Flexible manufacturing systems are complex production systems with considerable high investment costs. This book intends to show the reader how the design of such a system can be optimized. Thereby it addresses the academic world in management science and industrial engineering as well as system planners in industry. First the design problems are analysed in detail and a planning concept is presented. Afterwards possible tools for the design process are described, as there are: mathematical programming, queueing networks, computer simulation, perturbation analysis, petri nets, group technology, and knowledge based systems. The major part of the book, however, concerns the description of existing optimization models based on mathematical programming. Each model is explained and discussed in detail and for new models, developed by the author, numerical examples are given. Finally some distinct guidelines are presented which help the system planners to select the appropriate model for their planning problems.

In the competitive business arena companies must continually strive to create new and better products faster, more efficiently, and more cost effectively than their competitors to gain and keep the competitive advantage. Computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are now the industry standa

In the last decade, the production of mechanical components to be assembled in final products produced in high volumes (e.g. cars, mopeds, industrial vehicles, etc.) has undergone deep changes due to the overall modifications in the way companies compete. Companies must consider competitive factors such as short lead times, tight product tolerances, frequent market changes and cost reduction. Anyway, companies often have to define production objectives as trade-offs among these critical factors since it can be difficult to improve all of them. Even if system flexibility is often considered a fundamental requirement for firms, it is not always a desirable characteristic of a system because it requires relevant investment cost which can jeopardize the profitability of the firm. Dedicated systems are not able to adapt to changes of the product characteristics while flexible systems offer more flexibility than what is needed, thus increasing investment and operative costs. Production contexts characterized by mid to high demand volume of well identified families of products in continuous evolution do not require the highest level of flexibility; therefore, manufacturing system flexibility must be rationalized and it is necessary to find out the best trade-off between productivity and flexibility by designing manufacturing systems endowed with the right level of flexibility required by the production problem. This new class of production systems can be named Focused Flexibility Manufacturing Systems-FFMSs. The flexibility degree in FFMSs is related to their ability to cope with volume, mix and technological changes, and it must take into account both present and future changes. The required level of system flexibility impacts on the architecture of the system and the explicit design of flexibility often leads to hybrid systems, i.e. automated integrated systems in which parts can be processed by both general purpose and dedicated machines. This is a key issue of FFMSs and results from the matching of flexibility and productivity that respectively characterize FMSs and Dedicated Manufacturing Systems (DMSs). The market share of the EU in the machine tool sector is 44%; the introduction of focused flexibility would be particularly important for machine tool builders whose competitive advantage is based on the ability of customizing their systems on the basis of needs of their customers. In fact, even if current production contexts frequently present situations which would fit well with the FFMS approach, tradition and know-how of machine tool builders play a crucial role. Firms often agree with the focused flexibility vision, nevertheless they decide not to pay the risk and efforts related to the design of this new system architecture. This is due also to the lack of well-structured design approaches which can help machine tool builders to configure innovative systems. Therefore, the FFMS topic is studied through the book chapters following a shared mission: "To define methodologies and tools to design production systems with a minimum level of flexibility needed to face, during their lifecycle, the product and process evolution both in the technological and demand aspects. The goal is to find out the optimal trade-off between flexibility and productivity". The book framework follows the architecture which has been developed to address the FFMS Design problem. This architecture is both broad and detailed, since it pays attention to all the relevant levels in a firm hierarchy which are involved in the system design. Moreover, the architecture is innovative because it models both the point of view of the machine tool builder and the point of view of the system user. The architecture starts analyzing Manufacturing Strategy issues and generating the possible demand scenario to be faced. Technological aspects play a key role while solving process plan problems for the products in the part family. Strategic and technological data becomes input when a machine tool builder performs system configuration. The resulting system configurations are possible solutions that a system user considers when planning its system capacity. All the steps of the architecture are deeply studied, developing methods and tools to address each subproblem. Particular attention is paid to the methodologies adopted to face the different subproblems: mathematical programming, stochastic programming, simulation techniques and inverse kinematics have been used. The whole architecture provides a general approach to implement the right degree of flexibility and it allows to study how different aspects and decisions taken in a firm impact on each other. The work presented in the book is innovative because it gives links among different research fields, such as Manufacturing Strategy, Process Plan, System Design, Capacity Planning and Performance Evaluation; moreover, it helps to formalize and rationalize a critical area such as manufacturing system flexibility. The addressed problem is relevant at an academic level but, also, at an industrial level. A great deal of industrial sectors need to address the problem of designing systems with the right degree of flexibility; for instance, automotive, white goods, electrical and electronic goods industries, etc. Attention to industrial issues is confirmed by empirical studies and real case analyses which are presented within the book chapters.

This is an invaluable five-volume reference on the very broad and highly significant subject of computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems. It is a set of distinctly titled and well-harmonized volumes by leading experts on the international scene.The techniques and technologies used in computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems have produced, and will no doubt continue to produce, major annual improvements in productivity, which is defined as the goods and services produced from each hour of work. This publication deals particularly with more effective utilization of labor and capital, especially information technology systems. Together the five volumes treat comprehensively the major techniques and technologies that are involved.

This is an invaluable five-volume reference on the very broad and highly significant subject of computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems. It is a set of distinctly titled and well-harmonized volumes by leading experts on the international scene. The techniques and technologies used in computer aided and integrated manufacturing systems have produced, and will no doubt continue to produce, major annual improvements in productivity, which is defined as the goods and services produced from each hour of work. This publication deals particularly with more effective utilization of labor and capital, especially information technology systems. Together the five volumes treat comprehensively the major techniques and technologies that are involved. Contents: .: Optimal Dynamic Facility Design of Manufacturing Systems (T L Urban); Rapid Prototyping Technologies and Limitations (C K Chua & S M Chou); Visual Assessment of Free-Form Surfaces in CADCAM (R J Cripps & A A Ball); and other articles. Readership: Graduate students, academics, researchers, and industrialists in computer engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, systems engineering, artificial intelligence and operations management

The purpose of this book is to discuss the state of the art and future trends in the field of computerized production management systems. It is composed of a number of independent papers, each presented in a chapter. Some of the widely recognized experts in the field around the world have been asked to contribute. lowe each of them my sincere gratitude for their kind cooperation. I am also grateful to Peter Falster and Jim Browne for their kind support in helping me to review topics to be covered and to select the authors. This book is a result of the professional work done in the International Federation of Information Processing Technical Committee IFIP TC5 "Com puter Applications in Technology" and especially in the Working Group WG5. 7 "Computer-Aided Production Management". This group was established in 1978 with the aim of promoting and encouraging the advancement of the field of computer systems for the production management of manufacturing, off shore, construction, electronic and similar and related industries. The scope of the work includes, but is not limited to, the following topics: 1) design and implementation of new production planning and control systems taking into account new technology and management philosophy; 2) CAPM in a CIM environment including interfaces to CAD and CAM; 3) project management and cost engineering; 4) knowledge engineering in CAPM; 5) CAPM for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) and Flexible Assembly Systems (F AS); 6) methods and concepts in CAPM; 7) economic and social implications of CAPM.

In the competitive business arena companies must continually strive to create new and better products faster, more efficiently, and more cost effectively than their competitors to gain and keep the competitive advantage. Computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are now the industry standa