A concurrent development tool for flexible assembly systems

Global competition and the rapid pace of technological change now require the almost continual introduction of product upgrades by any manufacturer. Thus, such a manufacturer is likely to market older and newer versions of a product simultaneously, not to mention niche-specific editions of any product upgrade. An increasingly successful response to this product proliferation is the implementation of flexible assembly systems. In the context of a flexible assembly system (FAS), the ability to estimate the impact of various product and process options on the maximal level of system output becomes crucial to managing the ever-changing product mix. This paper presents a tool for such impact estimation that can facilitate concurrent development and engineering. Experience with an actual FAS is the basis for the reported results. The tool is a specialized combination of discreteevent computer simulation, experimental design, and regression analysis. Application of the tool assumes FAS use with a cellular manufacturing philosophy. Thus, uncluttered process flow for a family of products in the sense of group technology places the focus on potential bottlenecks. The new tool here models the impact of process and product options on bottleneck and, hence, FAS behavior.Working paper presented at the Third ORSA/TIMS Special Interest Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems, August 14–16, 1989, M.I.T., Cambridge, Massachusetts.