The present investigation presents a stochastic model for a flexible manufacturing system consisting of flexible machine, loading/unloading robot and an automated pallethandling device. We consider unreliable flexible manufacturing cell (FMC) wherein machine and robot operate under individual as well as common cause random failures. The pallethandling system is completely reliable. The pallet o...

Mobile manufacturing is an enabler to increase the possibility to change and to adapt to altering needs, where the geographical position is not fixed. The main idea with the mobile manufacturing concept is to easily and quickly reuse manufacturing capacities between different orders or projects. This paper examines the concept of mobile manufacturing system by addressing issues related to manuf...

Mass customization manufacturing (MCM) has been gaining recognition as an industrial revolution in the 21st century. This paper presents innovative approaches in realizing and exercising MCM in theoretical and practical applications. Strategies of generalized production line platform and modularization are explored to support dynamic reconfigurations of MCM. NIST’s XML-based Shop Data informati...

The objective of this research is to develop a turbine blade investment casting cost advisor model to assist a blade designer in decision-making in a concurrent engineering environment. It is a microcomputer based cost estimating system that employs a manufacturing knowledge base. The concept of the manufacturing process for blade production by the investment casting method is used to develop t...

Nowadays, flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is introduced as a response to the competitive environment. Scheduling of FMS is more complex and more difficult than the other scheduling production systems. One of the main factors in scheduling of FMS is variable time of taking orders from customers, which leads to a sudden change in the manufacturing process. Also, some problems are created in p...

The present article attempts to investigate the validity of the Comanor–Wilson Minimum Efficient Size (MES) measure. The basic assumption is that firms that have exhausted scale economies are in non-increasing returns to scale. The same firms are also assumed to have a size greater than MES estimated on sales (total turnover), employment or fixed assets. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used,...