Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS)'

To compete, manufacturing companies need production systems that quickly can respond to changes. To handle change drivers such as volume variations or new product variants, reconfigurability is advocated as a competitive means. This implies an ability to add, remove, and/or rearrange the structure of the production system to be ready for future changes. Still, it is not clear how the production system design process can capture and support the de-sign of reconfigurable production systems. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of how to support the design of reconfig-urable production systems. Reconfigurability could be defined by a number of reconfigurability char-acteristics including convertibility, scalability, automatibility, mobility, modularity, integrability, and diagnosability. In eight case studies, reconfigu-rability characteristics in production system design were studied in order to investigate reconfigurability needs, knowledge, and practice in manufactur-ing companies. In three of the case studies reconfigurable production sys-tems were studied to identify the links between change drivers and reconfig-urability characteristics. In the remaining five case studies, reconfigurability in the production system design processes was addressed in terms of needs, prerequisites, and consideration. Based on the literature review and the case studies, support for reconfigu-rable production system design is suggested including two parts. The first part comprises support for analyzing the need for reconfigurability. Based on relevant change drivers the need for reconfigurability must be identified to enable selection of right type and degree of reconfigurability for each specif-ic case of application. A comprehensive view of the reconfigurability charac-teristics is presented and links between change drivers and reconfigurability characteristics are described. The characteristics are divided into critical characteristics, that lead to a capacity or functionality change of the produc-tion system, and supporting characteristics, that reduce system reconfigura-tion time but do not necessarily lead to a modification of functionality or capacity of the production system. The second part provides support in how to consider reconfigurability in the production system design process. A holistic perspective is crucial to design reconfigurable production systems and therefore constituent parts of a production system are described. Accord-ing to their character physical, logical, and human reconfiguration must be considered through the whole production system design process.

Due to the changes and improvements that have occurred over the years, the manufacturing sector has evolved. Companies in the 21st-century face changes in the marketplace that are difficult to predict due to international competition and the rapid emergence of new products. To cope, companies must reinvent themselves and design manufacturing systems that seek to produce quality and low-cost products, and respond to the changes that must be faced. These capabilities are encompassed in reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS), capable of dealing with uncertainties quickly and economically. On the other hand, production planning with this type of system presents a significant challenge. Although simulation-based optimization techniques have been applied to address certain RMS challenges, only a few studies have applied simulation-based multi-objective optimization to simultaneously address several conflicting design objectives, as is the case in this project. This project aims to investigate some aspects using SBMO that directly affect the performance of a plant and demonstrate the usefulness of the method.

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Tough market situation from one side and global competition from another side are persuading companies to search for new manufacturing concepts and try to stay competitive. But “how” to consider “new” manufacturing systems is still a big question mark.This thesis aims to analyze reconfigurability as an enabler for competitiveness in manufacturing systems. The frame of work in this study is “Reconfigurable Manufacturing System” or briefly RMS. In first chapter, some background about reconfigurability has been stated. Then it will continue with research questions, delimitations and expected results.Then the research methodology and challenges for applying RMS have been stated. This chapter explains researchers’ method for data reviewing and data collection. Another focus area in this thesis is SME (Small and Medium size Enterprises). So this report tries also to examine reconfigurability challenges in SMEs. There is a big gap between “ideal” production system and “designing” of this ideal production system. So this thesis tried to increase the knowledge about design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems.In empirical study chapter two case studies have been analysed and as a result a list of challenges for implementing reconfigurable system has been proposed. Then some solutions and methods are proposed in order to answer to challenges. This solutions and methods are then discussed and evaluated.Finally, in last chapter, challenges and prerequisites for implementing reconfigurable manufacturing system in general and for SMEs in specific have been stated. This chapter was ended by expressing future works.

I sistemi RMS (Reconfigurable Manufacturing System), progettati con caratteristiche di modularità e flessibilità, nascono in risposta alle necessità del mercato moderno. Tuttavia, la letteratura non ha ancora affrontato organicamente la problematica della coordinazione tra politica manutentiva e attività di riconfigurazione che questi sistemi richiedono. L’elaborato dopo aver descritto brevemente l’evoluzione dei sistemi di produzione e le caratteristiche e le tecnologie abilitanti dei sistemi RMS affronta il problema della manutenzione all’interno di sistemi di produzione complessi. L’obbiettivo è la presentazione di un modello manutentivo preventivo e opportunistico ottimizzato specificatamente per sistemi produttivi riconfigurabili, che tenga conto della contemporanea usura di macchine e moduli e della necessità di riconfigurazione del sistema. L’euristica presentata è stata implementata mediante il linguaggio di programmazione Java per la parte algoritmica e di elaborazione dati e su Excel per la parte relativa alla lettura dei dati in input e output, al fine di dimostrare l’adattabilità dell’euristica e la sua concreta applicabilità a un sistema produttivo. Il valore dei parametri e il costo totale della politica manutentiva sono stimati e ottimizzati mediante un processo di simulazione. L’esempio numerico proposto mostra come l’euristica presentata, se implementata, possa rispondere alle necessità manutentive di un sistema RMS garantendo costi totali minori rispetto a un modello di manutenzione preventiva age-based e rispetto a manutenzioni a rottura.

Les systèmes de fabrication modernes connaissent un changement de paradigme qui met l'accent sur l'intégration des technologies du numérique dans les systèmes de production afin de relever le défi des demandes incertaines du marché. Les systèmes de fabrication ont besoin d'une certaine réactivité pour faire face à ces incertitudes en s'adaptant en conséquence, et nécessitent une plus grande évolutivité aux niveaux physique et logique. À cet effet, les systèmes de fabrication modernes sont conçus avec des capacités de ressources dynamiques, avec des composants modulaires, de sorte qu'ils puissent fournir le niveau requis de reconfigurabilité. Dans la perspective de l'"industrie 4.0", la reconfigurabilité est indispensable à l'adaptation efficace des systèmes de fabrication dans un environnement complexe. La reconfigurabilité permet une adaptation rapide de ces systèmes ainsi qu'une réactivité rapide à la compétitivité socio-techno-économique. L'objectif est de répondre aux défis modernes (externes et internes), c'est-à-dire la personnalisation de masse, la mondialisation, la gestion de la variété des produits, la gestion de la reconfiguration des systèmes et la réduction des délais.Dans cette thèse, le problème de conception des systèmes de fabrication reconfigurables (RMS) est considéré pour répondre aux exigences susmentionnées. L'objectif est de concevoir un système réactif basé sur deux caractéristiques clés : la modularité et la reconfigurabilité. Nous étudions le problème de conception du RMS comme étant le développement d'une gamme de fabrication pour une pièce spécifique de la famille considérée, ainsi que la sélection des capacités de ressources dynamiques du système pour fabriquer cette pièce.Ce travail est divisé en trois parties : (1) Cogénération du processus et du plan de préparation pour une pièce dans un environnement reconfigurable. L'objectif principal est de développer une nouvelle approche pour considérer conjointement les contraintes de préparation et de gamme de fabrication, en tenant compte des relations entre les opérations. (2) Minimisation de l'effort de reconfiguration dans la conception des gammes. Nous proposons un nouvel indice de performance de l'effort généré par la reconfiguration des machines et des fixations, ainsi que le transfert des pièces. L'objectif est d'assurer une meilleure réactivité et une haute performance la gamme conçue. (3) Maximisation de l'utilisation des capacités des ressources dynamiques de la conception RMS. Nous considérons un problème de conception RMS pour la sélection de machines, où la sélection de différents types de machines-outils reconfigurables (RMT) est réalisée pour exécuter la gamme de la pièce considérée
Modern manufacturing systems are going through a paradigm shift where the focus is on the integrating the digital technologies in the production systems to address the challenge of uncertain market demands. Manufacturing systems needs certain amount responsiveness to address these uncertainties by adapting accordingly, and require more changeability at physical as well as logical levels. For this purpose, modern-day manufacturing systems are designed with dynamic resource capabilities, with modular components, so that they can provide the required amount of reconfigurability. From the perspective of "industry 4.0", reconfigurability is vital for the effective adaptation of manufacturing systems in a complex environment. Reconfigurability provides the quick adaptation of these systems along with quick responsiveness towards socio-techno-economic competitiveness. The objective is to respond to modern-day challenges (both external and internal), i.e. mass customization, globalization, product variety management, system reconfiguration management, and reducing the lead time.In this thesis, the design problem of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) is considered which meets the aforementioned requirements. The goal is to design a responsive system based on two key features modularity and reconfigurability. We study the RMS design problem as, the development of a process plan for a particular part of the part family along with the selection of the system's dynamic resource capabilities to perform that part. This work is divided into three parts: (1) Co-generation of process and setup plan for a part in the reconfigurable environment. The main objective is to develop a new approach to jointly consider the setup and process plan constraints, with consideration of relationships between the operations. (2) Minimisation of reconfiguration effort in process design. We propose a novel performance index of the effort generated by the machines and fixtures reconfiguration, and part transfer. The objective is to ensure better responsiveness and high performance of the designed process plan. (3) Maximisation the utilization of dynamic resource capabilities of RMS design. We consider a RMS design problem for machine selection, where selection of different types of reconfigurable machine tools (RMTs) are carried out for performing the process plan of considered part

L'environnement manufacturier moderne est face à un bouleversement de paradigmes nécessitant plus de changeabilité au niveau physique et logique. Un système manufacturier Changeable est défini comme un système de production ayant les capacités de faciliter les changements adéquats, permettant d'ajuster ses structures et ses processus en réponse aux différents besoins. Dans ce contexte, les systèmes manufacturiers doivent se doter d’un très haut niveau de reconfigurabilité, qui est considérée comme l’un des facteurs majeurs du concept de changeabilité. En effet, dans la vision de l'Usine du Futur, la reconfigurabilité est essentielle pour s'adapter efficacement à la complexité croissante des environnements manufacturiers. Elle assure une adaptation rapide, efficace et facile de ces systèmes tout en étant réactif, robuste et économiquement compétitif. L’objectif est de répondre aux nouvelles contraintes internes et externes telles que la globalisation, la variété des produits, la personnalisation de masse ou le raccourcissement des délais. À travers cette thèse, nous étudions la problématique de conception des systèmes manufacturiers reconfigurables (Reconfigurable Manufacturing System – RMS). L’objectif consiste à concevoir des systèmes réactifs en se basant sur leurs capacités en matière de reconfigurabilité. Nous avons étudié ce problème sur trois niveaux : (i) le niveau des composantes, relatif aux modules des machines reconfigurables, (ii) le niveau des machines et leurs interactions, ainsi que l’impact de ces interactions sur le système et (iii) le niveau de l'atelier, composé de l'ensemble des machines reconfigurables. Nous avons développé pour chaque niveau, des indicateurs de performance afin d’assurer les meilleures performances du système conçu, tels que l’indicateur de modularité, l’indicateur de flexibilité, l’indicateur de robustesse et l’effort d'évolution d'un système reconfigurable. Pour l'ensemble des problèmes étudiés, nous avons développé des modèles d’optimisation multicritère, résolus à travers des heuristiques ou des métaheuristiques multicritères (comme le recuit simulé multicritère (AMOSA) et les algorithmes génétiques multicritère (NSGA-II)). De nombreuses expériences numériques et analyses ont été réalisées afin de démontrer l’applicabilité de nos approches
The modern manufacturing environment is facing a paradigm shift that require more changeability at physical and logical levels. A Changeable Manufacturing System is defined as a production system that has the ability to facilitate the right changes, allowing the adjustment of its structures and processes in response to the different needs. In this context, manufacturing systems must have a very high level of reconfigurability, which is considered to be one of the major enablers of changeability. From the perspective of the “Factory of the future”, the reconfigurability is essential to effectively adapt to the ever-increasing complexity of manufacturing environments. It allows a rapid, efficient and easy adaptation of these systems while being responsive, robust and economically competitive. The objective is to respond to new internal and external constraints in terms of globalization, variety of products, mass customization, and shorter lead times. Through this thesis, we study the problem of design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) that meets these requirements. The goal is to design responsive systems based on their key features of reconfigurability. We have studied the RMS design problem on three levels: (i) the level of the components, relating to the modules of the reconfigurable machines, (ii) the machine level and their interactions, as well as the impact of these interactions on the system and (iii) the workshop level composed of all the reconfigurable machines. We have developed for each level, performance indicators to ensure a better responsiveness and a high performance of the designed system, like the modularity index, the flexibility index, the robustness index and the layout evolution effort of a reconfigurable system. For each of the studied problems, we developed multicriteria optimization models, solved through heuristics or multicriteria metaheuristics (such as archived multi-objective simulated annealing (AMOSA) and multi-objective genetic algorithms (NSGA-II)). Numerous numerical experiments and analyzes have been performed to demonstrate the applicability of our approaches

