The New Jersey Institute of Technology's
Electronic Theses & Dissertations Project

Title:	Auditing & measuring the need for flexibility in a manufacturing facility
Author:	Stroman, Kartika-Sari
View Online:	njit-etd1995-112 (ix, 62 pages ~ 2.1 MB pdf)
Department:	Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Degree:	Master of Science
Program:	Manufacturing Systems Engineering
Document Type:	Thesis
Advisory Committee:	Das, Sanchoy K. (Committee chair) Sodhi, R. S. (Committee member) English, Robert (Committee member)
Date:	1995-10
Keywords:	Flexible manufacturing systems.
Availability:	Unrestricted
Abstract:	Flexible manufacturing was created out of the need for facilities to be able to efficiently respond to changes in their environment so as to build a competitive advantage. Flexible manufacturing (FM) is currently viewed as a way for facilities to be able to introduce and produce multiple products quickly and more efficiently. In this research we will present some new tools to help managers address the changes that are affecting the facility. An audit was developed to help system designers identify the changes that are impacting the facilities. The audit provides the opportunity to understand the changes that are occurring and provides an avenue for participants to be able to rank and prioritize the changes that are impacting the facility. The second part of the audit will categorize the changes into one of five areas of flexibility, such as machine, process, product, routing and volume. The audit helps designers identify solutions to address the changes and pre-determine acceptable performance measures for the solutions. This is accomplish by asking a series of questions that allows the designers to evaluate their current system and to determine their ideal system. The later part of the thesis will be used to generate general necessity measures for the machine, process, product, routing and volume flexibility.