An Agenda For Research on the Flexibility of Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

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Flexibility in manufacturing: A survey

“…The answer to this question requires that the management identify and be able to measure the various flexibilities that the manufacturing system must have in order to gain maximum competitive advantage (see also, e.g., Gerwin 1987;Ettlie 1988;Ranta and Alabian 1988). This is certainly a difficult question, and we address it in the next section.…”

“…Such an assessment may enable us, for example, to make an informed decision to buy or not to buy the machine (see also Gerwin 1987). Ranta (1989), "The machine level provides the basic framework for flexibility.…”

Flexibilidade e orientação para mercados em duas cadeias de suprimentos da indústria da moda: análise e modelo para futuras pesquisas

“…Citing Slack (1983), Gerwin (1987), Koste & Malhotra (1999), Narasimhan & Das (2000) and Vokurka & O'Leary-Kelly (2000), Stevenson & Spring (2007) synthesized the following tactical dimensions:(i) product flexibility, involving the ability to add, remove, or replace components to modify the product; (ii) volume flexibility, involving the ability to change the size of the manufacturing batch without influencing the unit cost; (iii) delivery flexibility, involving the ability to change transfer lot size, delivery date and route; and (iv) production flexibility, involving the variety of products (or mix) that can be produced in the same factory. Stevenson & Spring (2007) also presented strategic flexibility dimensions: (i) design flexibility, involving the speed with which the company can develop and introduce new products; (ii) expansion flexibility, involving the ease of increasing the long-term capacity of the productive system; and (iii) market flexibility, involving the company's ability to adapt to market changes.…”

“…Narasimhan & Das (1999) have defined flexibility as the ability of a productive system to rapidly change production parameters without considerable effort or exaggerated resource involvement. Initially, studies on manufacturing flexibility gave more importance to the internal and operational aspects of operations (Slack, 1983(Slack, , 1987Gerwin, 1987Gerwin, , 1993Upton, 1995). Other studies have included external aspects associated with supply chain (SC) action (Fisher, 1997;Lambert et al, 1998;Croom et al, 2000;Jack & Raturi, 2002).…”

Sistemática para avaliação e melhoria da flexibilidade de layout em ambientes dinâmicos

“…A classificação, como se conhece hoje, evoluiu ao longo dos anos e tem em Gerwin (1987Gerwin ( , 1993, Browne et al (1984), Sethi e Sethi (1990) Na exposição que se segue, os índices m, n, i e j estão associados a fatores primários, secundários, terciários e indicadores, respectivamente. Adicionalmente, matrizes são identificadas por letras maiúsculas em negrito; matrizes transpostas são identificadas por T em sobrescrito; a inversa de uma matriz é identificada por -1 em sobrescrito; e vetores são identificados por integram-se os tipos de FM por meio de uma média ponderada pelo peso de importância, obtendo-se um indicador de efetividade do layout.…”