L'environnement manufacturier moderne est face à un bouleversement de paradigmes nécessitant plus de changeabilité au niveau physique et logique. Un système manufacturier Changeable est défini comme un système de production ayant les capacités de faciliter les changements adéquats, permettant d'ajuster ses structures et ses processus en réponse aux différents besoins. Dans ce contexte, les systèmes manufacturiers doivent se doter d’un très haut niveau de reconfigurabilité, qui est considérée comme l’un des facteurs majeurs du concept de changeabilité. En effet, dans la vision de l'Usine du Futur, la reconfigurabilité est essentielle pour s'adapter efficacement à la complexité croissante des environnements manufacturiers. Elle assure une adaptation rapide, efficace et facile de ces systèmes tout en étant réactif, robuste et économiquement compétitif. L’objectif est de répondre aux nouvelles contraintes internes et externes telles que la globalisation, la variété des produits, la personnalisation de masse ou le raccourcissement des délais. À travers cette thèse, nous étudions la problématique de conception des systèmes manufacturiers reconfigurables (Reconfigurable Manufacturing System – RMS). L’objectif consiste à concevoir des systèmes réactifs en se basant sur leurs capacités en matière de reconfigurabilité. Nous avons étudié ce problème sur trois niveaux : (i) le niveau des composantes, relatif aux modules des machines reconfigurables, (ii) le niveau des machines et leurs interactions, ainsi que l’impact de ces interactions sur le système et (iii) le niveau de l'atelier, composé de l'ensemble des machines reconfigurables. Nous avons développé pour chaque niveau, des indicateurs de performance afin d’assurer les meilleures performances du système conçu, tels que l’indicateur de modularité, l’indicateur de flexibilité, l’indicateur de robustesse et l’effort d'évolution d'un système reconfigurable. Pour l'ensemble des problèmes étudiés, nous avons développé des modèles d’optimisation multicritère, résolus à travers des heuristiques ou des métaheuristiques multicritères (comme le recuit simulé multicritère (AMOSA) et les algorithmes génétiques multicritère (NSGA-II)). De nombreuses expériences numériques et analyses ont été réalisées afin de démontrer l’applicabilité de nos approches
The modern manufacturing environment is facing a paradigm shift that require more changeability at physical and logical levels. A Changeable Manufacturing System is defined as a production system that has the ability to facilitate the right changes, allowing the adjustment of its structures and processes in response to the different needs. In this context, manufacturing systems must have a very high level of reconfigurability, which is considered to be one of the major enablers of changeability. From the perspective of the “Factory of the future”, the reconfigurability is essential to effectively adapt to the ever-increasing complexity of manufacturing environments. It allows a rapid, efficient and easy adaptation of these systems while being responsive, robust and economically competitive. The objective is to respond to new internal and external constraints in terms of globalization, variety of products, mass customization, and shorter lead times. Through this thesis, we study the problem of design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) that meets these requirements. The goal is to design responsive systems based on their key features of reconfigurability. We have studied the RMS design problem on three levels: (i) the level of the components, relating to the modules of the reconfigurable machines, (ii) the machine level and their interactions, as well as the impact of these interactions on the system and (iii) the workshop level composed of all the reconfigurable machines. We have developed for each level, performance indicators to ensure a better responsiveness and a high performance of the designed system, like the modularity index, the flexibility index, the robustness index and the layout evolution effort of a reconfigurable system. For each of the studied problems, we developed multicriteria optimization models, solved through heuristics or multicriteria metaheuristics (such as archived multi-objective simulated annealing (AMOSA) and multi-objective genetic algorithms (NSGA-II)). Numerous numerical experiments and analyzes have been performed to demonstrate the applicability of our approaches

Today's society is characterized by a high degree of change where the manufacturing systems are affected by both internal and external factors. To adapt to current manufacturing requirements in the form of short lead-time, more variants, low and fluctuating volumes, in a cost-efficient manner, new approaches are needed. As the global market and its uncertainties for products and its lifecycles change, a concept called 'reconfigurable manufacturing system' has been developed. The idea is to design a manufacturing system for rapid structural change in both hardware and software to be responsive to capacity and functionality. A company's development towards the concept is often based on a strategy of incremental investments. In this situation, the challenges are to prioritize the right project and maximize the performance as well as the financial efficiency of a multi-approach problem. The report is based on three different issues. Partly how to standardize relevant performance-based metrics to measure current conditions, how new performance-based metrics can be developed in collaboration with reconfigurability characteristics, and set a direction for how decision models can be used to optimize step-based investments. The study is structured as an explorative study with qualitative methods such as semi-structured interviews and document study to get in-depth knowledge. Related literature addresses concepts in search areas such as reconfigurable manufacturing system, key performance indicators, investment decisions, and manufacturing readiness levels. The findings are extracted from interviews and document studies that generate a focal company setting within the automotive industry, which acts as the foundation for further analysis and decisions throughout the thesis. The analysis results in sixteen performance measurements where new measures been created for product flexibility, productionvolume flexibility, material handling flexibility, reconfiguration quality and diagnosability using reconfigurability characteristics. A conceptual decision support model is introduced with an underlying seven-step investment process, analyzing lifecycle cost, risk triggered events in relation to cost, and performance measurements. The discussion chapter describes how different approaches are used during the project that has been revised by internal and external factors. Improvement possibilities regarding method choice and the aspects of credibility, transferability, dependability, and conformability are discussed. Furthermore, the authors argue about the analysis process and how the result has been affected by circumstances and choices. The study concludes that a three-pronged approach is needed to validate the investment decision in terms of system performance changes, cost, and uncertainty. The report also helps to understand which performance-based metrics are relevant for evaluating manufacturing systems based on operational goals and manufacturing requirements.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The thesis evaluates control strategies for reconfigurable manufacturing systems by using a welding assembly cell as a case study. The cell consists of a pallet magazine, conveyor, feeder subsystem (comprising an articulated robot and singulation unit), welder subsystem (which uses a modular Cartesian robot), and inspection and removal subsystems. The research focuses on control strategies that enhance reconfigurability in terms of structure, hardware and software using agent-based control and the IEC 61499 standard, based on PC control. Reconfiguration may occur when a new product is introduced, as well as when a new subsystem is introduced or removed from the production cell. The overall control architecture is that the subsystems retain no knowledge of the product, but product information resides in the cell controller, while services offered by the subsystems are registered with the directory facilitator of the Java agent platform. The control strategies are implemented on the modular Cartesian weld robot and the cell controller for assembly cell. A layered architecture with low-level control and high-level control is used to allow separation of concerns and rapid changes in both hardware and software components. The low-level control responds in hard real-time to internal and external events, while the high-level control handles soft real-time actions involving coordination of control related issues. The results showed IEC 61499 function blocks to be better suited to low-level control application in distributed systems, while agents are more suited for high-level control. Modularity in software components enhances hardware and software scalability. Additionally, agents can support online reconfiguration of reconfigurable machines.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die tesis evalueer beheerstrategieë vir herkonfigureerbare vervaardigingstelsels deur gebruik te maak van ’n sweismonteersel as ’n gevallestudie. Die sel bestaan uit ’n palletmagasyn, vervoerbande, voersubstelsel (bestaande uit ’n geartikuleerde robot en singulasie-eenheid), sweissubstelsel (wat gebruik maak van ’n modulêre Cartesiese robot), en inspeksie- en verwyderingsubstelsels. Die navorsing fokus op beheerstrategieë wat herkonfigureerbaarheid verhoog in terme van struktuur, hardeware en sagteware met behulp van agent-gebaseerde beheer en die IEC 61499 standaard, wat gebaseer is op PC-beheer. Herkonfigurasie mag voorkom wanneer ’n nuwe produk in-gestel word, sowel as wanneeer ’n nuwe substelsel bygevoeg of verwyder word van die produksiesel. Die oorhoofse beheerargitektuur is dat die substelsels geen kennis van die produk hou nie, maar die produkinligting in die selbeheerder geberg, terwyl dienste wat aangebied word deur die substelsels wat geregistreer is by die gidsfasiliteerder van die Java agent platform. Die beheerstrategië is geïmplementeer op die modulere Cartesiese sweisrobot en die selbeheerder vir die monteersel. ’n Gelaagde argitektuur met ’n lae-vlak beheer en hoë-vlak beheer word gebruik om skeiding van oorwegings en vinnige veranderinge in beide hardeware en sagteware komponente toe te laat. Die lae-vlak beheer reageer hard intyds op interne en eksterne gebeure, terwyl die hoë-vlak beheer sag intyds die koördinering van beheerverwante kwessies hanteer. Die resultate het getoon dat IEC 61499 funksie-blokke beter geskik is vir lae-vlak beheer toepassing in verspreide stelsels, terwyl agente meer geskik is vir hoë-vlak beheer. Modulariteit in sagteware komponente verhoog hardeware en sagteware skaleerbaarheid. Boonop kan agente ook aanlyn herkonfigurasie van herkonfigureerbare masjiene ondersteun.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Information Technology)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2013
Markets for manufactured products are characterized by a fragmentation of the market (with regards to size and time), and by shorter product cycles. This is due to the occurrence of mass customization and globalization. In mass customization, the same basic products are manufactured for a broad market, but then consumers are given the liberty to choose the “finishing touches” that go with the product. The areas that manufacturers now compete for are higher quality products, low cost and timely response to market changes. Appropriate business strategies and manufacturing technologies must thus be used to implement these strategic dimensions. The paradigm of Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) has been introduced to respond to this new market oriented manufacturing environment. The design of RMS allows ease of reconfiguration as it has a modular structure in terms of software and hardware. This allows ease of reconfiguration as a strategy to adapt to changing market demands. Modularity will allow the ability to integrate/remove software/hardware modules without affecting the rest of the system. RMS can therefore be quickly reconfigured according to the production requirements of new models, it can be quickly adjusted to exact capacity requirements as the market grows and products change, and it is able to integrate new technology. In this research project, real-time, open controller is designed and developed for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Tools (RMTs). RMTs are the basic building blocks for RMS. Real time and openness of the controllers for RMT would allow firstly, for the modular design of RMTs (so that RMTs can be adapted easily for changing product demands) and secondly, prompt control of RMT for diagnosability.

The High Value Manufacturing (HVM) sector is vital for developed countries due to the creation of innovative products with advanced technology that cannot be reproduced at the same cost and time with traditional technology. The main challenge for HVM is to rapidly increase production volume from one-off products to low production volume. This requires highly flexible manufacturing systems that can produce new products at variable production volumes. Current manufacturing systems, classified as dedicated, flexible and reconfigurable systems, are limited to produce one type of product(s), within a production volume range and have fixed layouts of machines. Thus, there is a need for highly flexible systems that can rapidly adjust their production volume according to the production demand (i.e. main HVM challenge). Therefore, a novel manufacturing framework, called INTelligent REconfiguration for a raPID production change (INTREPID), is presented in this thesis. INTREPID consists of a user interface and communications platform, a job allocation system, a globally distributed network of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Centres (RMCs), consisting of interconnected factories, and Self-Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (S-RMSs). The highly flexible S-RMS consists of movable machines and Mobile Manufacturing Robots (MMRs). The novelty of the S-RMS is its capability of forming layouts bespoke to the current production needs. The vision of INTREPID is to offer global HVM services through the network of RMCs. The job allocation system determines the best possible RMCs or factories to perform a job by considering the complexity of the production requirements and the status of the available S-RMSs at each factory. The planning of the production with S-RMS is challenging due to its high flexibility. The main example of this flexibility is the possibility to create layouts bespoke to current production needs. Yet, this flexibility involves the challenges of determining allocations and schedules of tasks to robots and machines, positions to manufacture, and routes to reach those positions. In manufacturing systems with fixed layouts, production plans are determined by solving a sequence of problems. However, for the S-RMS, it is proposed to determine production plans with a single problem that covers the scheduling, machine layout and vehicle routing problems simultaneously. This novel problem is called the Scheduling, positions Assigning and Routing problem (SAR) problem. In order to determine the best possible production plan(s) for the S-RMS, it is necessary to use optimisation methods. Dozens of elements, characteristics and assumptions from the constituent problems might be included in the formulation of the SAR problem. Elements, characteristics and assumptions can be considered as decision variables on whether to include or not the elements and characteristics and under which assumptions in the formulation. There are two types of decision variables. Fundamental variables are natural to the SAR problem (e.g. manufacturing resources, factory design and operation), whilst auxiliary variables arise from the aim to simplify the formulation of the optimisation problem (i.e. time formulated as discrete or continuous). Due to the large number of decision variables, there might be millions of possible ways to formulate the SAR problem (i.e. the SAR problem space). Some of these variants are intractable to be solved with optimisation methods. Hence, before formulating the SAR problem, it is necessary to select a problem(s) that is realistic to industrial scenarios but solvable with optimisation methods. Existing selection methods work with pairwise comparisons of alternatives. However, for a space of millions of SAR problems, pairwise comparisons are intractable. Hence, in this thesis, a novel Decision Making Methodology (DMM) based on the controlled convergence method is presented. The DMM helps down-selecting one or a few SAR problems from millions of possible SAR problems. The DMM is demonstrated with a case study of the SAR problem and the results show a significant reduction of the reviewed SAR problems and the time to select them.

Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) have the ability to reconfigure hardware and control resources at all of the functional and organizational levels. This allows for quick adjustment of production capacity and functionality in response to sudden changes in market or in regulatory requirements. This study evaluates the characteristics and operation of automated reconfigurable assembly lines using discrete event simulation. The assembly line uses a conveyor system which transports pallets to various machines to perform the assembly process. Different conveyor configurations are developed for the same assembly process using Simio simulation software. A part family consisting of five variants are assembled on the same assembly line with a large variation in the production quantities for each product. This requires the assembly system to be able to quickly adjust its functionality and capacity. Multi-objective optimization is performed on the models through the use of a Pareto exhaustive search experiment. The two contradicting objectives used are the throughput rate of the system and the average work in progress, with the aim of maximizing the former and minimizing the latter. From the Pareto exhaustive search experiment, a Pareto front is constructed showing which configuration is preferred under certain operation conditions. However it is concluded that the Pareto front can be tailored to fit the specific needs of the decision maker, depending on what the decision maker is willing to pay. An experiment that evaluates the effect of changing the conveyor speed is performed. It is established that under certain operating conditions, increasing the conveyor speed higher than the ceiling value will not improve the performance of the system. A production scenario was also developed which include different order sizes for each of the five parts of the part family. The configurations have to alter their capacities based on the order sizes to test which system performs the best under these operating conditions. For this experiment, the ramp-up time was of interest but the best system was chosen based on the combination of throughput rate and the average work in progress. From the results of the different experiments, it is recommended to first determine the maximum capacity and the operating logic before choosing one of the configurations. Once this is decided, the information gathered from the experiments can then be tailored for the decision maker to establish the best operating conditions for the chosen con guration. The developed simulation models are used as a Decision Support System for future research on the topic. It is recommended for future research to focus on using Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) instead of a conveyor system as transportation method.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Herkonfigureerbare Vervaardigingstelsels (HVSs) het die vermoee om alle hardeware en beheer hulpbronne, op alle funksionele en organisatoriese vlakke te herkonfigureer. Dit maak dit moontlik vir vinnige verstellings aan produksie kapasiteit en funksionaliteit, indien daar 'n skielike verandering in die mark of wetgewing is. Hierdie studie evalueer die karakteristieke en werking van outomatiese herkon gureerbare monteerlyne met behulp van diskrete gebeurtenis simulasie. Die monteerlyne gebruik vervoerbande om pallette na verskeie masjiene te vervoer, sodat die parte aanmekaar gesit kan word. Simio simulasie sagteware is gebruik om verskillende vervoerband kon gurasies vir dieselfde monteringsproses te ontwikkel. 'n Part familie van vyf variante word op dieselfde monteerlyn aanmekaargesit. Daar is 'n groot variasie in die produksie hoeveelhede van elk van die vyf variante, dus moet die monteerlyne vinnig die kapasiteit en funksionaliteit kan aanpas. Multi-doelwitoptimering is toegepas op die modelle deur 'n Pareto alomvattende soek eksperiment uit te voer. Die twee teenstrydige doelwitte wat gebruik is, is die deurset tempo van die stelsel asook die gemiddelde werk-in-proses. Die doel is om die deurset tempo te maksimeer en terselfde tyd die gemiddelde werk-in-proses te minimeer. Die Pareto alomvattende soek eksperiment word verder gebruik om 'n Pareto front te skep wat uitwys watter vervoerband kon gurasies verkies word onder sekere bedryfstoestande. Die Pareto front kan egter aangepas word om die spesi eke behoeftes van die besluitnemer te pas. 'n Eksperiment is uitgevoer om die uitwerking van die vervoerbandspoed op die stelsel te toets. Resultate het getoon dat onder sekere bedryfstoestande die werkverrigting van die stelsel nie verbeter indien die spoed 'n maksimum grenswaarde oorskry nie. 'n Eksperiment wat 'n produksie scenario voorstel is ontwikkel waarin die vraag na die vyf part variante gevarieer word. Die vervoerband konfigurasies moet dan die kapasiteit aanpas gebaseer op die vraag na die parte. Die doel van die eksperiment is om te toets watter kon gurasie die beste vaar onder hierdie bedryfstoestande. Die tyd wat dit neem vir die stelsel om weer op dreef te kom na 'n verandering in kapasiteit is ondersoek in hierdie eksperiment, maar die beste stelsel is nog steeds gekies gebaseer op die kombinasie van deurset tempo en die gemiddelde werk-in-proses. Gegewe die resultate van die verskillende eksperimente, word dit voorgestel dat die besluitnemer eers die maksimum kapasiteit en die bedryfstoestande vasstel, voordat 'n vervoerband kon gurasie gekies word. Sodra dit besluit is, kan die inligting wat tydens die eksperimente ingesamel is, aangepas word om die beste bedryfstoestande vir die kon gurasie wat gekies is, vas te stel. Die simulasie modelle wat ontwikkel is word gebruik as 'n besluitnemingsondersteuningstelsel vir toekomstige navorsing oor die onderwerp. Dit word voorgestel dat toekomstige navorsing die moontlikheid van geoutomatiseerde begeleide voertuie (GBV), in plaas van vervoerbande as vervoermiddel, ondersoek.

The present dynamic manufacturing environment has been characterized by a greater variety of products, shorter life-cycles of products and rapid introduction of new technologies, etc. Recently, a new manufacturing paradigm, i.e. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS), has emerged to address such challenging issues. RMSs are able to adapt themselves to new business conditions timely and economically with a modular design of hardware/software system. Although a lot of research has been conducted in areas related to RMS, very few studies on system-level control for RMS have been reported in literature. However, the rigidity of current manufacturing systems is mainly from their monolithic design of control systems. Some new developments in Information Technology (IT) bring new opportunities to overcome the inflexibility that shadowed control systems for years. Component-based software development gains its popularity in 1990â s. However, some well-known drawbacks, such as complexity and poor real-time features counteract its advantages in developing reconfigurable control system. New emerging Extensible Markup Language (XML) and Web Services, which are based on non-proprietary format, can eliminate the interoperability problems that traditional software technologies are incompetent to accomplish. Another new development in IT that affects the manufacturing sector is the advent of agent technology. The characteristics of agent-based systems include autonomous, cooperative, extendible nature that can be advantageous in different shop floor activities. This dissertation presents an innovative control architecture, entitled Component-based Intelligent Control Architecture (CICA), designed for system-level control of RMS. Software components and open-standard integration technologies together are able to provide a reconfigurable software structure, whereas agent-based paradigm can add the reconfigurability into the control logic of CICA. Since an agent-based system cannot guarantee the best global performance, agents in the reference architecture are used to be exception handlers. Some widely neglected problems associated with agent-based system such as communication load and local interest conflicts are also studied. The experimental results reveal the advantage of new agent-based decision making system over the existing methodologies. The proposed control system provides the reconfigurability that lacks in current manufacturing control systems. The CICA control architecture is promising to bring the flexibility in manufacturing systems based on experimental tests performed.
Ph. D.

This dissertation research explores a reconfigurable hardware-based parallel simulation mechanism that can dramatically improve the speed of simulating the operations of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). Here reconfigurable hardware-based simulation refers to running simulation on a reconfigurable hardware platform, realized by Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The hardware model, also called simulator, is specifically designed for mimicking a small desktop FMS. It is composed of several micro-emulators, which are capable of mimicking operations of equipment in FMS, such as machine centers, transporters, and load/unload stations. To design possible architectures for the simulator, a mapping technology is applied using the physical layout information of an FMS. Under such a mapping method, the simulation model is decomposed into a cluster of micro emulators on the board where each machine center is represented by one micro emulator. To exploit the advantage of massive parallelism, a kind of star network architecture is proposed, with the robot sitting at the center. As a pilot effort, a prototype simulator has been successfully built. A new simulation modeling technology named synchronous real-time simulation (SRS) is proposed. Instead of running conventional programs on a microprocessor, this new technology adopts several concepts from electronic area, such as using electronic signals to mimic the behavior of entities and using specifically designed circuits to mimic system resources. Besides, a time-scaling simulation method is employed. The method uses an on-board global clock to synchronize all activities performed on different emulators, and by this way tremendous overhead on synchronization can be avoided. Experiments on the prototype simulator demonstrate the validity of the new modeling technology, and also show that tremendous speedup compared to conventional software-based simulation methods can be achieved.
Ph. D.

Controlling uncertainties is a challenging aspect in design and manufacturing of microsystems. As microsystems are characterised by features in the micro domain, product development and manufacturing processes are applied at the boundaries of their operational areas. In combination with many disciplines (mechanical, electrical, software, chemical etc.) and little standardisation, it causes microsystems development to be more time and cost intensive than products in the macro domain. Development of microsystems benefits from a concurrent approach of product and production design. Uncertainties may be addressed by application of methods for systems engineering (engineering design). Systems engineering applies models for the analysis of projects, usually a linear set of gates that need to be closed successively as the project evolves. Over the last ten years, models with an iterative approach of design and testing, gained in popularity due to their more agile characteristic that performs better in fast changing markets. Microsystems development benefits from the linear approach that performs well for their structured project control, but because of the high market dynamics, agile methods will speed up the process, which results in faster market introduction, advances the product life cycle, and increases return on investments. Currently, there are no known systems engineering models that combine linear and iterative monitoring of projects to gain the best of both methods, especially not in combination with the capability of concurrently monitoring the development of product and production design. This thesis investigates how existing ways of system engineering can be combined to: (RQ1) enable iterative and linear modelling of microsystems development, and (RQ2) merge these qualities into a combined model to monitor the development process concurrently. The first problem is addressed by (RQ1): i. Modelling development progression by execution of iterative cycles that alternately perform functional system decomposition and functional gating. ii. This iterative model is elevated with the method of Axiomatic Design to enable concurrent system decomposition. Implementation of elements from the V-Modell XT enable functional gating to index the concurrent development process iii. The ‘Theory of Complexity’ of Axiomatic Design is applied to realise an intelligent, knowledge based, gating function to be used as a continuous maturity measure; The results show that linear and iterative models can be merged successfully. With some extensions, the Theory of Complexity of Axiomatic Design can indeed be used for continuous monitoring of product and process development. The thus-obtained maturity measure can be applied for the analysis of project decisions. This was successfully done for retrospective analysis of two cases. To merge the qualities of analyses ‘i to iii’ into a combined model to monitor the development process concurrently, three tools for application have been developed (RQ2). iv. The first is a method for visualisation of the intelligent gating function, based on analysis ‘iii’. The method applies a newly developed ‘Maturity Diagram’ that plots the Design Axioms as continuous parameters v. The second is a method for assessment of reconfigurable manufacturing systems based on analysis ‘ii’. The method estimates the investigations needed to (re)configure a product specific manufacturing system vi. The third is a tool for roadmapping and monitoring that combines outcomes of analyses ‘i, ii, and iii’. This model is called ‘Constituent Roadmap’ and it is based on: (a) an iterative approach, (b) concurrent decomposition, (c) the advanced gating function, and (d) knowledge application to the product and process design. The Constituent Roadmap was applied for the development of a ‘smart dust’ sensor system. It was found to structure knowledge development and application. This increases the chances to satisfy the functional requirements of the design. In parallel, it functions as a communications tool between designers and managers. Together, a reasonably complete picture has emerged how the design of microsystems and their production means can be modelled, and how uncertainties may be categorised so they can be addressed in the best order.

