Rapid manufacturing as a tool for agile manufacturing: applications and implementation perspectives

Manufacturing engineers and technologists around the globe are already well familiar with manufacturing methodologies and systems developments in the last part of the twentieth century. Many are probably also familiar with the current state of Rapid Prototyping (RP) technologies, especially in the areas of concept model making and prototype development. They may not however, be so familiar with the more recent developments of these technologies towards Rapid Manufacturing (RM) and the directions which the applications of RM technologies are taking for agile manufacturing purposes in particular. This paper critically reviews the various technologies currently available, outlines development trends in RM, discusses the approach, application and implementation perspectives by which these RM technologies are applied for increasing agility and responsiveness in manufacturing. Furthermore, the paper describes two case study examples to further illustrate the application scenarios in agile manufacturing before concluding remarks

PENDEKATAN KONSEPTUAL AGILE MANUFACTURING

Agile manufacturing sekarang merupakan konsep yang populer yang disebut sebagai paradigma manufaktur abad 21. Implementasi sistem agile manufacturing membuktikan menjadi efisien untuk memperoleh keunggulan kompetitif. Pada sistem agile manufacturing, strategi-strategi, teknologi, sistem dan orang merupakan empat elemen yang paling mendasar. Suatu bisnis baru dari awal sampai akhir industri telah lama berkecimpung dalam industri ini, dimana menunjukkan pentingnya perusahaan virtual  dalam industri  manufaktur sekarang. Artikel ini mendiskusikan konsep dan menunjukkan strategi-strategi, teknologi, sistem, dan orang yang merupakan empat elemen dasar agile manufacturing

Object-oriented architecture of control system for agile manufacturing cells

The depiction of the agile manufacturing cell includes a synopsis of some of the change proficiencies obtained by the configuration. To achieve agile configuration, the cell control system for agile manufacturing must be rapidly and efficiently generated or modified. In this paper, the object-oriented architecture is defined that supports design and implementation of highly reconfigurable control systems for agile manufacturing cells, which is composed of database objects, control objects, and resource objects, so as to reduce costs and increase a control system's agility with respect to changing environmentpublished_or_final_versio

The technology base for agile manufacturing

The effective use of information is a critical problem faced by manufacturing organizations that must respond quickly to market changes. As product runs become shorter, rapid and efficient development of product manufacturing facilities becomes crucial to commercial success. Effective information utilization is a key element to successfully meeting these requirements. This paper reviews opportunities for developing technical solutions to information utilization problems within a manufacturing enterprise and outlines a research agenda for solving these problems

Agile production, innovation and technological cooperation: Overlapping priorities of manufacturing firms

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze in a sample of Spanish manufacturing firms the relationship between agile manufacturing and the firm’s management capacities related to innovation and production flexibility. Complementarily the survey addresses the implementation of agile production and its measurement. Design/methodology/approach For data collection, a survey through mail to operations and human resource managers of manufacturing firms and telephonic interviews with managers from 25 selective firms was carried out. The population of the study included firms from the Sistema de Análisis de Balances Ibéricos database with NACE codes 24–32 and at least 200 employees. Quantitative methods (linear hierarchical regression and mean differences) were used to test research hypotheses, and a qualitative method (interview analysis) was used to analyze an implementation and measurement model of agile production. Findings The results of the study show that high-agile firms use more intensively a comprehensive set of agile facilitators (design, manufacturing and supply). They also innovate and cooperate externally more on innovation than low-agile firms. The authors have found that external technological cooperation moderates the firm’s production flexibility. Research limitations/implications The implications of this research indicate, on one hand, that firms interested in implementing agile production should focus on the agility management of supply chains, the skills and knowledge development of human resources and in the implementation of agile manufacturing technologies. On the other hand, firms in less cooperative environments should focus more on their internal manufacturing systems to reinforce the relationship between production flexibility and agility that offers broader scenarios to compete under this production paradigm. The main limitations of the research design are the use of cross-sectional data and the use of managerial perceptions to assess most of the variables. Originality/value This paper offers a model of agile production implementation that it is complemented with measurement indicators to analyze the firm’s evolution toward agility. The combination of multivariate analysis and managers’ interviews to obtain and validate results creates a value for managers interested in agile production

