Changeable Manufacturing
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Changeable Manufacturing Hoda ElMaraghy1 and Hans-Peter Wiendahl2 1 Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Center, University of Windsor, Windsor, ON, Canada 2 Institut f€ ur Fabrikanlagen und Logistik, University of Hannover, Hannover, Germany
Synonyms Adaptable manufacturing/production; Adjustable manufacturing/production
Definition Changeable manufacturing is defined as the ability of a manufacturing system to economically accomplish early and foresighted adjustments of the factory’s structures and processes on all levels in response to change impulses. It is closely related to “flexible” and “reconfigurable” manufacturing which apply to the manufacturing equipment and systems on the shop floor respectively – the difference being the level, degree, and scope of change.
Theory and Application History In the past, a steady production volume increase is observed after releasing a new product and
followed by long stable production phases and finally a slow ramp down. Nowadays, production volume climbs much faster to the first peak then drops; it reaches a second peak after promotion activities and often a product face lift in subsequent releases. Furthermore, the product life cycle was usually within the range of the life cycle of the technological processes and production machines. With decreasing market life of the products and fast changing technologies, the equipment is now expected to produce more than one product generation. The factory buildings have to be adaptable to these product changes and the plant site must also follow new requirements regarding logistics and lean supply chains, etc. In addition, increasing outsourcing, manufacturing at different sites, and the multi-cooperation in networks increase the complexity of the production processes particularly as the operation of global supply becomes reality for more and more manufacturing companies. The reliable delivery of customized products nowadays has the highest priority in globally distributed markets. Therefore, the ability of production processes, resources, structures, and layouts as well as their logistical and organizational concepts to adapt quickly and with minimum effort is a prerequisite for success in local and global production networks. This “ability” is necessary to cope with the continuous change and the turbulence surrounding production companies and is described as “changeability.”
# CIRP 2016 The International Academy for Production Engineering et al. (eds.), CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering, DOI 10.1007/978-3-642-35950-7_6674-3
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Changeable Manufacturing
Changeable Manufacturing, Fig. 1 Factors affecting the change objects
Theory Objects of Changeability
It is important to define the objects, which have to be changeable and the appropriate degree of changeability. Figure 1 summarizes the main influential factors (see also, ElMaraghy 2005; Dashchenko 2006). The impulse for a change is triggered by change drivers, whose first category is the demand volatility measured by volume fluctuation over time. Variety is the span width
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