Thesis (MEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2014.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The South African industry has an increasing need for manufacturing automation. However, the classical form of automation is not cost effective for the low volumes and high variance of products that are produced there. The industry may use the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) concept to improve production of its products. However, industry has been unwilling to adopt the reconfigurable manufacturing systems developed in recent research projects. Due to industry’s hesitance to adopt the control platforms on which reconfigurable manufacturing systems are currently based, the focus of the thesis is on creating a reconfigurable control system using industry accepted technologies. This research focused on evaluating a Beckhoff embedded PC’s suitability as a station controller that controls a reconfigurable subsystem in an RMS. The control system for the station controller was developed using only the IEC 61131-3 programming languages and the Beckhoff programming software. This control system was evaluated by using it to control a station that is responsible for testing a circuit breaker’s tripping current and time. The developed control system was based on the ADACOR architecture because of its optimisation capabilities that were necessary to keep the cycle time of the station as low as possible. The design and implementation of the physical configuration and control system of the station is described in this thesis. The station was designed to meet the requirements of both an RMS and the case study. Because of the limitations of the IEC 61131-3 programming languages, dynamic instantiation of holons is not possible and a method was developed to simulate dynamic task holons. By making use of the embedded PC’s ability to run multiple PLCs at the same time, each type of holon was run in its own PLC thread. The developed control system and station was evaluated by conducting experiments using a laboratory test setup. The evaluation of the developed control system in this thesis proved that an RMS can be created, in the context of station control, using IEC 61131-3 and industry accepted technologies, if a hardware platform is used that allows multiple PLCs to be run in individual threads. The control approach that was created in this thesis can be used to create station control systems that offers optimised cycle times, the benefits of an RMS and the benefits of industry accepted technology.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Suid-Afrikaanse bedryf het 'n toenemende behoefte aan geoutomatiseerde vervaardiging. Die klassieke vorm van outomatisasie is egter nie koste effektief vir die lae volumes en hoë variansie van produkte wat in Suid Afrika geproduseer word nie. Die bedryf kan moontlik die konsep van 'n herkonfigureerbare vervaardigingstelsel (HVS) gebruik om vervaardiging te outomatiseer. Die bedryf is egter nie bereid om die herkonfigureerbare vervaardigingstelsels wat in onlangse navorsingsprojekte ontwikkel is, te aanvaar nie. As gevolg van die bedryf se huiwering om die beheerplatforms waarop herkonfigureerbare vervaardigingstelsels tans gebaseer word, te aanvaar, is die fokus van die tesis om industrie-aanvaarde tegnologie te gebruik om ‘n herkonfigureerbare beheerstelsel te skep. Hierdie navorsing fokus op die evaluering van 'n “Beckhoff embedded PC” se geskiktheid as 'n stasiebeheerder van 'n herkonfigureerbare substelsel in 'n HVS. Die beheerstelsel vir die stasie beheerder is ontwikkel deur slegs van die IEC 61131-3 programmeringstale en die Beckhoff programmering-sagteware gebruik te maak. Hierdie beheerstelsel is geëvalueer deur dit op die beheer van 'n stasie wat verantwoordelik is vir die toets stroombrekers, toe te pas. Die beheerstelsel was gebaseer op die ADACOR argitektuur as gevolg van die optimeringsvermoëns wat noodsaaklik was om die siklustyd van die stasie so laag as moontlik te hou. Die ontwerp en implementering van die fisiese konfigurasie en beheerstelsel van die stasie word in hierdie tesis beskryf. Die stasie was ontwerp om aan die vereistes van beide 'n HVS en die gevallestudie te voldoen. As gevolg van die beperkings van die IEC 61131-3 programmeringstale, is dinamiese instansiëring van holons nie moontlik nie, en 'n metode is ontwikkelom dinamiese taakholons na te boots. Deur gebruik te maak van die "embedded PC" se vermoë om meervoudige PLCs terselfdetyd te hanteer, kan elke holon tipe in sy eie "thread" loop. Die ontwikkelde stelsel en die stasie is geëvalueer in 'n laboratorium deur middel van eksperimente. Die evaluering van die beheerstelsel in hierdie tesis bewys dat 'n HVS geskep kan word, in die konteks van ‘n stasiebeheerder, deur IEC 61131-3 en tegnologie wat wyd in die industrie aanvaar word, te gebruik mits die hardeware-platform wat gebruik word toelaat dat verskeie PLCs terselfde tyd op een beheerder kan loop. Die beheerbenadering wat geskep is in hierdie tesis kan gebruik word om stasie- beheerstelsels te skep wat optimale siklus tye, die voordele van 'n HVS en die voordele van industrie-aanvaarde tegnologie bied.

Thesis (MScEng)-- Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work entails a study of the control software of transportation systems for use in recon gurable manufacturing systems (RMSs). Various control approaches are considered, with the focus on enhancing recon gurability. The work is unique in the sense that the RMS is designed to manufacture small parts/products and is meant to be used in developing countries. Manufacturing systems that can ensure product quality and delivery, are a critical need in countries where the bulk of manufacturing systems function with manual labour. RMSs and holonic manufacturing systems (HMSs) are identi ed as concepts that can potentially compete with manual manufacturing systems. The competing system must thus have a low initial adoption risk, be able to adapt to changing product functionality and demands, and have a comparable throughput rate. IEC61311-3, IEC64199 function block and agent-based control architectures are evaluated. The control software is tested on an experimental conveyor system. The thesis shows that IEC61131-3 and IEC64199 architectures are advantageous in lower levels of control. IEC64199 function blocks provide human interface and development tools and simpli es the distribution of control. The human interface and development tools of IEC64199 function blocks may prove bene cial in providing system monitoring and rapid low skilled adaptation of the control system, increasing recon gurability of systems in under-developed countries. Unfortunately, the low maturity of the development environments for IEC64199 function blocks is a limitation. It is shown that an IEC64199 function block controller becomes complex as the actuator/sensor count exceed 10. Agent-based systems o er reliable control and powerful communication tools but requires a higher level of expertise than IEC64199 function blocks. Agent-based systems are proposed for the core high level control. Complex systems can be controlled with agents and intelligence can be added to control systems in a recon gurable way. For the recon gurable control of large manufacturing systems, agent-based control was found to be superior to IEC64199 function blocks.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie werk behels 'n studie in die beheersagteware van vervoerstelsels vir die gebruik in herkon gureerbare vervaardigingstelsels. Verskeie benaderings word oorweeg, met die fokus op die verbetering van herkon gureerbaarheid. Die werk is uniek in die sin dat die herkon gureerbare vervaardigingstelsel ontwerp is vir die vervaardiging van klein onderdele/produkte en is bedoel vir die gebruik in die ontwikkelende lande. Vervaardigingstelsels wat die kwaliteit van die produk en a ewering kan verseker, is 'n kritieke behoefte in die lande waar die grootste deel van die vervaardiging met handearbeid gedoen word. Herkon gureerbare vervaardigingstelsels en holoniese vervaardigingstelsels is geïdenti seer as konsepte wat moontlik kan meeding met die handmatige produksie-stelsels. Die mededingende stelsel moet dus 'n lae aanvanklike aannemingsrisiko hê, in staat wees om te kan aanpas by die veranderende produk funksionaliteit en aanvraag, en 'n vergelykbare deurvloeikoers kan lewer. IEC61311-3, IEC61499 funksie-blok en agent-gebaseerde beheer argitekture word geëvalueer. Die beheer sagteware is getoets op 'n eksperimentele vervoerband stelsel. Die tesis toon dat IEC61131-3 en IEC61499 argitekture voordelig is in die laër vlakke van beheer. IEC61499 funksie-blokke voorsien menslike koppelvlak en ontwikkelings-gereedskap, en vereenvoudig die verspreiding van beheer. Die menslike koppelvlak en ontwikkelings-gereedskap van die IEC61499 funksieblokke is moontlik voordelig in die voorsiening van stelselmonitering en vinnige laag-geskoolde aanpassing van die beheer stelsel. Dit mag dus moontlik die herkon gureerbaarheid van stelsels, in onder-ontwikkelde lande, verhoog. Die lae vlak van volwassenheid van die ontwikkelingsomgewings vir IEC61499 funksie-blokke verlaag hul bruikbaarheid. Daar word aangetoon dat IEC61499 funksie-blok beheerders baie kompleks raak as die hoeveelheid van aktueerders en sensors meer as 10 raak. Agent-gebaseerde stelsels bied betroubare beheer, en kragtige kommunikasie-gereedskap, maar vereis 'n hoër vlak van kundigheid as IEC61499 funksie-blokke. Agent-gebaseerde stelsels word voorgestel vir die hoëvlak beheer. Komplekse stelsels kan beheer word met agente en intelligensie kan bygevoeg word om stelsels te beheer in 'n herkon gureerbare manier. Dit was gevind dat agent-gebaseerde beheer beter is as IEC61499 funksie-blok beheer vir die herkon gureerbare beheer van groot vervaardigings stelsels.

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2010
Traditional corrective maintenance is both costly and ineffective. In some situations it is more cost effective to replace a device than to maintain it; however it is far more likely that the cost of the device far outweighs the cost of performing routine maintenance. These device related costs coupled with the profit loss due to reduced production levels, makes this reactive maintenance approach unacceptably inefficient in many situations. Blind predictive maintenance without considering the actual physical state of the hardware is an improvement, but is still far from ideal. Simply maintaining devices on a schedule without taking into account the operational hours and workload can be a costly mistake. The inefficiencies associated with these approaches have contributed to the development of proactive maintenance strategies. These approaches take the device health state into account. For this reason, proactive maintenance strategies are inherently more efficient compared to the aforementioned traditional approaches. Predicting the health degradation of devices allows for easier anticipation of the required maintenance resources and costs. Maintenance can also be scheduled to accommodate production needs. This work represents the design and simulation of an intelligent maintenance management system that incorporates device health prognosis with maintenance schedule generation. The simulation scenario provided prognostic data to be used to schedule devices for maintenance. A production rule engine was provided with a feasible starting schedule. This schedule was then improved and the process was determined by adhering to a set of criteria. Benchmarks were conducted to show the benefit of optimising the starting schedule and the results were presented as proof. Improving on existing maintenance approaches will result in several benefits for an organisation. Eliminating the need to address unexpected failures or perform maintenance prematurely will ensure that the relevant resources are available when they are required. This will in turn reduce the expenditure related to wasted maintenance resources without compromising the health of devices or systems in the organisation.

Purpose - This thesis aims to developing a decision-making tool which fits in a reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) milieu used to identify whether to introduce and produce a new product into an already existing assembly line or to invest in a new assembly line. To fulfil the purpose, four research questions were developed.  Which line balancing problem-solving techniques exist in the literature? Which investment costs can be considered vital for new assembly lines as a    consequence from new product introductions? Can a decision-making tool be designed to evaluate new product introductions which considers both line balancing KPIs and investment costs in an assembly line? To what extent can criteria in the RMS theory be linked with the attributes of the    designed decision-making tool to support its applicability? Method - Literature studies were performed in order to create a theoretical foundation for the thesis to stand upon, hence enabling the possibility to answer the research questions. The literature studies were structured to focus on selected topics, including reconfigurable manufacturing systems, line balancing, and assembly line investment costs. To answer the third research question, which involved creating a decision-making tool, a single-case study was carried out. The company chosen was within the automotive industry. Data was collected through interviews, document studies and a focus group. Findings & analysis - An investigation regarding which line balancing solving-techniques suit RMS and which assembly line investment costs are critical when  introducing new products has been made. The outputs from these  investigations set the foundation for developing a decision-making tool which enables fact-based decisions. To test the decision-making tool’s compatibility with reconfigurable manufacturing systems, an evaluation against established characteristics was performed. The evaluation identified two reconfigurable manufacturing system characteristic as having a direct correlation to the decision-making tool. These characteristics regarded scalability and convertibility. Conclusions - The industrial contribution of the thesis was a decision-making tool that enables fact-based decisions regarding whether to introduce a new product into an already existing assembly line or invest in a new assembly line. The academic contribution involved that the procedure for evaluating the tool was recognized as also being suitable for testing the reconfigurable correlation with other production development tools. Another contribution regards bridging the knowledge gaps of the classifications in line balancing-solving techniques and assembly line investment costs. Delimitations - One of the delimitations in the thesis involved solely focusing on developing and analysing a decision-making tool from an RMS perspective. Hence, other production systems were not in focus. Also, the thesis only covered the development of a decision-making tool for straight assembly lines, not U-shaped lines.

