Ann-Louise Andersen

Reconfigurable Manufacturing on Multiple Levels: Literature Review and Research Directions

Reconfigurable manufacturing has been widely labelled the manufacturing paradigm of the future, due to its ability to rapidly and cost-efficiently respond to changing market conditions. Manufacturing reconfigurability can be dealt with at various levels of the factory, and includes multiple design and operational issues related to both physical and logical reconfigurations. The purpose of this paper is to review state-of-the-art literature on reconfigurable manufacturing and provide an overview of the current body of research, by assessing which structuring levels of the factory and corresponding research issues that are dealt with. Conclusively, currently unexplored areas and interesting issues that could be addressed in future research are identified.

Investigating the Potential in Reconfigurable Manufacturing: A Case-Study from Danish Industry

In today’s global manufacturing environment, manufactures must respond to the challenges of quickly adopting new technologies and provide an increasing number of product varieties, while continuously increasing cost-efficiency. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems meet these challenges through rapid and efficient changes in functionality and capacity. The purpose of this paper is to investigate a practical approach for evaluating the potential of reconfigurability in manufacturing companies, through a case-study in Danish industry. In this approach, historical production data is analyzed and focus is explicitly on capacity savings, which makes it applicable for decision support in companies that are in a transition towards becoming reconfigurable.

A participatory systems design methodology for changeable manufacturing systems

The ability to adapt to changes in products, processes and technologies is a key competitive factor. Changeable manufacturing paradigms have emerged to address this need, but the industrial implementation remains challenging. In this paper, a participatory design methodology for changeable manufacturing systems is proposed, including requirements specification, selection of appropriate manufacturing paradigm and suitable physical and logical enablers. The methodology supports companies in determining the potential for and mechanisms of transitioning towards changeable manufacturing systems, based on knowledge of products, production, technologies and facilities. The developed methodology is applicable to both new and existing manufacturing systems. It is demonstrated in two industrial cases which highlight its applicability and differences in the appropriate recommended manufacturing systems transition towards changeability as a result of differences in manufacturing characteristics, change requirements and enablers.

Investigating the Impact of Product Volume and Variety on Production Ramp-Up

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are attractive options for realizing the competitive strategy of mass customization, due to their ability to quickly introduce new products and rapidly change functionality and capacity. However, achieving such efficient reconfigurations requires continuous reduction of production ramp-up. This is a rather challenging task, as ramp-up periods generally are characterized by many unforeseen events and problems that create high uncertainty and difficulties in realizing planned performance. Therefore, the aim of this research is to empirically investigate ramp-up challenges in two case companies, a large enterprise producing high-volume standard electronic products and an SME producing low-volume customized excavators. Through this multiple-case study, significant differences in ramp-up challenges are identified and related to product volume, product variety, and company type. The findings provide a valuable addition to current research, which is mainly related to ramp-up in high-volume industrial settings.

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems in Small and Medium Enterprises

As mass customization is being widely adopted, manufacturing companies are faced with an increasing challenge of establishing and maintaining manufacturing systems with sufficient flexibility to meet customers’ diverse needs and yet be efficient enough to be competitive. Furthermore, shortening product life cycles require manufacturing systems to be able to react quickly to changes in market and products. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are widely acknowledged as a feasible principle to design a production system, which is both flexible and efficient and able to change capabilities and capacities rapidly. Most literature, however, addresses the design of RMS in large companies, whereas limited literature is found related to SMEs. This paper investigates the potential and challenges related to implementing RMS in SMEs, by conducting a case study of a SME in the Danish manufacturing industry. It is concluded that RMS in some cases can be very beneficial for SMEs; however, significant challenges exist, which calls for further research.

Planning Nervousness in Product Segmentation: Literature Review and Research Agenda

Differentiated planning is one of the means for today’s companies to accommodate the increasing needs for product variety, delivery responsiveness, and cost-efficiency. Even though, product segmentation is the foundation for such planning, planning nervousness has not yet been addressed from this perspective. This paper seeks to establish a relation between planning nervousness and segmentation by analyzing the current body of literature with the objective of identifying overlaps between the two areas. The literature characteristics are assessed and directions for future research are provided.

