Performance evaluation of several configurations in operation flexibility

– Assessing the performance of a manufacturing system is an obligation in the high competitive economy. On one hand, the logistic operating curves (LOC) have been well developed, defining some key performance indicators (KPI) and on the other hand, the operations flexibility of a manufacturing system is a type of flexibility that has been measured by the number of the ways a production of a single product or product mix can be done. In this work, we propose an assessing metric to choose the best operation flexibility scenario. Defining a good metric using the normalized operating curves and simulation modeling is our target in this study. The time remained to transform Work In Process (WIP) into finished goods is given as a good metric and as a decision support tool regarding the strategic values of a manufacturing company.