Design Of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems Research Articles

A systematic methodology for changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems development

Pursuing manufacturing competitiveness in the dynamic industrial landscape necessitates implementing changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) capable of rapid adaptation to varying functionalities and capacities. However, current manufacturing system development methods often overlook product-driven changes during the system's life cycle, hindering companies from effectively responding to shifting demands and technological advancements. Consequently, this research paper proposes a systematic methodology for designing and developing changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems to address this gap. The proposed methodology is derived from a synthesis of design theory, reconfigurability theory, and practical insights to guide the development process from conception to implementation. The four-step development method adopts a system life cycle-wide perspective, encompassing (i) identification and clarification of the need for reconfigurability, (ii) formulation of reconfigurable concepts, (iii) detailed design of the reconfigurable system, and (iv) successful implementation and utilization of reconfigurability. Crucially, the development method blends existing RMS development tools and novel tools co-created with industry partners, ensuring its pragmatic and holistic applicability. Each step incorporates specific activities and supporting tools, rendering the methodology flexible and adaptable to diverse manufacturing environments. The proposed methodology was validated through case studies in seven diverse manufacturing companies. The primary contributions of this research lie in integrating new and existing development tools into a comprehensive and practical development method, facilitating a system life cycle-wide approach to RMS design, and promoting industry-specific adaptability. The validation across multiple manufacturing companies ensures the effectiveness and broad applicability of the proposed methodology. Consequently, this paper is a valuable resource for manufacturing companies aiming to enhance competitiveness by adopting changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

Optimizing of the Convertibility of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

One of the most topical issues of sustainable development is extending the life cycle of production systems. Reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) aims to adapt efficiently to the rapidly changing market. One lever to extend the life cycle of RMS is the ability to quickly adapt to a new product (called convertibility). In this article, we present a model for the design of RMS, optimizing both its convertibility to prolongate its life cycle, and its cost to remain competitive. The convertibility is assessed on three axes: the choice of machines, the choice of transportation systems, and the physical configuration of the machines in the plant and their connection. We formalize this problem and model it by a bi-objective mixed-integer linear program. We illustrate our approach on an example.

NSGA-III-based multi-objective approach for reconfigurable manufacturing system design considering single-spindle and multi-spindle modular reconfigurable machines

NSGA-III-based multi-objective approach for reconfigurable manufacturing system design considering single-spindle and multi-spindle modular reconfigurable machines

An Ontology-based Engineering methodology applied to aerospace Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems design

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) have gained attention in the aerospace industry in the past years, as post-pandemic context shows drastic production capacity changes and new environmental regulations to which it must adapt quicker than before to maintain competitiveness. Nevertheless, current RMS design methods have not thoroughly considered this industry specificities, nor industrial resources requirements in the current concurrent design practice. These limitations have been identified in several recent research works. Ontology-based Engineering (OBE) systems can stand overly complex collaborative design processes involving multidisciplinary stakeholders and various digital tools, integrating different levels of decision. Models for Manufacturing (MfM) is an OBE methodology aiming to enable industrial design and decision-making in manufacturing by preserving the company knowledge in ontology models, usable as knowledge base to generate and integrate the aircraft and manufacturing systems design. This paper presents an MfM application for RMS design in aerospace, introducing innovative design concepts that allow implementing RMS in a collaborative engineering process of an aerospace product. An implementation is shown designing the RMS of a model aircraft family to illustrate the concepts introduced and considerations are given to transfer this knowledge base into an OBE system to support complex real-life applications.