Product-Process Modelling as an Enabler of Manufacturing Changeability

Today’s competitive environment demands increased product variety, more rapid product introductions and increasingly efficient operations in manufacturing. Changeable manufacturing, encompassing reconfigurability and flexibility, provides a mechanisms for addressing these new demands, however there is a significant gap between the concept of changeable manufacturing, and what is actually enabled through operational methods. This paper analyzes how integrated modelling of products and processes can be applied when designing, managing, and operating changeable manufacturing systems. This is structured using generic changeability classes and generic changeability enablers. It is concluded that integrated product-process modelling has a potential to support changeability, especially within the classes reconfigurability, flexibility and transformability. However a theory-practice gap still exists, calling for more research on specific methods and feasibility of such approach.

Exploring Barriers Toward the Development of Changeable and Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems for Mass-Customized Products: An Industrial Survey

Cyber-physical reconfigurable manufacturing systems that are able to efficiently produce customized products in lot sizes of one have the potential to significantly advance mass customization. Necessary enabling technologies are fast developing; however, the fundamental enabling principles of changeability and reconfigurability are still far from being reality in industry. Therefore, this paper explores organizational prerequisites and barriers for the development of changeability and reconfigurability, as well as significant differences regarding their presence in various industrial settings. The findings indicate that important prerequisites are only rudimentarily developed and that knowledge regarding reconfigurable system design is limited. Additionally, a long-term view on investments in production capacity and a strong coordination between production and product development were identified as prerequisites which existence are contingent on the industrial setting. The findings provide valuable insight into how to support an industrial transition toward changeability, in order to create the foundation for smart mass customization manufacturing.

Evaluating the investment feasibility and industrial implementation of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing concepts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a decisions support tool that can be applied in initial stages of design, for evaluating the investment feasibility of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing design concepts, based on future demand predictions and their uncertainties. A quantitative model is proposed, which evaluates the discounted value of capital and operating costs of changeable manufacturing design concepts, based on essential characteristics regarding their type and extent of changeability. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative empirical modeling is applied, where model conceptualization, validation, and implementation are central elements, using two Danish manufacturing companies as cases. Findings The applicability of the model is demonstrated in the two case companies, highlighting differences in type, extent, and level of feasible changeability, as a result of differences in product and production characteristics. Research limitations/implications Further studies of changeability implementation should be conducted across industrial fields in order to generalize findings. Practical implications There is currently limited support for the conceptual design phase of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing, where critical decisions regarding type, extent, and level of changeability must be made, regardless of high degrees of uncertainty about future demand scenarios. Originality/value This paper expands previous research on design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering changeability as a capability that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different industrial contexts. The proposed model and the case implementations provide important knowledge on the transition toward changeability in industry.

Critical enablers of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing and their industrial implementation

During design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems, manufacturing companies need to select and implement the right enablers of reconfigurability in accordance with the specific requirements being present in the manufacturing setting. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate enablers of reconfigurability in terms of their importance in industry, current level of implementation in industry, and significant differences in their implementation and criticality across different manufacturing settings.,A questionnaire survey is conducted, in order to provide generalizable empirical evidence across various industries and manufacturing types.,The findings indicate that the level of implementation of the reconfigurability enablers is rudimentary, while their criticality is perceived higher than the current level of implementation. Moreover, significant differences regarding implementation and criticality of mobility, scalability, and convertibility were found for companies with varying degrees of manual work, make-to-stock production, and varying production volume, industry type and organization size.,Main limitations of the research cover the relatively small sample size and non-random sampling method applied, primarily limited to one country, which could be increased to further extent the findings reported in this paper.,The findings indicate that the importance and implementation of reconfigurability enablers is contingent on the manufacturing setting. Thus, the research presented in this paper provides valuable knowledge in regard to aiding a paradigm shift in industry and help companies design manufacturing systems with the right reconfigurability enablers.,This paper expands research on manufacturing system design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering these as capabilities that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different manufacturing contexts.