The Design of Manufacturing Systems

Abstract

The manufacture of products in the modern industrial world requires the combined and coordinated efforts of people, machinery, and equipment. Thus, a manufacturing system can be defined as a combination of humans, machinery and equipment that are bound by a common material and information flow. The materials input to a manufacturing system are raw materials and energy. Information is also input to a manufacturing system, in the form of customer demand for the system’s products. The outputs of a manufacturing system can likewise be divided into materials, such as finished goods and scrap, and information, such as measures of system performance.