Using Taguchi Method to Optimize the Performance of Flexible Manufacturing Systems: An Empirical Model

Increasing global competition, shrinking product life cycles, and increasing product mix are defining a new manufacturing environment in world markets. This paper presents a case problem using Taguchi Method to find optimum design parameters for a Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS). A L8 array, signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA) are employed to study performance characteristics of selected manufacturing system design parameters (e.g. layout, AGVs, buffers, and routings) with consideration of product mix demand. Various design and performance parameters are evaluated and compared for the original and the improved FMS. The results obtained by this method may be useful to other researchers for similar types of applications.

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