Integrating product configuration systems with manufacturing system reconfiguration
Sara Shafiee, Linda Zhang, Niels Henrik Mortensen, Hans Nørgaard Hansen
Abstract
Caused by the growing complexity in production, more and more companies started implementing reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) to quickly reconfigure production capacities and functionalities. Similarly, product, process, and service configuration systems (CSs) are promising tools to help companies achieve improved business performance. However, the literature has not addressed the impact of the integration of CSs and RMSs on a company’s benefits. We, thus, carried out a case study in an engineer-to-order (ETO) manufacturing company to analyze the benefits of a configurable product before and after integrating the relevant CS with RMS. The results revealed a decrease in the costs in the costs for producing personalized products after integration.