Flexibility and complexity: is it a trade-off?

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between flexibility and complexity. A number of flexibility measurement approaches are presented and are connected with the flexibility types they address. A series of measures and methods for the analysis and assessment of static and dynamic complexity are provided. A new measure for the assessment of static complexity, based on network complexity, is introduced. The relationship between flexibility and complexity is investigated with the help of two sets of indicative, simple and yet realistic manufacturing systems.

[1]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Modelling the complexity of manufacturing systems using nonlinear dynamics approaches , 2009 .

[2]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Chaos Theory in Production Scheduling , 2004 .

[3]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Flexibility and Its Measurement , 1996 .

[4]  H. Brian Hwarng,et al.  Understanding supply chain dynamics: A chaos perspective , 2008, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[5]  Vinod Kumar,et al.  Entropic measures of manufacturing flexibility , 1987 .

[6]  A. Sen,et al.  Complexity analysis of riverflow time series , 2009 .

[7]  Moshe M. Barash,et al.  Complexity in manufacturing systems, Part 1: Analysis of static complexity , 1998 .

[8]  Maik Maurer,et al.  Structural Awareness in Complex Product Design , 2007 .

[9]  Dimitris Mourtzis,et al.  An Approach for Adaptability Modeling in Manufacturing –Analysis Using Chaotic Dynamics , 2007 .

[10]  Schuster,et al.  Easily calculable measure for the complexity of spatiotemporal patterns. , 1987, Physical review. A, General physics.

[11]  Jing Hu,et al.  Analysis of Biomedical Signals by the Lempel-Ziv Complexity: the Effect of Finite Data Size , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[12]  Karl T. Ulrich,et al.  Product Design and Development , 1995 .

[13]  Hans-Peter Wiendahl,et al.  Manufacturing Systems with Restricted Buffer Sizes , 2005 .

[14]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  A method for comparing flexibility performance for the lifecycle of manufacturing systems under capacity planning constraints , 2011 .

[15]  Yannis A. Phillis,et al.  Fuzzy assessment of machine flexibility , 1998 .

[16]  Adil Baykasoğlu,et al.  Quantifying machine flexibility , 2009 .

[17]  Vittaldas V. Prabhu,et al.  Nonlinear dynamics in distributed arrival time control of heterarchical manufacturing systems , 1999, IEEE Trans. Control. Syst. Technol..

[18]  Abraham Lempel,et al.  On the Complexity of Finite Sequences , 1976, IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[19]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Manufacturing Systems Complexity Review: Challenges and Outlook , 2012 .

[20]  Anita C. Faul,et al.  Non-linear systems , 2006 .

[21]  Stephen C. Graves,et al.  Process Flexibility in Supply Chains , 2003, Manag. Sci..

[22]  Jan Olhager,et al.  Valuation of product-mix flexibility using real options , 2002 .

[23]  László Monostori,et al.  Complexity in engineering design and manufacturing , 2012 .

[24]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Volume and product flexibility: a case study for a refrigerators producing facility , 2005, 2005 IEEE Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation.

[25]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Manufacturing systems complexity: An assessment of manufacturing performance indicators unpredictability , 2014 .

[26]  Udo Lindemann,et al.  Modeling the Multiple-Domain Matrix , 2009 .

[27]  N. Giannelos,et al.  Dispatching policy for manufacturing jobs and time-delay plots , 2007, Int. J. Comput. Integr. Manuf..

[28]  A. Wolf,et al.  Determining Lyapunov exponents from a time series , 1985 .

[29]  Stilian Stanev,et al.  Evaluation of flexibility for the effective change management of manufacturing organizations , 2009 .

[30]  J. Sprott.  Chaos and time-series analysis , 2001 .

[31]  A. Claudio Garavelli.  Performance analysis of a batch production system with limited flexibility , 2001 .

[32]  Suh Nam-pyo,et al.  Complexity: Theory and Applications , 2005 .

[33]  Günther Schuh,et al.  Managing complexity in industrial collaborations , 2008 .

[34]  Danail Bonchev,et al.  Quantitative Measures of Network Complexity , 2005 .

[35]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  DESYMA: assessing flexibility for the lifecycle of manufacturing systems , 2007 .

[36]  Danail Bonchev,et al.  Complexity of Protein-Protein Interaction Networks, Complexes, and Pathways , 2003 .

[37]  H.-P. Wiendahl,et al.  Management and Control of Complexity in Manufacturing , 1994 .

[38]  Sang Joon Kim,et al.  A Mathematical Theory of Communication , 2006 .

[39]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Quantifying the flexibility of a manufacturing system by applying the transfer function , 2007, Int. J. Comput. Integr. Manuf..

[40]  Yi-Chih Hsieh,et al.  An approach to the measurement of single-machine flexibility , 2001 .

[41]  Ankur Das,et al.  A rule-based fuzzy-logic approach for the measurement of manufacturing flexibility , 2008 .

[42]  Bernd Scholz-Reiter,et al.  Nonlinear characterization of the performance of production and logistics networks , 2008 .

[43]  Zhongsheng Hua,et al.  Process flexibility under bill of material constraints: part I–an effective measuring approach , 2010 .

[44]  Bernd Scholz-Reiter,et al.  Chaos detection and control in production systems , 1999, APMS.

[45]  Nguyen Van Hop,et al.  Approach to measure the mix response flexibility of manufacturing systems , 2004 .

[46]  Moutaz Khouja,et al.  An aggregate production planning framework for the evaluation of volume flexibility , 1998 .

[47]  G Frizelle,et al.  Measuring complexity as an aid to developing operational strategy , 1995 .

[48]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  An approach to the dynamic modelling of manufacturing systems , 1998 .

[49]  Nenad Trinajstić,et al.  Topological characterization of cyclic structures , 1980 .

[50]  Shailesh S. Kulkarni,et al.  Agility in manufacturing systems: an exploratory modeling framework and simulation , 2001 .

[51]  Jeffrey M. Alden,et al.  Agile manufacturing systems in the automotive industry , 2004 .

[52]  N. Suh.  Complexity in Engineering , 2005 .

[53]  Denis Borenstein.  A directed acyclic graph representation of routing manufacturing flexibility , 2000, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[54]  Waguih ElMaraghy,et al.  Modelling of Manufacturing Systems Complexity , 2003 .

[55]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Oscillator analogy for modelling the manufacturing systems dynamics , 2008 .

[56]  Janet Efstathiou,et al.  Advances on measuring the operational complexity of supplier-customer systems , 2006, Eur. J. Oper. Res..

[57]  F. Takens.  Detecting strange attractors in turbulence , 1981 .

[58]  George Chryssolouris,et al.  Manufacturing Systems: Theory and Practice , 1992 .

[59]  Peter Butala,et al.  Assessing operational complexity of manufacturing systems based on statistical complexity , 2012 .