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

9309631本贾法尔虽然灵活性问题对制造系统的设计和运作变得越来越重要，但在很大程度上仍然含糊不清，人们对它的了解很少。这项研究的目的是解决其中一些限制。特别是，工作的重点将是(1)开发能够捕捉制造中柔性的各个维度的通用建模框架，(2)提供反映这些不同维度的稳健和有用的柔性度量(S)，以及(3)在制造系统的柔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，它们将解决以下问题：(1)制造系统中柔性的构成以及它可以追溯到哪些物理和逻辑特征？(2)如何对这些特征进行建模，以便能够容易地测量和分析柔性？(3)哪些系统性能测量(如果有的话)与柔性正相关，以及这种相关性的特征是什么？(4)在什么条件下柔性可能是有价值的，以及实现这种价值所必需的操作要求是什么？(5)如何权衡和优化柔性的成本和收益，和/或负担得起的灵活性水平？研究结果的影响将在于提高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.