An Enhanced Simulation-Based Multi-Objective Optimization Approach with Knowledge Discovery for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

In today’s uncertain and competitive market, where manufacturing enterprises are subjected to increasingly shortened product lifecycles and frequent volume changes, reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) applications play significant roles in the success of the manufacturing industry. Despite the advantages offered by RMSs, achieving high efficiency constitutes a challenging task for stakeholders and decision makers when they face the trade-off decisions inherent in these complex systems. This study addresses work task and resource allocations to workstations together with buffer capacity allocation in an RMS. The aim is to simultaneously maximize throughput and to minimize total buffer capacity under fluctuating production volumes and capacity changes while considering the stochastic behavior of the system. An enhanced simulation-based multi-objective optimization (SMO) approach with customized simulation and optimization components is proposed to address the abovementioned challenges. Apart from presenting the optimal solutions subject to volume and capacity changes, the proposed approach supports decision makers with knowledge discovery to further understand RMS design. In particular, this study presents a customized SMO approach combined with a novel flexible pattern mining method for optimizing an RMS and conducts post-optimal analyses. To this extent, this study demonstrates the benefits of applying SMO and knowledge discovery methods for fast decision support and production planning of an RMS.

A simulated annealing approach for optimizing layout design of reconfigurable manufacturing system based on the workstation properties

The problem studied focuses on facility layout problems (FLP) that arise in reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The goal is to reduce the distance traveled by an automatic guided vehicle (AGV) to move products between several workstations. The proposed solving approach takes into account the empty and loaded travels made by this vehicle as well as the machine's properties (i.e. layout, orientations, shapes of workstations). We use simulated annealing to optimize this problem. The findings demonstrate the impact of the modification of the layout, the orientation, the shape, and the benefits of using the three together. In addition, we study two different ways to optimize the solution: each property independently (i.e. sequentially) or all properties together. Preliminary results show that the sequential method outperforms the latter in terms of distance gain.

The role of Industrial Resources in Reconfigurable Aerospace Production Systems: A Preliminary Literature Review

Today, aerospace products need to be developed following economic and environmental drivers. Aerospace production systems must adapt to novel products that reuse current industrial resources to accommodate new scenarios. Reconfigurable Production Systems (RPS) or Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) is the answer. This paper aims to perform a preliminary review of the literature to answer the following research question. What is the current application of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems in the aerospace industry? This preliminary literature review is focused on the role of industrial resources in the design of RMS at the conceptual stage and the application or applicability of RMS in the aerospace industry. The objective of this paper is to provide the research community with a preliminary review of research trends in the field of industrial resources and RMS systems in aerospace.

Sustainable Integrated Process Planning and Scheduling (IPPS) in RMS: Past, Present and Future

Sustainable manufacturing (SM) is becoming a prominent manufacturing paradigm in the academic and industrial domains as users pay greater attention to the environment and resources. For industrial companies, SM recommends more economic, environmental, and social sustainability standards. Through new technology, the fourth industrial revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, provides greater prospects for SM. In the late 1990s, the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) was presented as an advanced manufacturing paradigm in response to quick market changes. RMS's strong characteristics make it a better fit for SM implementation. Moreover, integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) is an important aspect of RMS design since it has the ability to incorporate sustainability, high productivity, low manufacturing costs, and time all at the same time. Nevertheless, it is not an easy task. This paper reviews the state of the art of the IPPS problems in a sustainable RMS context and aims to address the corresponding gaps and challenges for future research directions.

Sustainable reconfigurable manufacturing system design using adapted multi-objective evolutionary-based approaches

Nowadays, manufacturing systems should be cost-effective and environmentally harmless to cope with various challenges in today’s competitive markets. This paper aims to solve an environmental-oriented multi-objective reconfigurable manufacturing system design (i.e., sustainable reconfigurable machines and tools selection) in the case of a single-unit process plan generation. A non-linear multi-objective integer program (NL-MOIP) is presented first, where four objectives are minimized respectively, the total production cost, the total production time, the amount of the greenhouse gases emitted by machines, and the hazardous liquid wastes. Second, to solve the problem, we propose four adapted versions of evolutionary approaches, namely two versions of the well-known non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II and NSGA-III), weighted genetic algorithms (WGA), and random weighted genetic algorithms (RWGA). To show the efficiency of the four approaches, several instances of the problem are experimented, and the obtained results are analyzed using three metrics respectively hypervolume, spacing metric, and cardinality of the mixed Pareto fronts. Moreover, the influences of the probabilities of genetic operators (crossover and mutation) on the convergence of the adapted NSGA-III are analyzed. Finally, the TOPSIS method is used to help the decision-maker ranking and select the best process plans.

