Reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Principles, design, and future trends

TLDR

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems, introduced in the mid‑1990s, combine the advantages of dedicated serial lines and flexible manufacturing systems to meet globalization challenges, yet maintaining product precision across multiple production streams remains difficult. This paper aims to enhance manufacturing responsiveness to unforeseen demand changes by formulating design and operational principles for RMSs and reviewing current methodologies. The authors present a state‑of‑the‑art review of RMS design and operations, propose future research directions, and discuss how intelligent manufacturing technologies can advance these principles. RMSs improve cost‑effectiveness by boosting productivity and extending system lifetime, while product quality can be reliably maintained through in‑line inspection stations.

Abstract

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), which possess the advantages of both dedicated serial lines and flexible manufacturing systems, were introduced in the mid-1990s to address the challenges initiated by globalization. The principal goal of an RMS is to enhance the responsiveness of manufacturing systems to unforeseen changes in product demand. RMSs are costeffective because they boost productivity, and increase the lifetime of the manufacturing system. Because of the many streams in which a product may be produced on an RMS, maintaining product precision in an RMS is a challenge. But the experience with RMS in the last 20 years indicates that product quality can be definitely maintained by inserting in-line inspection stations. In this paper, we formulate the design and operational principles for RMSs, and provide a state-of-the-art review of the design and operations methodologies of RMSs according to these principles. Finally, we propose future research directions, and deliberate on how recent intelligent manufacturing technologies may advance the design and operations of RMSs.