Questo lavoro tratta il problema dell’integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) nei sistemi di produzione riconfigurabili (RMSs). Il process planning e lo scheduling sono due importanti e complesse funzioni necessarie alla produzione delle parti. Inoltre, per ridurre la complessità del problema, gli approcci tradizionali le considerano come attività in sequenza. In questo lavoro viene considerata l’integrazione di entrambe in un unico processo e viene proposta un’euristica per la soluzione dell’IPPS in ambienti riconfigurabili. Più specificatamente, un RMS consiste in un insieme di macchine distinte per numero diverso di configurazioni e utensili. Ogni macchina può svolgere un determinato numero di operazioni in base alle sue configurazioni e alla loro disponibilità. L’obiettivo dell’euristica proposta è trovare il miglior assegnamento di operazioni alle macchine tenendo in considerazione la qualità del processo. Infine, per dimostrare l’applicabilità dell’euristica, un esempio numerico illustrativo viene presentato e i risultati discussi. Il lavoro è stato svolto nel laboratorio di informatica e sistemi (LIS) presso l’università Aix-Marseille sotto la supervisione del professor Lyes Benyoucef.

Thesis (MScEng (Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work considers the control of reconfigurable assembly systems using a welding assembly system as a case study. The assembly system consists of a pallet magazine, a feeding system, an inspection and removal system, a welding system and a conveyor. The aim of the work is to compare PC and PLC as controllers, as well as to compare two different approaches to reconfigurable control. The control system of the pallet magazine was developed using a PC and a PLC. The PC control was programmed using Visual C#, while the PLC was programmed in Ladder Logic using Siemens S-300 STEP7. The two controllers were compared based on the attributes that measure the quality of a controller's software, which include its capability, availability, usability and adaptability. The approaches to reconfigurable control considered were the agent-based methodology and the IEC 61499 distributed control methodology, both of which were applied to the feeding system. The agent-based control system was implemented using the JADE agent platform, while the IEC 61499 distributed control system was implemented using the FBDK software kit. These two methods were compared based on the characteristics of a reconfigurable system, which include the system's modularity, integrability, convertibility, diagnosability, customization and scalability. The result obtained in comparing the PC to the PLC shows that the PLC performs better in terms of capability, availability and usability, while the PC performs better in terms of adaptability. Also, the result of the comparison between the agent-based control system and the IEC 61499 distributed control system shows that the agent-based control system performs better in terms of integrability, diagnosability and scalability, while the IEC 61499 distributed control system performs better in terms of modularity and customization. They are, however, on a par in terms of convertibility.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie werk beskou die beheer van herkonfigureerbare monteringstelsels met 'n sweismonteringstelsel as gevallestudie. Die monteringstelsel bestaan uit 'n paletmagasyn, 'n voerstelsel, 'n inspeksie-en- verwyderingstelsel, 'n sweisstelsel en 'n voerband. Die mikpunt van die werk is om persoonlike rekenaars (PCs) en programmeerbare-logikabeheerders (PLCs) as beheerders te vergelyk, asook om twee verskillende benaderings tot herkonfigureerbare beheer te vergelyk. Die beheerstelsel van die paletmagasyn is ontwikkel met 'n PC en 'n PLC. Die PC-beheer is in Visual C# geprogrammeer, terwyl die PLC in leerlogika met Siemens S-300 STEP7 geprogrammeer is. Die twee beheerders is vergelyk in terme van die eienskappe wat die kwaliteit van 'n beheerder se sagteware meet en sluit in vermoë, beskikbaarheid, bruikbaarheid en aanpasbaarheid. Die benaderings tot herkonfigureerbare beheer wat oorweeg is, is die agent-gebaseerde metodologie en die IEC 61499 verspreide-beheermetodologie. Beide is op die voerstelsel toegepas. Die agent-gebaseerde beheerstelsel is geïmplementeer met behulp van die JADE agent-platform, terwyl die IEC 61499 verspreide stelsel geïmplementeer is met behulp van die FBDK sagteware-stel. Hierdie twee metodes se vergelyking is gebaseer op die eienskappe van 'n herkonfigureerbare stelsel, waarby die stelsel se modulariteit, integreerbaarheid, diagnoseerbaarheid, pasmaakbaarheid en skaleerbaarheid ingesluit is. Die resultate wat in die vergelyking tussen die PC en PLC verkry is, toon dat die PLC beter vaar in terme van vermoë, beskikbaarheid en bruikbaarheid, terwyl die PC beter vaar in terme van aanpasbaarheid. Die resultaat van die vergelyking tussen die agent-gebaseerde beheerstelsel en die IEC 61499 verspreide beheerstelsel wys dat die agent-gebaseerde beheerstelsel beter vaar in terme van integreerbaarheid, diagnoseerbaarheid en skaleerbaarheid, terwyl die IEC 61499 verspreide beheerstelsel beter vaar in terme van modulariteit en pasmaakbaarheid. Hulle is egter vergelykbaar in terme van omskepbaarheid.

Nowadays, manufacturing environment is characterized by the necessity of customized flexibility as well as the necessity of responding rapidly and cost-effectively to changing market demands while minimizing impacts on the environment and the society. To reach these goals, a key paradigm called sustainable manufacturing can be coupled with reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs). The coupling of RMS characteristics and concern for the sustainability is a basis to develop a new generation of sustainable production systems. This work outlines sustainability in a reconfigurable environment from an energy consumption point of view. A non-linear mathematical model is developed to optimize the energy consumption of an RMS through a redefinition of two of its core characteristics, i.e. modularity and integrability. The objective is to minimize the energy consumption of the system by selecting the most suitable modular machines from a set of candidate machines. The optimization problem is addressed using an exhaustive heuristic search. At the end, the applicability of the proposed approach is illustrated through a simple numerical example and the discussion of the obtained results. The study was conducted in collaboration with Aix-Marseille Université at the LIS - Laboratoire d’informatique & Systémes under the supervision of Professor Lyes Benyoucef.

Il presente elaborato è incentrato sull’analisi di riconfigurabilità delle principali tecnologie per la lavorazione della lamiera proposte dall’azienda produttrice tedesca TRUMPF GmbH, ovvero presse piegatrici, taglio laser, punzonatrici e sistemi combinati di punzonatura e laser, al fine di esplicitare gli attributi che caratterizzano i sistemi riconfigurabili, ovvero la modularità, la convertibilità, l’integrabilità, la personalizzazione, la diagnosibilità e la scalabilità, che vengono valutati da un duplice punto di vista, ovvero sia a livello Macro, in termini di automatizzazione degli impianti in fase di progettazione, che a livello Micro, in termini di utensili ausiliari integrabili per svolgere particolari lavorazioni. A seguito di un’analisi qualitativa della riconfigurabilità, vengono proposte formulazioni matematiche al fine di definire quantitativamente gli attributi caratteristici per differenti tipologie di macchine utensili. Successivamente allo studio di singoli impianti produttivi, la riconfigurabilità viene analizzata da una prospettiva più ampia, espandendosi a sistemi produttivi aziendali riconfigurabili organizzati in celle di lavoro, per cui viene applicato un modello di ottimizzazione della produzione, che mira alla riduzione globale dei tempi produttivi e di attrezzaggio degli impianti, mediante una distribuzione uniforme della produzione, ottenuta tramite un bilanciamento ottimale del carico di lavoro negli impianti produttivi omogenei. Le teorizzazioni proposte vengono supportate da un caso studio rappresentato da una realtà aziendale dotata di impianti produttivi riconfigurabili TRUMPF, per la quale l’implementazione del modello di ottimizzazione dimostra un considerevole margine di miglioramento, pari a una riduzione del 27,3% dei tempi globali, avvalorando dunque la validità del modello di ottimizzazione e i benefici ottenibili dal suo utilizzo in realtà aziendali altamente tecnologiche e riconfigurabili.

In the last years, production companies are facing radical changes forcing to improve their standard in product and process design and management. High flexibility, dynamic market demand, increasing customization, high-quality products, flexible batches and short product life cycles are among the key factors affecting the modern industrial and market context and characterizing the emerging Industry 4.0 era. These trends inevitably affect both the production strategy to adopt and the production system design. From the production strategy viewpoint, industrial companies attempt to meet every customers’ request and satisfy their individual needs. For these reasons, they are switching from Make-to-Stock (MTS) and Make-to-Order (MTO) strategies to Delay Product Differentiation (DPD). DPD is a hybrid strategy that strives to reconcile the dual needs of high-variety and quick response time, by using the concept of product platforms, defined as a set of sub-systems and interfaces that form a common structure from which a stream of derivative product variants can be efficiently produced and developed. A large number of industrial companies introduced product platforms as tool to reach the benefits of DPD, e.g. Sony, for the development of the Walkman, Kodak, Black & Decker and Hewlett-Packard are relevant applications. From the production system viewpoint, traditional manufacturing systems i.e. Dedicated Manufacturing Systems (DMSs), Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs) and Cellular Manufacturing Systems (CMSs), show increasing limits in adapting to the most recent market features. Such systems can be effectively used to mass-produce product platforms but advanced manufacturing solutions are needed to produce the remaining components necessary to reconfigure the product platforms into the final variants (Huang et al., 2019). In the last few years, Next Generation Manufacturing Systems (NGMSs), i.e. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) and Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RASs), rise to respond to the dynamic market changes. This is achieved by designing both the system and the machines for adjustable structure in response to the dynamic market demand and to the introduction of new products. Aim of this dissertation is to proposing innovative methods, models and tools aided at including the emerging principles of reconfigurability in designing products and advanced production systems, i.e. manufacturing and assembly, to improve the overall performances of the industrial plants. The achievement of these goals is driven not only by a direct interest of modern industrial companies, but also by the strong commitment of a great number of research councils located in many areas of the world through funding projects. Within the context of European projects, relevant examples are the EU-funded projects ‘Rapid reconfiguration of flexible production systems through capability-based adaptation, auto-configuration and integrated tools for production planning’ promoted in 2015, ‘Skill-based propagation of plug-and produce devices in reconfigurable manufacturing systems’ and ‘Adaptive automation in assembly for blue collar workers satisfaction in evolvable context’ promoted in 2016. The research activity is developed according to a research framework, which highlights three main research areas: (1) design of modular product platforms, (2) design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems and (3) design of reconfigurable assembly systems. Each chapter of this dissertation is devoted to a specific area of the defined research framework and, after revising the main literature and identifying the research trends, illustrates the research activities as well as the main results and findings. The explored research topics lead to theoretical, methodological and practical contributions of help to support real-world industrial companies in facing modern emerging trends.
Negli ultimi anni, le aziende produttive stanno affrontando cambiamenti radicali, come la richiesta di elevati livelli di personalizzazione e flessibilità, i quali hanno, inevitabilmente, un impatto significativo sulla scelta della strategia produttiva da adottare nonché sulla progettazione dei processi produttivi stessi. Per quanto riguarda la strategia produttiva, le realtà industriali stanno superando le strategie produttive comunemente adottate come il Make-to-Stock (MTS) e il Make-to-Order (MTO) a favore di strategie più evolute come il Delay Product Differentiation (DPD). Il DPD è una strategia ibrida volta a riconciliare la duplice necessità di elevata varietà di prodotti e rapido tempo di risposta ai clienti, introducendo il concetto di piattaforma di prodotto, definita come un insieme di sotto-sistemi ed interfacce che formano una struttura comune, da cui un flusso di differenti varianti di prodotto può essere efficientemente ottenuto e sviluppato. Un numero sempre più elevato di realtà produttive sta introducendo le piattaforme di prodotto nel proprio contesto operativo. Tra queste si annoverano Sony, per la fabbricazione del Walkman, Kodak, Black & Decker e Hewlett-Packard. Dal punto di vista dei sistemi produttivi, i sistemi tradizionali mostrano numerosi limiti di adattamento alle nascenti esigenze di mercato. Questi sistemi possono essere efficacemente impiegati per effettuare produzione di massa delle piattaforme di prodotto, ma è necessario fare affidamento a sistemi di produzione avanzati per produrre i componenti rimanenti necessari a riconfigurare la piattaforma trasformandola in una variante finale. Negli ultimi anni si stanno sviluppando sistemi produttivi di nuova generazione, tra cui i cosiddetti sistemi produttivi riconfigurabili (RMSs) e i sistemi di assemblaggio riconfigurabili (RASs) in grado di far fronte all’attuale dinamismo del mercato. Questa prerogativa viene raggiunta progettando il sistema produttivo e le macchine in esso incluse in modo che abbiano una struttura regolabile e modulare per far fronte efficacemente alla domanda di mercato dinamica e alla rapida introduzione di nuovi prodotti. Obiettivo di questa tesi è proporre metodi e modelli innovativi a supporto dell’introduzione dei moderni principi di riconfigurabilità nella progettazione di prodotti e di sistemi produttivi avanzati, sia di fabbricazione che di assemblaggio, con l’obiettivo ultimo di migliorare le performance globali degli impianti industriali. Il raggiungimento di questi obiettivi è guidato non solo dall’interesse diretto delle moderne realtà industriali, ma anche dalla presenza di un forte numero di progetti di finanziamento in diverse parti del mondo. Nel contesto dei progetti europei, esempi rilevanti sono i progetti ‘Rapid reconfiguration of flexible production systems through capability-based adaptation, auto-configuration and integrated tools for production planning’ promosso nel 2015 e ‘Skill-based propagation of plug-and produce devices in reconfigurable manufacturing systems’ e ‘Adaptive automation in assembly for blue collar workers satisfaction in evolvable context’ promossi nel 2016. L’attività di ricerca viene sviluppata seguendo uno schema logico-concettuale che evidenzia tre principali aree di ricerca: progettazione di piattaforme di prodotto modulari, progettazione di sistemi di produzione riconfigurabili e progettazione di sistemi di assemblaggio riconfigurabili. Ad ognuna di queste tre macro-aree è dedicato un capitolo di questa tesi, in cui, dopo aver analizzato lo stato dell’arte e i principali orientamenti della ricerca, vengono illustrate le attività di ricerca specifiche così come i principali risultati ottenuti e gli elementi di innovatività. I risultati ottenuti apportano contributi significativi in ambito scientifico e metodologico e supportano le aziende a livello strategico, tattico e operativo sia nella gestione della strategia produttiva che nella progettazione del sistema produttivo stesso.

Thesis (M. Tech. (Engineering: Electrical)) -- Central University of technology, Free State, 2013
The South African (SA) manufacturing industry requires developing similar levels of sophistication and expertise in automation as its international rivals to compete for global markets. To achieve this, manufacturing plants need to be managed extremely efficiently to ensure the quality of manufactured products and these plants must also have the relevant infrastructure. Furthermore, this industry must also compensate for rapid product introduction, product changes and short product lifespan. To support this need, this industry must engage in the current trend in automation known as reconfigurable manufacturing. The aim of the study is to develop a reconfigurable assembly system with enhanced control capabilities by utilizing virtual commissioning. In addition, this system must be capable of assembling multiple different products of a product range; reconfigure to accommodate the requirements of these products; autonomously reroute the product flow and distribute workload among assembly cells; handle erroneous products; and implement enhanced control methods. To achieve this, a literature study was done to confirm the type of components to be used, reveal design issues and what characteristics such a system must adhere to. Software named DELMIA was used to create a virtual simulation environment to verify the system and simultaneously scrutinize the methods of verification. On completion, simulations were conducted to verify software functions, device movements and operations, and the control software of the system. Based on simulation results, the physical system was built, and then verified with a multi agent system as overhead control to validate the entire system. The final results showed that the project objectives are achievable and it was also found that DELMIA is an excellent tool for system verification and will expedite the design of a system. By obtaining these results it is indicated that companies can design and verify their systems earlier through virtual commissioning. In addition, their systems will be more flexible, new products or product changes can be introduced more frequently, with minimum cost and downtime. This will enable SA manufacturing companies to be more competitive, ensure increased productivity, save time and so ensure them an advantage over their international competition.

Purpose: The purpose of the study is to develop an investment model which can be applied during the design of a manufacturing system, that considers DMS, FMS, and RMS. With the aim of the developed model is to give decision makers monetary basis for the added from changeability. To fulfill the purpose three research questions was created:   What methods in academia are currently used to evaluate changeable manufacturing system investments?  What methods in industry are currently used to evaluate manufacturing system investments? How can an investment model be adapted to incorporate both academia and industry preferences? Method: A single-case-study was conducted within a company that is transitioning into a more reconfigurable manufacturing system. This created an empirical framework for a practical model. In parallel with the case study a literature study was conducted to attain a theoretical framework for the study. The first research question was answered with the literature study. The second research question was answered through the case study, including document studies, interviews, and a focus group, complemented with a literature study. From the theoretical and empirical framework, research question three was answered by developing the investment model following the model creation method suggested by Mitroff et al. (1974).  Implication: The wide adoption of the reconfigurable manufacturing system has yet to be fulfilled in industry, partially hinder by finding economic motivation at the investment evaluation of such a system. The focal company and most other western companies use a net present value to evaluate investments. This approach has been proved inadequate to describe the benefits of a changeable system. Literature suggests that a real option approach could successfully describe the benefits of changeability. However, the approach has been perceived by industry to be too complex. Therefore, a model needed to have enough complexity to comprehend aspect of changeability, while still be simplistic enough gain acceptance from industry. The developed model supplements traditional NPV evaluation with a real options approach, adding scenarios to incorporate uncertainties. The study indicates that it is possible to present the monetary value of added flexibility from changeable manufacturing systems in a simplistic way.

Nell’ultimo decennio lo scenario produttivo ha subito profonde mutazioni dovute all’insorgere di nuove caratteristiche di mercato quali una domanda variabile, necessità di flessibilità, cicli di vita dei prodotti sempre più brevi nonché personalizzazione di massa. In un contesto del genere le aziende manifatturiere, per poter salvaguardare la propria posizione competitiva, sono state costrette ad adottare nuovi paradigmi di produzione come i sistemi riconfigurabili di produzione (RMS-Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems). La peculiarità di tali sistemi risiede nella capacità di cambiare rapidamente le loro strutture hardware e software, caratteristica che li rende idonei a soddisfare la produzione moderna. In aggiunta a tutto ciò va considerata anche l’attenzione odierna alle tematiche ambientali pronunciata in numerose iniziative e restrizioni legislative. L’obiettivo di questa tesi è quello di proporre un modello di ottimizzazione multi-obiettivo (MOO – Multi Objective Optimization) per la progettazione di sistemi riconfigurabili considerando, non solo la minimizzazione del tempo complessivo necessario alla movimentazione delle parti, dei moduli, e alla riconfigurazione delle macchine, ma anche la minimizzazione del consumo energetico dovuto sia processamento delle operazioni da parte delle macchine, sia al cambio configurazione. Tale modello è stato applicato ad un caso studio realistico che ha permesso di individuare un buon trade-off tecnico-ambientale.

Millimeter-wave systems introduce a set of particular severe requirements from the antenna point of view in order to achieve specific performances. In this sense, high directive antennas are required to overcome the huge extra path loss. Moreover, each particular application introduces additional requirements. For example, in very high throughput (VHT) wireless personal area networks (WPANs) communication systems at 60 GHz band beam-steering antennas are needed to deal with high user random mobility and human-body shadowing characteristic of indoor environments. Similarly, beam-steering capabilities are also needed in automotive radar applications at 79 GHz, since the determination of the exact position of an object is essential for most of the functions realized by the radar sensor. In the same way, beam-scanning, which is still commonly mechanically performed nowadays, is also needed in passive imaging systems at 94 GHz. Finally, from the integration perspective, the antennas must be small, low-profile, light weight and low-cost, in order to be successfully integrated in a commercial millimeter-wave wireless system. For these reasons, many types of antenna structures have been considered to achieve high directivity and beam-steering capabilities for the aforementioned millimeter-wave communication, radar and imaging applications at 60, 79 and 94 GHz. The most part of the currently adopted solutions are based on the expensive, complex and bulky phased-array antena concept. Actually, phased-array antenna systems can scan the beam at a fast rate. However, they require a complex integration of many expensive, lossy and bulky circuits, such as solid-state phase shifters and beam-forming networks. This doctoral thesis has contributed to the study, development, and assessment of the performance of innovative antena solutions in order to improve the existing architectures at millimeter-wave frequencies, conveniently solving the problems related specifically to short-range high data rate communication systems at 60 GHz WPAN band (including future 5G millimeter-wave systems), automotive radar sensors at 79 GHz band, and communications, radar, and imaging systems at 94 GHz. The specific goals pursued in this work, focused on defining an alternative antenna architecture able to achieve a full reconfigurable 2-D beam-scanning of high gain radiation beams at millimeter-wave frequencies, has been fulfilled. In this sense, this thesis has been mainly devoted to study in depth and practically develop the fundamental part of an innovative switched-beam antenna array concept: novel inhomogeneous gradient-index dielectric flat lenses, which, despite their planar antenna profile configurations, allow full 2-D beam-scanning of high gain radiation beams. A transversal study, going from theoretical investigations, passing by numerical analysis, new fabrication strategies, performance evaluation, and to full experimental assessment of the new antenna architectures in real application environment has been successfully carried out.
Los sistemas a frecuencias de ondas milimétricas introducen una serie de requisitos muy estrictos desde el punto de vista de la antena con el objetivo de conseguir unos rendimientos específicos. En este sentido, se requieren antenas con una muy alta directividad con tal de conseguir superar las enormes pérdidas adicionales por propagación. Además, cada aplicación en concreto introduce unos requisitos adicionales. Por ejemplo, en redes de área personal de alta velocidad para sistemas de comunicación a la banda de 60 GHz, antenas con la capacidad de reconfiguración del haz de radiación son necesarias para poder tratar la problemática de la alta movilidad de los usuarios en entornos cerrados. De la misma forma, capacidades de reconfiguración de la orientación del haz de radiación son necesarias en aplicaciones relacionadas con radar de automoción a 79 GHz, dado que la determinación de la posición exacta de un objeto es esencial para muchas de las funciones del sensor de radar. De forma muy similar, la capacidad de apuntamiento del haz, que muchas veces todavía se realiza mediante sistemas mecánicos, es también imprescindible en sistemas de escaneo para aplicaciones biomédicas y de seguridad a 94 GHz. Finalmente, desde la perspectiva de la integración, las antenas deben ser eléctricamente pequeñas, ligeras, y económicas para poder ser incorporadas a un sistema inalámbrico comercial a frecuencias de onda milimétricas. Por todos estos motivos, diferentes tipos de estructuras de antenas han sido propuestos para conseguir alta directividad, junto con capacidades de reconfiguración y apuntamiento del haz de radiación para las aplicaciones anteriormente mencionadas y descritas en la banda de 60, 79, y 94 GHz. La solución tradicionalmente adoptada en este tipo de casos està estrictamente basada en el siempre caro, complejo y aparatoso concepto del phased-array. De hecho, los phased-arrays permiten el rápido escaneo de haces de radiación de alta directividad. Sin embargo, el hecho que requieran una compleja integración de muchos y caros componentes a alta frecuencia, tales como desfasadores de estado sólido o redes de conformación, los cuales introducen ciertos niveles de pérdidas, siendo además aparatosos, hacen que esta solución resulte inviable. La presente tesis doctoral contribuye al estudio, desarrollo, y ensayo experimental del rendimiento de soluciones de antenas innovadoras para la mejora de las existentes arquitecturas de antena en la banda frecuencial de las ondas milimétricas, convenientemente solucionando los problemas asociados específicamente a los sistemas de comunicación de corto alcance y alta velocidad a 60 GHz (incluyendo los futuros sistemas 5G a milimétricas), a los sistemas de radar de automoción a 79 GHz, y a los sistemas de comunicación, radar, y escaneo para aplicaciones a 94 GHz. Los objetivos específicos perseguidos en este trabajo académico, focalizados en definir una arquitectura alternativa de antena, capaz de conseguir una completa reconfiguración y escaneo de los haces de radiación en dos dimensiones del espacio a frecuencias de onda milimétricas, se han conseguido plenamente. En este sentido, esta tesis doctoral ha sido dedicada esencialmente al estudio en profundidad y desarrollo práctico de la parte fundamental del innovador concepto del switchedbeam array: nuevas lentes dieléctricas inhomogéneas de gradiente de índice con estructura plana, las cuales, a pesar de su configuración física totalmente llana, permiten una reconfiguración total, en dos dimensiones del espacio, de haces de radiación de alta directividad. Un estudio eminentemente transversal, que abarca desde la investigación teórica, pasando por el análisis numérico, nuevas metodologías y técnicas de fabricación, evaluación de rendimientos, hasta una completa caracterización y ensayo del rendimiento en entornos reales de aplicación de las nuevas arquitecturas de antena, se ha llevado a cabo con total éxito.
Els sistemes a freqüències d'ones mil·limètriques introdueixen una sèrie de requisits molt estrictes des del punt de vista de l'antena per tal d’aconseguir uns rendiments específics. En aquest sentit, es requereixen antenes amb una alta directivitat per aconseguir superar les enormes pèrdues addicionals per propagació. A més a més, cada aplicació en concret introdueix uns requeriments addicionals . Per exemple, en xarxes d'àrea personal d'alta velocitat per a sistemes de comunicació a la banda de 60 GHz, antenes amb la capacitat de reconfiguració del feix de radiació són necessàries per tal de poder tractar la problemàtica de l'alta mobilitat dels usuaris en entorns tancats . De la mateixa manera, capacitats de reconfiguració de l'orientació del feix de radiació són necessàries en aplicacions associades a radar d'automoció a 79 GHz, donat que la determinació de la posició exacta d'un objecte és essencial per moltes de les funcions portades a terme pels ens or del radar. De forma molt similar, la capacitat d'apuntament del feix, que moltes vegades encara es realitza per mitjà de sistemes mecànics, és també imprescindible en sistemes d'escaneig per aplicacions mèdiques i de seguretat a 94 GHz. Finalment, des de la perspectiva de la integració, les antenes han de ser petites en termes elèctrics, lleugeres, i econòmiques per tal de poder ser incorporades en un sistema sense fils comercial a freqüència d'ones mil·limètriques. Per aquestes raons , diversos tipus d'estructures d'antenes han sigut proposats per aconseguir alta directivitat, conjuntament amb la capacitat d'apuntament del feix de radiació per les aplicacions anteriorment descrites a les bandes de 60, 79, i 94 GHz. La solució tradicionalment adoptada en aquests casos és estrictament basada en el sempre car, complexe, i aparatós concepte del phased-array. De fet, els phased-arrays tenen la capacitat de reconfigurar a gran velocitat feixos de radiació d'alta directivitat. Tot i això, el fet que requereixin la complexa integració de molts components cars a alta freqüència, amb certs nivells de pèrdues i aparatosos, com són els desfasadors d'estat sòlid, i les xarxes de conformació, fan d'aquesta solució inviable. La present tesis doctoral contribueix a l'estudi, des envolupament, i assaig experimental del rendiment de solucions d'antenes innovadores per tal de millorar les existents arquitectures d'antena a la banda freqüencial de les ones mil·limètriques, convenientment solucionant els problemes associats específicament als sistemes de comunicació de rang proper d'alta velocitat a 60 GHz (incloent els futurs sistemes 5G a mil·limètriques ), als sistemes de radar d'automoció a la banda dels 79 GHz, i als sistemes de comunicació, radar, i escaneig per aplicacions a 94 GHz. Els objectius específics perseguits en aquest treball acadèmic, focalitzats en definir una arquitectura d'antena alternativa, capaç d'aconseguir una completa reconfiguració i escaneig dels feixos de radiació en dues dimensions de l'espaia freqüències d'ona mil·limètriques , s'han plenament aconseguit. En aquest sentit, aquesta tesis doctoral s'ha dedicat essencialment a l'estudi en profunditat i desenvolupament pràctic de la part fonamental de l'innovador concepte del switched-beam array: noves lents dielèctriques inhomogenees de gradient d'índex amb estructura planar, les quals, tot i preservar una configuració física totalment plana, permeten una reconfiguració total en dues dimensions de l'espai de feixos de radiació d'alta directivitat. Un estudi transversal, que comprèn des de la investigació teòrica, passant per l'anàlisi numèric, noves metodologies i tècniques de fabricació, avaluació de rendiments, fins a una completa caracterització i assaig del rendiment en entorns reals d'aplicació de les noves arquitectures d'antena s'ha dut a terme amb total èxit.