A Tool for the Comparison of Concept Designs of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) deserve the interest of both academics and practitioners, as they allow manufacturing companies to deal with unpredictable market requirements, which is increasingly important. Moreover, the availability of Industry 4.0 technologies promises to support RMS and turn them into Cyber-Physical Systems. However, practitioners still need guidance and tools to design and build RMS. To pursue any investment strategy in these systems, companies need to be adequately aware of RMS’ benefits, since the initial stage of RMS design. To this end, this research focuses on the evaluation of concept designs of RMS, which should precede the investment in the detailed design and be sufficiently comprehensive on one hand, and as practical as possible to engage practitioners on the other hand. For this reason, a tool combining Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Pugh Matrix methods is proposed for fast and effective comparison of concept designs of RMS. Being part of an industry project, the tool has been validated in an actual context of development of RMS concept designs.

The layout design in reconfigurable manufacturing systems: a literature review

The layout is an important issue in the design of manufacturing systems. In conventional systems, the layout rarely changes after the initial design. However, as the market demands are changing more frequently, layout configurations must be capable of reconfiguring the arrangement of resources to suit new production requirements, while minimising material handling and relocation costs and maximising savings in material flow and inventory costs. This paper presents a literature review on the layout design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), focusing on reconfigurable layouts, which have been attracting increasing attention in recent years. A systematic literature network analysis was applied to identify trends, evolutionary trajectories and key issues that are influencing the development of knowledge in this field of study. The results are analysed and discussed using a bibliometric and a chronological citation network analysis. The major findings of this research includes (1) the layout design of RMS must be integrated in the process of RMS design, which, in turn, should be considered as a cyclic process, instead of divided into phases. (2) The core characteristics of reconfigurability and the layout design cannot be dissociated. (3) Operational performance measures are rarely considered in the reconfigurable layout problem, despite their importance. (4) Optimisation approaches have been widely used to solve the reconfigurable layout problem. However, they might not be the most suitable approach to deal with the uncertainty and variability present in manufacturing environments in which reconfigurable layouts are required. Finally, this paper identifies gaps in the literature and suggests directions for future research.

Reconfigurable manufacturing system: a state-of-the-art review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present an organized review of existing research on reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS). The paper considers majority of the prominent research articles in the domain of RMS published ever since RMS was envisaged in 1997.Design/methodology/approachThe paper systematically reviews, classifies and analyses the published literature on postulations and design of RMSs. The general observations from the literature and research gaps recognized thereon are highlighted at the end of each section/sub-section.FindingsThe paper reveals important aspects related to RMS research since its inception. It also recognizes the areas of RMS research requiring more focus. The study also highlights open issues and future directions for further research.Practical implicationsThe literature in the domain of RMS has so far been narrow. This paper reviews the prominent research in this field and presents an overview of its conceptual developments and various mathematical models for the RMS design and its optimization so far developed by the researchers. Further, manufacturing advancements and future directions have also been proposed for the efficient execution of RMS paradigm in manufacturing industries.Originality/valueThe paper provides an organized listing of published research work in the field of RMS. This work will provide an insight to the researchers, practitioners and others related directly or indirectly to this field to develop and understand better strategies for supervising and controlling the smooth implementation of RMS.

