Search

The study offers an analytical approach for assessing production control system performance in terms of volume and variety features of the product being manufactured for the flexible manufacturing system. Throughput, resource utilization, cycle time, and maximum completion time are the four performance indicators taken into account. The objective was to quantify the performance of the production system and define the reactive capability of production control architectures in a market that is becoming increasingly competitive. The examination of the production performances of control systems motivates the evaluation of these architectures through the introduction of scheduling approaches that deal with uncertainty. Results revealed the semi-heterarchical control architecture outperforms the hierarchical control architecture through multiple performance criteria. A case study with regard to a manufacturing control system was presented in order to highlight the significance of the adopted methodology and the contribution of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The model of the multi-conveyor transport system of a conveyor type is given in the article. The conveyor is considered as a complex dynamic distributed system. The analytical expression which allows calculating linear density and material flow at any point of the transport route for a specific instant in time is obtained. The conveyor belt speed and the material flow from the accumulative bunker to the input of the conveyor are represented as given time functions. The decision analysis for the steady and transient periods of the transport system operation is accomplished. The estimated duration of the transient process is given. The model is of interest for the design of highly efficient flow control systems for long-ranged multi-conveyor transport systems of a conveyor type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Smart Agriculture is the property of Smart Agriculture Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Goal: Although card-based systems are a mature topic in literature, studies have focused mainly on how to optimize parameter of each system. The influential of human factors in the implementation of those systems have rarely been evaluated. Therefore, this study aims to understand what are the critical soft factors for a successful card-based systems implementation. Design / Methodology / Approach: A multi-method study is used in this research, combining systematic literature review, longitudinal case study, content analysis, interviews with experts and validations with two different groups. Results: The paper proposes a list of 15 soft factors critical to a successful implementation of cardbased systems categorized in a "house framework" according to the level of analysis each factor is included. Limitations of the investigation: A single case study, although longitudinal, was conducted to proposed the list of factors. Therefore, further studies should be conducted to adapt the list to other organizations and contexts. Practical implications: Following the proposed list of factors, managers can increase the success in implementing a card-based system in their organizations. Originality / Value: This study combines different research methods in a unique way, since in the researchers' view, an individual method was not sufficient to answer the proposed research question. Moreover, the case study reported a failure implementation of a card-based system, a rare addition to literature which mainly presented success cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturers more and more need to customize their products to respond to customer demand and differentiate from competitors. The present paper deals with key questions related to the implementation of production control systems in a high product mix and/or high routing mix environment generated by product customization. ConWip (CONstant Work In Progress) provides a sustainable, effective and adaptive production control system. The objective of the paper is to help manufacturers to optimize their production control system in product customization manufacturing environments. Four models that generate different generic routings are presented and tested with a sample of data from an industrial case. These routings are implemented into Wipsim, an engineering tool, which allows the optimized parameters for each routing to be calculated. Our experiments show that our models generated worthwhile generic routings and help manufacturers choose among them, depending on their own products customization specific context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exists a large literature on well-known Production Control Systems (PCS) such as Kanban, Constant Work-In-Process (CONWIP), Material Requirements Planning (MRP) and Paired Cell Overlapping Loops of Cards with Authorisation (POLCA). However, there are also many new systems that have emerged in the last 20 years. These systems are less well known, and no systematic review exists. Through a systematic literature review, 13 PCS's were identified, such as COBACABANA, REDUTEX, BK-CONWIP and B-CONWIP. For each system, we describe its characteristics, how they work and in what productive environments it proves useful. A cross-comparison of the 13 systems was then conducted using seven variables: primary control variable (WIP or throughput), degree of centralisation, material flow (productive environment), whether it was introduced as card-based, types of authorizations, number of articles published and type of articles published (theoretical or empirical). Most new PCS's (7 out of 13) show characteristics that are similar to Kanban, CONWIP and POLCA: they are decentralised, card-based and use WIP as primary control variable. This may be a result of the strong influence of Lean Manufacturing paradigms Meanwhile, there is a general lack of empirical studies, being 11 PCS's developed from mathematical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the problem of manufacturing process flexibility in view of a company's material and information flow stream management. The author of the article has described the functions of a production process control system and presented the characteristics of production capacity intensive and extensive reserves. The MRP II/ERP, MES and APS class IT tools supporting the process of production planning, organization and control have also been discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multi-product multi-machine serial production line operated under a constant-work-in-process protocol is considered. A mathematical model for the system is first presented, and then an artificial bee colony optimization algorithm is applied to simultaneously find the optimal work-in-process inventory level as well as job sequence order in order to minimize the overall makespan time. Unlike many existing approaches, which are based on deterministic search algorithms such as nonlinear programming and mixed integer programming, the proposed method does not use a linearized or simplified model of the system. A production line simulator implemented on MATLAB is, instead, employed to model the highly nonlinear dynamics of the production line and is used to evaluate the candidate solutions. The efficiency of the proposed approach, even for systems of large sizes, is validated via numerical simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production planning problems have been a frequent focus of work in the literature. However, despite their importance, there are inadequate studies on control mechanisms and the representation of performance indices in a production environment. In the present paper, a hybrid production planning–project management system is presented and implemented successfully throughout a production environment. In this approach, earned value management (EVM), a powerful project management technique, is applied within a multi-period–multi-product (MPMP) production planning problem. Since EVM is a well-known technique in the area of project planning and management, it is first required to convert the MPMP problem into a project management network. Then after performing computational investigations in the lowest level of work breakdown structure, the results are sent back to the production environment again. In order to interpret and measure the manufacturing efficiency, original performance indices are proposed throughout the production planning period, product, and machine centres. In this respect, new formulas are also developed accordingly. Finally, an insight to lean production is given. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Studia i Materialy Polskiego Stowarzyszenia Zarzadzania Wiedza / Studies & Proceedings Polish Association for Knowledge Management is the property of Polish Society of Knowledge Management and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The development and maturity of soft components technology provides a new idea for the reconfiguration of production control systems. In other words, according to the requirements of dynamically arriving jobs, the production control system organizes all kinds of required production resources, by recalling predefined soft components to dynamically configure the production control system, which can ensure a quick response to the changes of customers’ demands and support dynamic reconfiguration of the system structure. In this paper, a method for rapid reassignment of job shop production resources by using soft components technology is proposed. The key problems of the subject domain are investigated and an illustrative case study is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]