Framework definition for the design of a mobile manufacturing system

The concept of mobile manufacturing systems is presented in the literature as an enabler for improving company competitiveness by cost reduction, delay respect and quality control. In comparison with classical sedentary systems, added characteristics should be taken into consideration, such as the system life phases, the dependency to the production location, human qualification as well as means supply constraints. Such considerations might be addressed as soon as possible in the design process. This paper aims at presenting a contribution for the design of mobile manufacturing systems based on three analysis: (1) an analysis of the mobile manufacturing system features (2) an identification of the attributes enabling the system mobility assessment, and (3) the proposal of a framework for mobile production system design considering new context-specific decision criteria.