Structural Modeling of Extended Manufacturing Systems – An Approach to Support Changeability by Reconfiguration Planning

摘要

Changeability of manufacturing systems is a success factor for industrial enterprises in an increasingly dynamic environment. In this context, also utilization of changeability becomes more and more important – and with that continuous planning of reconfigurations of manufacturing resources as a concrete implementation example. Such continuous planning activities are highly interrelated to e. g. the manufacturing system and relevant influencing factors such as product or technology life cycles. Hence, comprehensive design and improvement of continuous planning and the relevant manufacturing environment from a system perspective is a promising approach. This paper introduces a basic reconfiguration planning process and combines it with other subsystems to an extended manufacturing system model. The modeling concept is based on the approach of structural complexity management. Structural analysis criteria can now be used to obtain comprehensive system understanding. Finally, the application of the extended manufacturing system model is exemplarily shown in a case study demonstrating the potential for improving continuous reconfiguration planning processes and an extended manufacturing system in general.