Marginal analysis guided design justification: a material handling example

The design and justification of an integrated manufacturing system and all of the supporting sub-systems (e.g. material handling system) is a difficult task. One of the most difficult aspects in the design process is determining how and where to proceed. This paper proposes the use of a marginal analysis-directed branch and bound approach as the basis for directing the design process so that a combined economic and performance justification path results. The background and rationale for a marginal analysis guided design approach is given and an example of a material handling system design is presented to illustrate the development of a design justification decision path.