Research Initiation Award: Flexibility in Manufacturing Systems: Models, Measurement, and Evaluation

[309631] Benjaafar尽管灵活性问题对制造系统的设计和操作变得越来越重要，但它在很大程度上仍然是模糊的，而且理解得很少。本研究的目的是解决其中的一些限制。特别是，工作的重点将放在(1)开发一个通用的建模框架，能够捕获制造中灵活性的各个维度，(2)提供反映这些不同维度的灵活性的鲁棒性和有用的度量，以及(3)在制造系统的灵活性程度和系统的性能水平之间建立明确的关系。更具体地说，他们将解决以下问题：(1)什么构成了灵活性，制造系统中的哪些物理和逻辑特征可以追溯到它？(2)如何对这些特征进行建模，使灵活性易于测量和分析？(3)哪些系统性能指标（如果有的话）与灵活性呈正相关，这种相关性的特征是什么？(4)灵活性在什么条件下可能具有价值？实现这种价值所必需的操作要求是什么？(5)如何权衡灵活性的成本和收益，并确定最佳和/或可负担的灵活性水平？研究结果的影响将是增加建模和分析工具的可用性，以及更好地衡量工业系统的灵活性和性能。

9309631 Benjaafar Although the issue of flexibility has become increasingly important to the design and operation of manufacturing systems, it has remained to a large degree ambiguous and poorly understood. The objective of the research is to address some of these limitations. In particular, the focus of efforts will be on (1) developing a generic modeling framework capable of capturing the various dimensions of flexibility in manufacturing, (2) providing robust and useful measure(s) of flexibility that reflect these various dimensions, and (3) establishing clear relationships between the degree of flexibility in a manufacturing system and the system's level of performance. More specifically they will address the following questions: (1) What constitutes flexibility and to which physical and logical characteristics in a manufacturing system can it be traced? (2) How can these characteristics be modeled so that flexibility can be easily measured and analyzed? (3) Which system performances measures, if any, are positively correlated to flexibility and what are the characteristics of such correlations? (4) What are the conditions under which flexibility may be of value and what are the operation requirements necessary for realizing this value? (5) How can the costs and benefits of flexibility be traded-off and optimal, and/or affordable, levels of flexibility be determined? The impact of the research results will be in increased useability of modeling and analysis tools and better measures of industrial system flexibility and performance.