Title :
An Axiomatic Design Approach to Production Path Enumeration in Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems
Author_Institution :
Eng. Syst. & Manage., Masdar Inst., Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Abstract :
In recent years, many design approaches have been developed for automated manufacturing systems in the fields of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), holonic manufacturing systems (HMS), and multi-agent systems (MAS). One of the principle reasons for these developments has been to enhance the recongurability of a manufacturing system, allowing it to readily adapt to changes over time. However, to date, recongurability assessment has been limited. Hence, the efficacy of these design approaches remains quantitatively inconclusive. More recently, a systematic approach to reconfigurability measurement based upon the concepts of reconfiguration "potential" and reconfiguration "ease" has been developed using axiomatic design and design structure matrices respectively. The measures of reconfiguration potential called production degrees of freedom were specifically used to calculate production paths of a product line through a reconfigurable manufacturing system. This paper rearticulates the previous scalar-based calculation in terms of a axiomatic design matrix-based development founded in graph theory for three major benefits. First, this approach establishes a link between the RMS literature and graph theory where path enumeration has long been associated with network reliability and resilience. Second, the approach bases its measures strictly on the evolving system architecture variables in both function and form. In so doing, it roots itself in the established engineering design concept of the axiomatic design knowledge base for large flexible systems. Finally, the formulaic expressions lend themselves to significant computational savings.
Keywords :
design engineering; flexible manufacturing systems; graph theory; matrix algebra; multi-agent systems; production engineering computing; HMS; MAS; RMS; automated manufacturing system; axiomatic design approach; axiomatic design knowledge base; computational savings; design structure matrix; engineering design concept; graph theory; holonic manufacturing system; large flexible systems; matrix-based development; multiagent system; network reliability; network resilience; product line; production degrees of freedom; production path enumeration; reconfigurability measurement; reconfigurable manufacturing systems; reconfiguration ease; reconfiguration potential; recongurability assessment; scalar-based calculation; system architecture variables; Graph theory; Knowledge based systems; Manufacturing systems; Transportation; graph theory; holonic manufacturing systems; multi-agent systems; re-configurable manufacturing systems; reconfigurability; reconfiguration processes;
Conference_Titel :
Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), 2013 IEEE International Conference on
Conference_Location :
Manchester
DOI :
10.1109/SMC.2013.659