A survey and critical review of flexibility measures in manufacturing systems
Production Planning & ControlPublished 1 November 1994
Bhaba R. Sarker, SEMBIAN KRISHNAMURTHY, SRINIVASA G. KUTHETHUR
Citations79
SJR quartileQ1
SJR score2.20
SNIP2.73
Generate an AI Snapshot to get a quick, structured summary of this paper.
Study Snapshot
ObjectiveStudy objective
MethodsResearch methodology
PopulationPopulation studied
Sample sizeSample sizes
OutcomesStudy outcomes here
ResultsStudy results comes here
LimitationsResearch study limitations comes here
A concise AI-generated summary of the paper will appear here once you click Generate AI Snapshot.
Abstract
Abstract Flexibility of manufacturing systems is currently under intensive study, and the need for objective measurement of this important characteristic is widely expressed. Measurement of manufacturing flexibility is being increasingly discussed in the literature on manufacturing systems. This paper surveys the literature dealing with quantification of certain types of flexibility, analyses the proposed measures, and presents critical views. Approaches to developing flexibility measures are compiled and classified. Discussion on the suitability of specific measures is provided. Requirements of flexibility measures and recommendations for future research in this area are also provided.
Keywords
EngineeringBusiness, Management and Accounting
Management ScienceManufacturing Flexibility: A Strategic Perspective
1,130 Citations1993Donald Gerwin
HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe)Classification of flexible manufacturing systems
862 Citations1984Jim Browne, Didier Dubois +3 more
There has been some uncertainty concerning the conditions under which a manufacturing system may be termed 'flexible', so eight types of flexibilities are defined and described to clarify this confusion.
International Journal of Operations & Production ManagementThe Flexibility of Manufacturing Systems
578 Citations1987Nigel Slack
How managers in ten companies view manufacturing flexibility in terms of how they see the contribution of manufacturing flexibility to overall company performance; what types of flexibility they regard as important; and what their desired degree of flexibility is is investigated.
European Journal of Operational ResearchFlexibility of manufacturing systems: Concepts and measurements
467 Citations1989Yash P. Gupta, S.K. Goyal
The literature is classified based on the ways researchers have defined flexibility and the approaches used in measuring it, which indicates the importance of flexibility in manufacturing decision making.
International Journal of Operations & Production ManagementAn Agenda For Research on the Flexibility of Manufacturing Processes
440 Citations1987Donald Gerwin
An initial domain for defining flexibility is established, specific measures are suggested, and sampling issues are discussed and an agenda for conducting rigorous research into the flexibility of manufacturing processes is outlined.
California Management ReviewThe Emerging Flexible Organization: Perspectives from Silicon Valley
347 Citations1992Homa Bahrami
The building blocks of flexible organizational designs are described, designed to address novel tasks, "kaleidoscopic" change, and continuous innovation.
European Journal of Operational ResearchThe measurement of manufacturing flexibility
229 Citations1992Yash P. Gupta, Toni M. Somers
The development of an instrument for measuring and analyzing manufacturing flexibility was reported, using a survey of 269 firms and employing factor-analytic techniques, and the instrument contained 21 items representing nine components of manufacturing flexibility.
International Journal of Production ResearchEntropic measures of manufacturing flexibility
205 Citations1987Vinod Kumar
Journal of Manufacturing SystemsEconomic measure of productivity, quality and flexibility in advanced manufacturing systems
197 Citations1987YOUNG K. SON, Chan S. Park
International Journal of Production ResearchOn measures of flexibility in manufacturing systems
166 Citations1989Percy H. Brill, Marvin Mandelbaum
International Journal of Production ResearchFlexibility in manufacturing systems: definitions and Petri net modelling
145 Citations1988Miryam Barad, Daniel Sipper
Petri nets are used as a design representation of an FMS for the purpose of comparing different systems on a flexibility basis thus unveiling their desirable flexibility properties.
Journal of Operations ManagementMeasurement of manufacturing flexibility: A value based approach
128 Citations1991Ranga V. Ramasesh, Maliyakal D. Jayakumar
European Journal of Operational ResearchMeasuring manufacturing flexibility: An empirical investigation
128 Citations1992Jack Dixon
This paper approaches the problem by collecting empirical data and applying factor analysis in an attempt to measure three dimensions of flexibility: mix, new product, and modification.
