Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), which possess the advantages of both dedicated serial lines and flexible manufacturing systems, were introduced in the mid-1990s to address the challenges initiated by globalization. The principal goal of an RMS is to enhance the responsiveness of manufacturing systems to unforeseen changes in product demand. RMSs are costeffective because they boost productivity, and increase the lifetime of the manufacturing system. Because of the many streams in which a product may be produced on an RMS, maintaining product precision in an RMS is a challenge. But the experience with RMS in the last 20 years indicates that product quality can be definitely maintained by inserting in-line inspection stations. In this paper, we formulate the design and operational principles for RMSs, and provide a state-of-the-art review of the design and operations methodologies of RMSs according to these principles. Finally, we propose future research directions, and deliberate on how recent intelligent manufacturing technologies may advance the design and operations of RMSs.

Rapid and cost-effective scalability of the throughput of manufacturing systems is an invaluable feature for the management of manufacturing enterprises. System design for scalability allows the enterprise to build a manufacturing system to supply the current demand, and upgrade its throughput in the future, in a cost-effective manner, to meet possible higher market demand in a timely manner. To possess this capability, the manufacturing system must be designed at the outset for future expansions in its throughput to enable growths in supply exactly when needed by the market. A mathematical method that maximises the system throughput after reconfiguration is proposed, and an industrial case is presented to validate the method. The paper offers a set of principles for system design for scalability to guide designers of modern manufacturing systems.

Manufacturing enterprises are facing in the last decades unpredictable market changes driven by global competition. To stay competitive, these enterprises must possess new types of manufacturing systems that can rapidly respond to market changes. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), which were invented in the mid-1990s, are characterised by their rapid and cost-effective response to market changes, and therefore are frequently being built by global enterprises. The RMS components are Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) machines and some reconfigurable machines that are all connected into a system in way that enables changes in the system structure to accommodate new product types and their desired volume. Methodologies for the systematic design for rapid system modifications while maintaining consistent product quality are the cornerstones of the RMS paradigm.

The product development process involves communication and compromise among interacting and often competing objectives from marketing, design, and manufacturing perspectives. Methods for negotiating these perspectives play an important role in the process. For example, design for manufacturing (DFM) analyses aim to incorporate manufacturing requirements into product design decision making to reduce product complexity and cost, which generally increases profitability. However, when design characteristics have market consequences, it is important to quantify explicitly the tradeoffs between the reduced cost and reduced revenue resulting from designs that are less expensive to manufacture but also less desirable in the marketplace. In this article we leverage existing models for coordinating marketing and design perspectives by incorporating quantitative models of manufacturing investment and production allocation. The resulting methodology allows a quantitative assessment of tradeoffs among product functionality, market performance, and manufacturing costs to achieve product line solutions with optimal profitability.

When designing a new large manufacturing system with high throughput, the corporation should weigh several factors: the capital investment cost, the system’s responsiveness to future varying market demand, the production losses due to disruptive events, and the product quality. These performance metrics depend heavily on the system configuration. In this paper, typical configurations of large-volume manufacturing systems for mechanical products are compared from cost, responsiveness and product quality perspectives. In addition to traditional serial lines and pure parallel systems, we also discuss two practical configurations – parallel serial lines, and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The results offer managerial insights for selecting the system configuration that creates the maximum economic value over the lifetime of the system, and fits the corporation needs and culture.