Machine layout design problem under product family evolution in reconfigurable manufacturing environment: a two-phase-based AMOSA approach

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) are designed to manufacture a specific product, incorporating the scalability to other products in the same family. This ability is based primarily on the reconfiguration capabilities offered by reconfigurable machines tools (RMTs). This paper addresses one of the most important aspects related to the reactivity of RMSs. More specifically, it considers the relations, which link the conceived system with two important environments: its logical environment, i.e., the product family (products that share similarities) in which the RMS can evolve, and its physical environment, i.e., the physical workshop that implements this RMS. We study the machine layout problem by considering the product family evolution where two sub-problems are addressed. The first sub-problem concerns the evolution of the product, in the same family, towards new products to meet the evolutions and the requirements of the customers. The second sub-problem deals with the machine layout problem based on the results of the first sub-problem. For this, our two-phase-based approach combines the well-known metaheuristic, archived multi-objective simulated annealing (AMOSA), with an exhaustive search–based heuristic to determine the best machine layout for all the selected machines of the product family. The developed approach is based on the initially generated process plans of products (in the product family) for the RMS design under performance metrics. Moreover, the proposed layout must, at its best, respect both the constraints imposed by the generated process plans and those depicting the available location in the shop floor where machines can be placed. An illustrative numerical example is proposed to demonstrate the applicability of our approach.

Virtual Reality-Based Engineering Education to Enhance Manufacturing Sustainability in Industry 4.0

Many advanced product manufacturing approaches have been introduced in the market in recent years. Thus, it is critical to develop modern techniques which can effectively familiarize budding minds with the latest manufacturing procedures. In fact, the contemporary training methods and advanced education practices are crucial to uphold the interest of the new generation as well as to equip them with state-of the art systems. There is a need for innovative ideas and effective methodologies to inculcate the desired competency and prepare students for prospective manufacturing set ups. In the latest Industry 4.0 paradigm, visualization technologies, especially virtual reality, have been emphasized to sustainably train and educate young students. This work presents a technique for utilizing the leading visualization method based on virtual reality in product manufacturing. It aims to acquaint students with the prominent concept of Industry 4.0, the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS). The RMS has been a demanding topic for the novice and, most often, amateurs are not able to grasp and interpret it. Therefore, this paper outlines the various steps that can be useful for students in order to anticipate the RMS design, interact with it, understand its operation, and evaluate its performance.

A heuristic approach to module synthesis in the design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems

While it is well recognized in the literature that modularity is a very important enabler for reconfigurability in manufacturing systems, there is very limited practical guidance on how the various required functions of a production system should be grouped into modules. In this work, a new heuristic approach is developed and presented, to aid the system developer in the identification and synthesis of potential modules during the early design stage of a reconfigurable manufacturing system. The work involves the identification of key module drivers for such systems, and of key criteria that can be used to facilitate the optimization of the granularity and effectiveness of the system. The results are presented in the form of a semi-algorithmic design tool that can be easily understood and used by the developer. The tool is applied to three very different industrial case studies, and is shown to be applicable to various manufacturing scenarios and sub-sectors. The use of the new tool is compared to the use of a design structure matrix approach to function clustering for module synthesis, and is shown to be easier and more objective in its application.

A New Hybrid Approach for Machine Layout Design Under Family Product Evolution for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a new paradigm that answers many of the challenges that the market nowadays imposes. In this paper, we address one of the most important aspects related to the reactivity of RMSs. We consider the relations, which link the conceived system with two important environments: its logical environment, i.e., the product family in which the RMS can evolve, and its physical environment, i.e., the physical workshop that implements this RMS. More specifically, we study the machine layout problem by considering the family product evolution where two sub-problems are considered. The first sub-problem concerns the evolution of the product, in the same family, towards new products to meet the evolutions and the requirements of the customers. The second sub-problem deals with the machine layout problem based on the results of the first sub-problem. We develop an approach which combines the well-known metaheuristic, archived multi-objective simulated annealing (AMOSA), with an exhaustive search-based heuristic to determine the best machine layout for all the selected machines of our product family. The approach is based on the initially generated process plans of products (in the product family) for the RMS design under performance metrics. The proposed layout must at its best, respects both the constraints imposed by the generated process plans and those depicting the available location in the shop floor where machines can be placed. To show the applicability of our approach, we present a simple numerical example and discuss the obtained numerical results.