Performance optimization of a leagility inspired supply chain model: a CFGTSA algorithm based approach

Lean and agile principles have attracted considerable interest in the past few decades. Industrial sectors throughout the world are upgrading to these principles to enhance their performance, since they have been proven to be efficient in handling supply chains. However, the present market trend demands a more robust strategy incorporating the salient features of both lean and agile principles. Inspired by these, the leagility principle has emerged, encapsulating both lean and agile features. The present work proposes a leagile supply chain based model for manufacturing industries. The paper emphasizes the various aspects of leagile supply chain modeling and implementation and proposes a new Hybrid Chaos-based Fast Genetic Tabu Simulated Annealing (CFGTSA) algorithm to solve the complex scheduling problem prevailing in the leagile environment. The proposed CFGTSA algorithm is compared with the GA, SA, TS and Hybrid Tabu SA algorithms to demonstrate its efficacy in handling complex scheduling problems

Sustainable and agile manufacturing outsourcing partner selection: a literature review

[EN] Outsourcing to third party to manage non-core activities helps the firm to focus on core activities. Manufacturing firms are outsourcing product development, manufacturing, logistics, customer care etc. to enhance production capacity and flexibility, and to reduce operational costs, which in turn can improve profitability and competitive advantage of the enterprise. Sustainability in operations and supply chain is gaining momentum due to increased global environmental concern, pressures from consumers and communities, and enforced regulations. Volatile and uncertain business environment necessitates the adoption of agility and flexibility to effectively manage manufacturing and supply chain. Globalisation has made the market very competitive and hence manufacturing firms are adopting manufacturing outsourcing to third parties. Selecting a sustainable and agile manufacturing outsourcing partner (MPS) is crucial as it will improve sustainability, efficiency, and effectiveness of the supply chain and competitive advantage to the firm. Detailed literature review on sustainable and agile manufacturing outsourcing partner selection has been carried out from EBSCO data base and Goggle scholar. Selection criteria used are classified into agile, operational, economic, environmental and social. The techniques use are mostly multi criteria decision making methods (MCDM) while few have adopted programming techniques. Discussion, implication and the scope of future work is also provided.Akhtar, M. (2022). Sustainable and agile manufacturing outsourcing partner selection: a literature review. International Journal of Production Management and Engineering. 10(2):143-158. https://doi.org/10.4995/ijpme.2022.1680714315810

An information systems assessment framework for agile manufacturing

Turmoil in the business environment is driving manufacturing companies to become agile. Agility means the capability of operating profitably in a competitive environment of continuous and unpredictable changes with information systems regarded as one of its main enablers. The research presented in this work focuses on the assessment of information systems to support agile manufacturing. The assessment framework is constructed upon a series of competitive bases (six) and agility attributes (32) identified in the literature. Other issues included cover the characteristics of the business environment and the evolution/development and infrastructure of information systems. The framework is validated through a survey research instrument and the responses analysed with statistical tests (descriptive statistics, factor analysis, linear regression and reliability). The results of the statistical analysis enabled us to determine the attributes identified as predictors for the set of questions linking information systems and agile manufacturing. Due to the fuzzy nature of assessment of information systems, the complete framework can be presented as a hierarchy where techniques like AHP and fuzzy language sets are applicable. The findings will enable the researchers to clearly identify the trends adopted by manufacturing companies in the utilisation of information systems to gain competitive edge in support of the concept of agile manufacturing

Agile Project Management: A Communicational Workflow Proposal

Embracing agility brings change to companies and everyone involved, so people have a fundamental role in project development. It is essential that teams have a good communication, motivation and concern about quality and client satisfaction, Agile Manufacturing is using Agile Project Management to provide the right team to performance difficult tasks and achieve goals. This paper proposes a team that deals with Agile Project Management, named as AGILE team, composed by a product owner, a team leader and team members, and a communication workflow proposal concerning the conjunction of 3 momentums (requirements analyze, planning and design) along the Agile Project Management. The proposed model is being implemented in a lightening manufacturing company in a very early stage.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio