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Modular System Design and Control for Flexible Assembly

Sushil Rajput (Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK)
David Bennett (Aston Business School, Birmingham, UK)

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

ISSN: 0144-3577

Article publication date: 1 July 1989

207

Abstract

Flexible Assembly Systems (FASs) are normally associated with the automatic, or robotic, assembly of products, supported by automated material handling systems. However, manual assembly operations are still prevalent within many industries, where the complexity and variety of products prohibit the development of suitable automated assembly equipment. This article presents a generic model for incorporating flexibility into the design and control of assembly operations concerned with high variety/low volume manufacture, drawing on the principles for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) and Just‐in‐Time (JIT) delivery. It is based on work being undertaken in an electronics company where the assembly operations have been overhauled and restructured in response to a need for greater flexibility, shorter cycle times and reduced inventory levels. The principles employed are in themselves not original. However, the way they have been combined and tailored has created a total manufacturing control system which represents a new concept for responding to demands placed on market driven firms operating in an uncertain environment.

Keywords

Citation

Rajput, S. and Bennett, D. (1989), "Modular System Design and Control for Flexible Assembly", International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 9 No. 7, pp. 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/EUM0000000001250

Publisher

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MCB UP Ltd

Copyright © 1989, MCB UP Limited

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