Generic Framework for Holonic Modelling and Multi-Agent Based Verification of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Globalization and mass customization are demanding a higher level of productivity. The relevance of modelling approaches to the study and design of reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is widely claimed to achieve the highest productivity. Principally, reconfigurability in manufacturing systems should support the changeability with precisely the production capacity and functionality needed and exactly when needed. Simulation of such reconfigurable systems has become more and more difficult with the increasing complexity of system requirements. In spite of the promising methodology for designing RMS, an effective framework that bridges the gap between conceptual modelling level process and simulation level process is still a major challenge for Scientist. For this reason, we propose in this paper a generic framework especially designed for building and running executable agent-based models of RMS. This framework relies on SysML (Systems Modelling Language) models specifications, the holonic system techniques and multi-agent system in order to generate executable models of RMS. The considered case study for this paper is based on a steel converter process. Results showed an increase in the productivity rate after simulating the reconfigurability test cases through the developed agent-based models.

Methodology for reconfigurable fixture architecture design

A reconfigurable fixture is an important enabler to cope with increasing product variety and shorter lifecycles, since it helps to change between product variants more efficiently and reduces the time and resource usage for introduction of new product variants. For fixtures to be reconfigurable, they must be designed to accommodate a family in a single fixture that can be efficiently converted to different product variants, while also being designed for rapid introduction of new products since product families are dynamic and evolve over time. This brings some critical issues to the design phase of the reconfigurable fixture, regarding the frequency of reconfigurations, the time spent on reconfigurations, and the time and resources spent on introducing new products. However, reconfigurable fixture architecture design is not addressed in existing literature. Therefore, this paper proposes a generic architecture design methodology for the design of reconfigurable fixtures. A method developed for reconfigurable manufacturing systems design has been adapted for the design of reconfigurable fixtures. The method is validated by applying it on an industrial welding task, allowing the assembly of 14 different sub-components in one single reconfigurable fixture, which previously required six different fixtures for the same tasks. This demonstrates the validity of the proposed methodology by illustrating the changeability of the new, improved, and redesigned modular fixture.

Critical enablers of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing and their industrial implementation

PurposeDuring design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems, manufacturing companies need to select and implement the right enablers of reconfigurability in accordance with the specific requirements being present in the manufacturing setting. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate enablers of reconfigurability in terms of their importance in industry, current level of implementation in industry, and significant differences in their implementation and criticality across different manufacturing settings.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire survey is conducted, in order to provide generalizable empirical evidence across various industries and manufacturing types.FindingsThe findings indicate that the level of implementation of the reconfigurability enablers is rudimentary, while their criticality is perceived higher than the current level of implementation. Moreover, significant differences regarding implementation and criticality of mobility, scalability, and convertibility were found for companies with varying degrees of manual work, make-to-stock production, and varying production volume, industry type and organization size.Research limitations/implicationsMain limitations of the research cover the relatively small sample size and non-random sampling method applied, primarily limited to one country, which could be increased to further extent the findings reported in this paper.Practical implicationsThe findings indicate that the importance and implementation of reconfigurability enablers is contingent on the manufacturing setting. Thus, the research presented in this paper provides valuable knowledge in regard to aiding a paradigm shift in industry and help companies design manufacturing systems with the right reconfigurability enablers.Originality/valueThis paper expands research on manufacturing system design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering these as capabilities that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different manufacturing contexts.

Research on the Functional Design of Reconfigurable Manufacturing System Under Mass Customization Environment

Firstly, clarify the background of the reconfigurable manufacturing system and the axiomatic design theory, axiomatic design has two axioms including independent axiom and information axiom. This paper is based on Axiomatic Design, Using the independent axiom to the function design of the reconfigurable manufacturing system, the overall goal of three-level decomposition, each level of decomposition will list the corresponding design matrix to verify whether it meets the independence, and then summarizes the integrity of the decomposition of the design, finally, the feasibility of the design scheme is verified by an example.