A methodology for facilitating reconfiguration in manufacturing: the move towards reconfigurable manufacturing systems

The launch of new products to the market is essential for companies in order to remain competitive. Products are constantly being replaced for others that fulfil the changing requirements of the customers. For achieving this, companies have to adapt their production system to the new requirements of the new products by adding or removing machines, changing the lay-out, etc. Normally, this reconfiguration implies a high investment. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) arise for facilitating the reconfiguration of the production system, being considered as the next step in manufacturing. This paper deals with the development of a methodology based on RMSs that allows a feasible reconfiguration of production systems. This methodology is based on the ALCA algorithm from group technology, and takes into account five requirements of products on RMSs: modularity, commonality, compatibility, reusability and demand. The selection of the product families is obtained with a mathematical model specifically formulated for this purpose.