support decisions. CDS applications are used to automate design and analysis of design candidates. Consequently they enable set-based concurrent engineering so that users can explore the space of generated design solutions and make comparative assessments of solutions and their performances. The solution space can be narrowed down by making trade-offs and formulating design or performance constraints. This paper presents a design model of RCMS that allows automated design and analysis of system configurations based on CDS. The approach enables decision makers to evaluate different system performances such as costs, utilization and lead times of various designs of the system. Thus it can help to generate an understanding of the implications of design decisions for the performance of the manufacturing system in different product demand scenarios.