Modeling and analysis of flexibility in manufacturing systems
Abstract
Although the notion of flexibility has become central in the discourse on advanced manufacturing systems, it has remained to a large degree ambiguous and poorly understood. This research attempts to address some of these limitations. In particular, the objective of this thesis is to investigate, under various operating conditions, the relationship between part manufacturing flexibility and system performance, and to identify those conditions for which flexibility is required and/or justified. To this effect, a new generic framework for the modeling, measurement and analysis of part manufacturing flexibility is proposed. The usefulness of this framework is illustrated by studying the effect of flexibility on system performance in stochastic environments. Several fundamental relationships between flexibility and performance are obtained, and design and control strategies under which flexibility is optimized are identified. Based on these results, a methodology for flexibility cost/benefit analysis is proposed and an approach to deriving optimal levels of flexibility is developed.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Talavage, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Industrial engineering|Operations research|Systems design
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