No
A Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) is a new paradigm that focuses on manufacturing a high variety of products at the same system. Having specified a design strategy for an RMS as the first design step at the tactical level, products must be grouped to identify and allocate corresponding manufacturing facilities. An interface between market and manufacturing called reconfiguration link is presented to specify and arrange products for manufacturing. The reconfiguration link incorporates the tasks of determining the products in the production range, grouping them into families and selecting the appropriate family at each configuration stage. The proposed approach of (re)configuring products before manufacturing facilitates assigning product families to the required manufacturing facilities in terms of (re)configuring manufacturing systems. This paper contributes an overall approach of grouping products into families based on operational similarities, when machines are still not identified. Since the problem of product family selection consists of quantitative and qualitative objectives, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) is then used while considering both market and manufacturing requirements. The AHP model is verified in an industrial case study through using Expert Choice software. The solutions take advantage of monitoring sensitivity analysis while changing the priorities of manufacturing and/or market criteria. The concept of the proposed model is generic in structure and applicable to many firms. However, the model must be adapted according to the specific nature of the company under study. For instance, product family choices may differ from one company to another because of the available technology and the volume and type of existing products in the production range.

No
This paper presents Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) characteristics through comparison with conventional manufacturing systems in order to address a design strategy towards a RMS. The strategy is considered as apart of a RMS design loop to achieve a reconfigurable strategy over its implementation period. As another part of the design loop, a reconfiguration link between market and manufacturing is presented in order to group products into families (reconfiguring products) and then assign them to the required manufacturing processes over configuration stages. In particular, the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) is employed for structuring the decision making process for the selection of a manufacturing system among feasible alternatives based on the RMS study. Manufacturing responsiveness is considered as the ability of using existing resources to reflect new environmental and technological changes quickly. The AHP model highlights manufacturing responsiveness as a new economic objective along with classical objectives such as low cost and high quality. The forward-backward process is then proposed to direct and control the design strategy under uncertain conditions during its implementation period. The proposed hierarchy is generic in structure and could be applicable to many firms by means of restructuring the criteria. This work is based on a case study in a manufacturing environment. Expert Choice software (Expert Choice 1999) is applied to examine the structure of the proposed model and achieve synthesise/ graphical results considering inconsistency ratios. The results are examined by monitoring sensitivity analysis while changing the criteria priorities. Finally, to allocate available resources to the alternative solutions, a (0-1) knapsack formulation algorithm is represented.

yes
The paper contributes to development of RMS through linkage with external stakeholders such as customers and suppliers of parts/raw materials to handle demand fluctuations that necessitate information sharing across the supply chain tiers. RMS is developed as an integrated supply chain hub for adjusting production capacity using a hybrid methodology of decision trees and Markov analysis. The proposed Markov Chain model contributes to evaluate and monitor system reconfigurations required due to changes of product families with consideration of the product life cycles. The simulation findings indicate that system productivity and financial performance in terms of the profit contribution of product-process allocation will vary over configuration stages. The capacity of an RMS with limited product families and/or limited model variants becomes gradually inoperative whilst approaching upcoming configuration stages due to the end of product life cycles. As a result, reconfiguration preparation is suggested quite before ending life cycle of an existing product in process, for switching from a product family to a new/another product family in the production range, subject to its present demand. The proposed model is illustrated through a simplified case study with given product families and transition probabilities.

Manufacturing techniques are based on the principles of Flexible Manufacturing and Dedicated Manufacturing for mass production. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) is a manufacturing system that can provide for Agile Manufacturing (AM). This has lead to research on the concept, design and equipment implementation for RMS. RMS requires three key capabilities: rapid changeover between products, rapid introduction to new products and unattended operation. The relationship between these manufacturing techniques has been investigated. Research has been focused on the research and design of a Reconfigurable Modular Machine (RMM) for RMS. The research has addressed the design of subsystems for RMM by using the generic modular mechatronics control. This approach included modular machine controller hardware, software, mechanical design and generic "plug-and-play" capability, These designs of subsystems allowed for rapid reconfiguration of RMS that increased system efficiency and significantly minimized manufacturing change over downtime.
Manufacturing techniques are based on the principles of Flexible Manufacturing and
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.

The concept of mass producing custom products, though extremely beneficial to the commercial, and retail industries, does come with some limitations. One of these is the occurrence of bottlenecks in the materials handling systems associated with reconfigurable manufacturing systems tasked with achieving the goal of mass customisation manufacturing. This specific problem requires the development of an intervention system for rerouting parts and materials waiting in line, around bottlenecks and/or work flow disruptions, to alternative destinations. Mobile robots can be used for the resolution of bottlenecks, and similar disruptions in work flow, in these situations. Embedding autonomy into mobile robots in a manufacturing environment, releases the higher level production management systems from routing of parts and materials. The principle of the inverted pendulum has recently become popular in mobile robotics applications, and is being implemented in research projects around the world. The use of this principle produces a two-wheeled mobile robot that is able to actively stabilise itself while in operation. The dissertation is focused on the research, design, assembly, testing and validation of a two-wheeled autonomous materials handling robot for application in reconfigurable manufacturing systems. This robot should be dynamically or statically stable during different phases of operation. The mechatronic engineering approach of system integration has been used in this project in order to produce a more reliable robotic system. The application of the inverted pendulum principle requires that a suitable control strategy be formulated. It also necessetates the ues of sensors to track the state of the robot. Control engineering theory was used to develop an optimal control strategy that is robust enough to cope with varying payload characteristics. The Kalman filter is employed as state estimation measure to improve sensor data. For a mobile robot to be deemed autonomous, one of the requirements is that the robot should be able to navigate through its environment without colliding with obstacles in its path, and without human intervention. A navigation system has been designed, through field specific research, to enable this. The robot is also required to communicate with remote computers housing production management systems as well as with mobile robots that form part of the same materials handling system. Performance analysis and testing proves the feasibility of a mobile robot system.
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.

D. Tech. Mechanical Engineering.
Describes reconfigurable manufacturing (RM) is a paradigm that promises to meet the turbulent demands in current global manufacturing. The major findings of this thesis are as follows; 1. The functional description of the machine tool provides a handy mechanism of aiding COTS machine builders come up with vary configurations of machine tools and their classification from a predefined set of COTS modules. 2. The process of linking the respective part demands to the relevant COTS RMT is a rigorous and tiresome process that demands computational power provided for by the KBS. 3. The subjective linguistic manner of linking the parts and the machine configuration can be managed by including an objective constraint for the fuzzy model. 4. Coupling the decision making using a mathematical model with the use of a KBS brings about the optimum route to arriving to the desired configuration.

Mass producing custom products requires an innovative type of manufacturing environment. Manufacturing environments at present do not possess the flexibility to generate mass produced custom products. Manufacturers’ rapid response in producing these custom products in relation to demand, yields several beneficial results from both a customer and financial perspective. Current reconfigurable manufacturing environments are yet neither financially feasible nor viable to implement. To provide a solution to the production of mass customised products, research can facilitate the development of a distinctive hybrid manufacturing cell, composed of characteristics inherent in existing manufacturing paradigms. Distinctive hybrid manufacturing cell research and development forms an environment where Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) cells operate in a Reconfigurable Manufacturing environment. The development of this Hybrid Reconfigurable Computer Integrated Manufacturing (HRCIM) cell resulted in functionalities that enabled the production of mass customised products. Manufacturing characteristics of the HRCIM cell were composed of key Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) features and CIM capabilities. This project required hardware to be used in developing an integrated HRCIM cell. The cell consisted of storage systems, material handling equipment and processing stations. Specific material handling equipment was enhanced in its functionality by incorporating RMS characteristics to its existing structure. The hardware behaviour was coordinated from software. This facilitated the autonomous HRCIM cell behaviour which was derived from the mechatronic approach. The software composed of HRCIM events that were defined by its unique programming language. Highlighted software functionalities included prioritisation scheduling that resulted from customer order input. Performance data, extracted from each type of equipment, were used to parameterise a simulated HRCIM cell. During operation, the cell was frequently introduced to an irregular flow of different product geometries, which required different processing requirements. This irregularity represented mass customisation. The simulated HRCIM cell provided detailed manufacturing results. Significant results consisted of storage times, queueing times and cycle times.
Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
工業工程與管理研究所碩士班
99
The most important characteristic of a reconfigurable manufacturing system is reconfigurability. With reconfigurability, the system can quickly change depending on customer demands or market conditions. It can also change the product or production capacity. Nevertheless, deadlock of the system should be avoided after the system reconfiguration. In this research, a design of Petri net controllers for deadlock avoidance of reconfigurable manufacturing systems is proposed. First, Petri net modules for the resources and the process flow of parts from customer requirements are constructed. Then, these two types of Petri net modules are integrated into a unified Petri net, called as a reconfigurable manufacturing system Petri net (RMSPN). In order to reduce the complexity of the RMSPN, the Petri net reduction method is introduced to simplify the RMSPN. Based on this simplified RMSPN (SRMSPN), the reachability tree is used to analyze the states of deadlock and potentially lead to deadlock. The mathematic model of the Petri net controller (PNC) and the associated constraints for deadlock avoidance are established. Finally, a minimum controller first search (MCFS) algorithm is developed to find the PNC. By adding the PNC, the reconfiguration of the manufacturing system is deadlock-free and maintains the process flow of parts required by customers.

