Integrated definition modeling and Taguchi analysis of flexible manufacturing systems: aircraft industry application

In this paper, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are studied. Firstly, an FMS design approach is proposed using integrated definition for function methodology. A systematic layout design and performance evaluation scheme is presented and detailed using this modeling framework. Then, the proposed approach is carried out with a case study from an aircraft industry to convert an existing traditional production system to FMS. To improve the system performance, a simulation-based method with Taguchi approach consisting of multiproducts is utilized. The objective is to find the machine and the product mix that achieves the maximum utilization while minimizing the cycle time. FMS system performance has been greatly improved by determining the most advantageous level of system components. It has also shown that FMS is a practicable production system in aircraft industry.