Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1700317 | Procedia CIRP | 2014 | 6 Pages |
Manufacturing companies are forced to operate in an increasingly volatile and unpredictabl environment. The number of events that can have a potentially critical impact on a production system‘s economic performance have significantly increased. This forces companies to invest considerably more in flexible and robust production systems capable of withstanding a certain amount of change however unable to quantify the benefits in advance. The satisfactory quantification and assessment of these qualities – Flexibility and Robustness –has not been realized yet. This paper discusses commonality between Flexibility and Robustness and offers a new approach to connect changes in the environment with the elements of a production system and thus quantifying its flexibility and robustness.