Product-Process Modelling as an Enabler of Manufacturing Changeability

Part 5: Smart Production for Mass CustomizationInternational audienceToday’s competitive environment demands increased product variety, more rapid product introductions and increasingly efficient operations in manufacturing. Changeable manufacturing, encompassing reconfigurability and flexibility, provides a mechanisms for addressing these new demands, however there is a significant gap between the concept of changeable manufacturing, and what is actually enabled through operational methods. This paper analyzes how integrated modelling of products and processes can be applied when designing, managing, and operating changeable manufacturing systems. This is structured using generic changeability classes and generic changeability enablers. It is concluded that integrated product-process modelling has a potential to support changeability, especially within the classes reconfigurability, flexibility and transformability. However a theory-practice gap still exists, calling for more research on specific methods and feasibility of such approach