Volume and product flexibility: a case study for a refrigerators producing facility

This paper presents a study of flexibility for the punching department in a commercial refrigerators manufacturing system. Three different technology solutions for the punching department are studied under different sets of production requirements: conventional press machines, CNC machines and laser machines solution. Analysis of changing the required production volume, as well as the introduction of new products takes place and thereafter volume and product flexibility provided by the punching department has been studied. The flexibility of the system is investigated with the use of the Penalty of Change (POC) method. The application of the method gives a good picture of the flexibility characteristics for the alternative solutions for the punching department