Determination of Quantitative Indexes for Measuring the Flexibility of Manufacturing Systems

Summary

One of the main problems in the manufacturing of goods is the necessity of flexibility due to the increase of the diversification of products which causes smaller lot sizes. The solution usually adopted is flexible automation through the utilization of CNC machine tools, flexible manufacturing cells and systems.

Although increasingly used nowadays, the choice of these equipments is sometimes made only with the assistance of very limited charts of lot size versus diversification of parts. As far as conventional manufacturing systems are concerned, the quantification of the flexibility is also desirable as a tool for its management.

In this paper, the determination of indexes of flexibility is carried out, along with their application in typical cases.