International Journal of Production ResearchEffects of loading and routeing decisions on performance of flexible manufacturing systems
84 Citations1991Injazz J. Chen, Chen‐Hua Chung
European Journal of Operational ResearchFlexibility and the choice of manufacturing facilities under short product life cycles
73 Citations1992Cheryl Gaimon, Vinod R. Singhal
International Journal of Production ResearchSome performance measures of flexible manufacturing systems
69 Citations1992Nagen Nagarur
Journal of Manufacturing SystemsA quantification of the value of flexibility
69 Citations1989George K. Hutchinson, Diptendu Sinha
European Journal of Operational ResearchModels for the evaluation of routing and machine flexibility
68 Citations1992Pankaj Chandra, Mihkel M. Tombak
Two of the most fundamental types of flexibility, routing and machine flexibility, are examined and provide a manager with a tool to evaluate the ongoing operations of a system over time and over different conditions.
European Journal of Operational ResearchThe measurement and use of operational flexibility in the loading of Flexible Manufacturing Systems
57 Citations1992John J. Bernardo, Zubair M. Mohamed
Three measures of operational flexibility are derived to represent the ability of an FMS to respond to external and internal disturbances given a production plan and these flexibility measures are used to evaluate tool loading and part routing decisions.
Elsevier eBooksProceedings of the Second ORSA/TIMS Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems: Operations Research Models and Applications, held at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, U.S.A., August 12-15, 1986
55 Citations1986Orsa, Kathryn E. Stecke +1 more
International Journal of Production ResearchTypes of flexibility in a single-machine production system
54 Citations1989Erol Taymaz
International Journal of Production ResearchA framework for assessing the flexibility of manufacturing systems
46 Citations1992V. P. Kochikar, T.T. Narendran
International Journal of Operations & Production ManagementFlexible Manufacturing Systems and Manufacturing Flexibility in the United Kingdom
45 Citations1987SS Lim
International Journal of Production ResearchFlexibility trade-offs in a random flexible manufacturing system: A simulation study
41 Citations1992Yash P. Gupta, S.K. Goyal
International Journal of Production EconomicsEvaluating flexibility of alternative FMS designs — A comparative measure
39 Citations1991Layek Abdel‐Malek, Carl Wolf
A “measure” is proposed that ranks different competing FMS designs according to their inherent flexibility as they relate to the maximum flexibility possible stipulated by the state-of-the-art.
European Journal of Operational ResearchMeasurement of adaptivity and flexibility in production systems
32 Citations1990Percy H. Brill, Marvin Mandelbaum
The definition of adaptivity utilizes flexibility measures based on task sets, weights of importance, and machine performance to quantify how machine flexibility changes as the environment shifts.
Journal of Manufacturing SystemsA grammatical approach to routing flexibility in large manufacturing systems
28 Citations1988David M. Upton, Moshe M. Barash
It is shown that an adequate measure of the flexibility of the manufacturing system is given by the entropy of the language produced by the productions of its grammar, and methods for its quantification are proposed.
European Journal of Operational ResearchA bicriterion framework for operations assignment and routing flexibility analysis in Cellular Manufacturing Systems
23 Citations1992N. Singh, Y.P. Aneja +1 more
A bicriterion framework for operations assignment in Cellular Manufacturing Systems is presented and an algorithm to obtain the efficient frontier which represents a set of all non-dominated production plans is developed.
International Journal of Production ResearchAn investigation of the effect of machine flexibility and number of part families on system performance
21 Citations1992Udayan Nandkeolyar, David P. Christy
Evaluation of flexibility in manufacturing systems
15 Citations2002Ismail Zahran, Adel Elmaghraby +1 more
Two flexibility measures are proposed, one is routing flexibility, i.e. flexibility in the sequence of product processing operations, and the other measures the consequences of adding new products or increasing the production volumes.
European Journal of Operational ResearchStochastic analysis of flexible process choices
13 Citations1992Diptendu Sinha, Jerry C. Wei
Journal of Manufacturing SystemsMeasurement of processing flexibility in flexible manufacturing cells
11 Citations1992Yaakov Roll, Reuven Karni +1 more
European Journal of Operational ResearchParts routing in a Flexible Manufacturing System with time-varying demands
3 Citations1992Mingyuan Chen, Attahiru Sule Alfa
A heuristic algorithm for solving job scheduling/parts routing problems in an FMS with time-varying demands is presented and is suitable for scheduling a small manufacturing system which processes contracted parts for outside companies or for department which processes for other departments in the organization.