O mercado atual é dinâmico criando a necessidade de resposta a mudanças imprevisíveis de mercado por parte das empresas de forma a permanecerem competitivas. Para lidar com a mudança de paradigma, de produção em massa para customização em massa, a flexibilidade de manufatura é crucial. A atual digitalização da indústria proporciona novas oportunidades em relação a sistemas de apoio à decisão em tempo real permitindo que as empresas tomem decisões estratégicas e obtenham vantagem competitiva e valor comercial acrescido. Nesta dissertação pretende-se implementar um Sistema Prescritivo que sugere sequências de throughputs tendo em consideração objetivos de produção semanais e falhas em equipamentos num contexto de Manufatura Reconfigurável. O Sistema Prescritivo proposto é constituído por dois módulos: Simulação do ambiente de manufatura e o optimizador. O módulo de simulação é modelado com base em teoria de grafos e o optimizador com base em Algoritmos Genéticos. O seu output é uma sequência de throughputs que equilibram da melhor forma as ações de manutenção e produtividade. De forma a avaliar os indivíduos gerados pelo algoritmo genético, estes são aplicados ao primeiro módulo e o seu impacto no sistema de produção analisado. O sistema apresentado mostra notáveis melhorias na mitigação dos efeitos de downtime das máquinas durante a produção. As métricas utilizadas na medição do desempenho do sistema são a variação na produção de peças em relação ao target, descrito nesta dissertação como diferencial, e disponibilidade de produção do sistema. Todos os testes realizados apresentam um diferencial consideravelmente melhor e em certas instâncias, a disponibilidade aumenta ligeiramente. Não obstante, ainda que os resultados obtidos nas configurações testadas sejam robustos, necessita de mais estudos de modo a que seja possível a generalização dos resultados obtidos ao longo desta dissertação.
The current market is dynamic and, consequently, industries need to be able to meet unpredictable market changes in order to remain competitive. To address the change in paradigm, from mass production to mass customization, manufacturing flexibility is key. Moreover, the current digitalization opens opportunities regarding real-time decision support systems allowing the companies to make strategic decisions and gain competitive advantage and business value. The aim of this dissertation is to implement a Prescriptive System that suggests sequences of throughputs that take into consideration weekly production targets and machine failures applied to Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. The Prescriptive System is mainly composed of two modules: manufacturing environment simulation and optimizer. The simulation module is modeled based on graph theory and the second one on Genetic Algorithms. Its output is a sequence of throughputs that best balances maintenance actions and productivity. In order to evaluate the individuals generated by the algorithm, candidate solutions are fed to the first module and their impact on the production system assessed. The proposed Prescriptive System shows large improvements in the mitigation of machines downtime effects in productivity when compared without any optimization approach. The metrics used to measure the performance of the system are the variation of pieces produced in relation to target, named in the current dissertation as differential, and Availability of the production system. In all tests performed, the differential largely improved and, in some instances, the availability slightly increased. Despite the robust results obtained in the tested configurations, further research should be conducted in order to be able to generalize the obtained results in this dissertation to non-tested configurations.

O mercado atual é dinâmico criando a necessidade de resposta a mudanças imprevisíveis de mercado por parte das empresas de forma a permanecerem competitivas. Para lidar com a mudança de paradigma, de produção em massa para customização em massa, a flexibilidade de manufatura é crucial. A atual digitalização da indústria proporciona novas oportunidades em relação a sistemas de apoio à decisão em tempo real permitindo que as empresas tomem decisões estratégicas e obtenham vantagem competitiva e valor comercial acrescido. Nesta dissertação pretende-se implementar um Sistema Prescritivo que sugere sequências de throughputs tendo em consideração objetivos de produção semanais e falhas em equipamentos num contexto de Manufatura Reconfigurável. O Sistema Prescritivo proposto é constituído por dois módulos: Simulação do ambiente de manufatura e o optimizador. O módulo de simulação é modelado com base em teoria de grafos e o optimizador com base em Algoritmos Genéticos. O seu output é uma sequência de throughputs que equilibram da melhor forma as ações de manutenção e produtividade. De forma a avaliar os indivíduos gerados pelo algoritmo genético, estes são aplicados ao primeiro módulo e o seu impacto no sistema de produção analisado. O sistema apresentado mostra notáveis melhorias na mitigação dos efeitos de downtime das máquinas durante a produção. As métricas utilizadas na medição do desempenho do sistema são a variação na produção de peças em relação ao target, descrito nesta dissertação como diferencial, e disponibilidade de produção do sistema. Todos os testes realizados apresentam um diferencial consideravelmente melhor e em certas instâncias, a disponibilidade aumenta ligeiramente. Não obstante, ainda que os resultados obtidos nas configurações testadas sejam robustos, necessita de mais estudos de modo a que seja possível a generalização dos resultados obtidos ao longo desta dissertação.
The current market is dynamic and, consequently, industries need to be able to meet unpredictable market changes in order to remain competitive. To address the change in paradigm, from mass production to mass customization, manufacturing flexibility is key. Moreover, the current digitalization opens opportunities regarding real-time decision support systems allowing the companies to make strategic decisions and gain competitive advantage and business value. The aim of this dissertation is to implement a Prescriptive System that suggests sequences of throughputs that take into consideration weekly production targets and machine failures applied to Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. The Prescriptive System is mainly composed of two modules: manufacturing environment simulation and optimizer. The simulation module is modeled based on graph theory and the second one on Genetic Algorithms. Its output is a sequence of throughputs that best balances maintenance actions and productivity. In order to evaluate the individuals generated by the algorithm, candidate solutions are fed to the first module and their impact on the production system assessed. The proposed Prescriptive System shows large improvements in the mitigation of machines downtime effects in productivity when compared without any optimization approach. The metrics used to measure the performance of the system are the variation of pieces produced in relation to target, named in the current dissertation as differential, and Availability of the production system. In all tests performed, the differential largely improved and, in some instances, the availability slightly increased. Despite the robust results obtained in the tested configurations, further research should be conducted in order to be able to generalize the obtained results in this dissertation to non-tested configurations.

In modern manufacturing industry, the ever-changing turbulent environment as well as the strong competition among companies require manufacturing systems that are easily upgradable and into which new technologies can be readily integrated. Indispensable requirements for modern flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems are related to system responsiveness, that enables rapid launch of new product models, fast adjustment of the manufacturing system capacity to market demands, easy integration of new functions and process technologies into existing systems, and easy adaptation to variable quantities of products. However, modern technology development has made the manufacturing environment so complex that a comprehensive planning approach is needed for the design or enhancement of a manufacturing system. In order to develop methods for rapid product and process realization, efforts are currently spent to further introduce the role of information technology (IT) in modern manufacturing systems. On of the main areas of research is the development and implementation of integrated digital tools taking into account the reconfigurability of systems, with the aim to realise the so-called Digital Factory. According to the Digital Factory concept, production data management systems and simulation technologies are jointly used for optimizing manufacturing systems design and reconfiguration. Digital factory implementation would allow for the shortening of planning time and cost and the improvement of planning results quality. This research activity is focused on the role of simulation in the Digital Factory approach, and the importance of data integration among different tools. Two different categories of simulation software tools were applied to the study of a real manufacturing cell dedicated to the production of turbine vanes in a real industrial plant of the Avio SpA company. The Discrete Event Simulation software QUEST was employed in order to analyse the actual system’s behaviour in terms of production flow, productivity, utilization of the available facilities, bottlenecks of the system, and throughput time. Analysis of the simulation results was carried out to suggest possible areas of improvement that could increase efficiency and productivity, and a reconfiguration of the manufacturing cell through integration of a robotic material handling system was proposed. The modifications of the manufacturing cell were first simulated through DES to analyze the behaviour of the system. In order to perform a comprehensive analysis taking into account aspects related to robot motion, as the possibility to reach all the objectives, safety of movements throughout the manufacturing cell and the configuration of a suitable layout, the 3D simulation software DELMIA V5 was additionally employed to perform a detailed design phase of the manufacturing cell. The results of this 3D simulation concerned layout modifications and the estimated robot loading/unloading and travel times, necessary to update and refine the manufacturing cell DES model and carry out a more reliable simulation of the virtual cell. For this reason, the 3D simulation generated data were integrated within the DES software, where the behaviour of the manufacturing cell could be finally analysed with reference to productivity and utilization of the available resources. The results of the new simulation could be examined in order to make a comparison with the original manufacturing cell model, with the aim to support the decision making process. The application shows the fundamental role of data integration among different tools, in order to carry out an accurate and comprehensive analysis of a manufacturing system, since in most cases a single simulation tool is not sufficient to take into account all the relevant issues in the planning or reconfiguration process. The advantages offered by the integration of the two simulations are consistent with the main idea of the Digital Factory concept, that is based on the integration and data exchange among different tools for design, engineering, planning, simulation, communication, and control.

No
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) are designed based on the current and future requirements of the market and the manufacturing system (MS). The first stage of designing an RMS at the tactical level is the evaluation of economic and manufacturing/operational feasibility. Because of risk and uncertainty in an RMS environment, this major task must be performed precisely before investment in the detailed design. The present paper highlights the importance of manufacturing capacity and functionality for the feasibility of an RMS design during reconfiguration processes. Due to uncertain demands of product families, the RMS key-design factors, i.e. capacity value, functionality degree and reconfiguration time, are characterized by the identified fuzzy sets. Consequently, an integrated structure of the analytical hierarchical process and fuzzy set theory is presented. The proposed model provides additional insights into a feasibility study of an RMS design by considering both technical and economical aspects. The fuzzy analytical hierarchical process model is examined in an industrial case study by means of Expert Choice software. Finally, the fuzzy multicriteria model is sensitively analysed within the fuzzy domains of those attributes, which are considered to be critical for the case study.

M. Tech. Industrial Engineering
Today's business and manufacturing companies are encountering many challenges to compete effectively and efficiently in a competitive environment. The aim of this study was to develop a business case for the press tool manufacturing industry using reconfigurable manufacturing system principles in Gauteng Province, South Africa. The intention of this study was to revitalise the press tool industry, in order to promote local production of the press tool machines.

碩士
國立雲林科技大學
工業工程與管理系
106
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) provide the required capacity and functionality to deal with product diversification so they have become the primary manufacturing systems in the manufacturing sector. In the past, most researches focused on the configuration selection of a RMS for a single- product production line. However, this is no longer in compliance with the contemporary market environment. The manufacturing sector is in need of transferring its production lines to accommodate the production of multiple products. In this research, we propose a methodology for planning a RMS for a multi-product production line, which evolves transferring from the original production line. The configuration and number of machines in each stage and the connection method between stages are known in the original production line. Based on the processing procedures of the new products and the demand rate in each processing procedure, the configuration of a multi-product production line for the RMS is selected by considering the cost, transferring from the original production line to the new one, and reconfigurability, operational capability and scalability of the new production line. The multi-objective optimization problem is approached in two phases. In the first phase, a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II) is used to obtain the non-dominated solutions. Then, a multiple attribute decision-making approach is applied to rank the Pareto frontiers. These proposed solutions are ranked based on entropy weight and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution method (TOPSIS). Combination of the NSGA-II and TOPSIS is used to find the configuration and number of machines in each stage and the connection method between stages for the new production line.