Prerequisites and Barriers for the Development of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems for High Speed Ramp-up

AbstractIntensified global competition, fast developing technologies, and changing customer demands have resulted in a trend towards increased differences in customer requirements, increased need for customization, shorter product life cycles, shorter windows for market opportunity, and rapid new product introductions. Thus, production ramp-up is becoming a more and more important stage in the lifetime of a product, which manufacturers need to be able to handle frequently and efficiently in order to gain competitive advantage. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) are attractive options for handling this, as the system can be continuously reconfigured in accordance with the demanded volumes and products. However, the development of the RMS is a particularly challenging task compared to the development of a traditional manufacturing system. Therefore, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to investigate prerequisites and barriers for developing reconfigurable manufacturing. Initially, the paper presents a review of current literature on reconfigurable manufacturing with an identification of the prerequisites for its implementation. Moreover, through a long-term case study, their presence and the barriers towards their adoption and development in industry are investigated. The findings suggest multiple barriers for the successful development of reconfigurable manufacturing in industry. Conclusively, these findings are discussed and considerations for future research are proposed in order to aid the transition towards reconfigurability in industry

Fostering the Reuse of Manufacturing Resources for Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains

In the current context characterized by turbulent market conditions and the increasing relevance of sustainability requirements, reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) offer great potentialities for supply chains and networks. While plenty of contributions have addressed RMSs from a technological and system-specific perspective since the mid-1990s, the research interest for the strategic potentialities of RMSs at the supply chain level is recent and mainly related to building supply chains’ resilience and sustainability. Despite the interest, methods to support supply chains to strategically exploit RMSs are still missing, while being highly needed. In this paper, a method—consisting of an index to assess machines reusability and a mixed integer programming (MIP) algorithm—is provided to support the identification of reusable and reconfigurable machine candidates at the early stage of the strategic network design. The overall method allows machines to be compared based on their reusability and geographical locations. The application of the method, as well as an example referring to the production of emergency devices during the COVID-19 pandemic are reported. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed, and, among others, strategic parameters related to machines have been identified and elaborated as enablers of supply chain reconfigurability; the proposed method supports practitioners in improving supply chain resilience and sustainability. The method also encourages practitioners towards the development and adoption of reconfigurable machines. Finally, this study also has social impacts for local communities and stimulates customer-centric collaboration among companies belonging to similar industries and sectors