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Ordered indices of the production structure of manufacturing systems based on an information-theoretic approach

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Abstract

The production structure of a manufacturing system not only influences its transportation and operation cost, but also affects logistics and parts/machine assignment decisions. Based on the sending and feedback mechanisms of information, the principles of conditional entropy and classical probability are utilized to establish structure entropy models and ordered indices of the system with dynamic characteristics and generality, which provide effective solutions for the absence of quantitative method in evaluating the structural optimization of production system. In an empirical study, this paper analyzes different production structures when workpieces are processed by different working routes before and after the implementation of cellular manufacturing. Afterwards, the developed structure entropy models and ordered indices are utilized to calculate the orderliness of production structure under the two different states. The final result verifies well the validity of this quantitative method for evaluating the orderliness of production structures.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51465046 and 51065023) and the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province, China (Grant No. 20151BAB201025) and the Scientific Research Fund of Jiangxi Provincial Education Department, China (Grant No. GJJ150747and DB201609044).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economics and Management School, Nan Chang Hang Kong University, Nanchang, 330063, China

    Zhifeng Zhang, Dahai Rao, Hanyu Zuo & Xinyu Zhang

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  1. Zhifeng Zhang
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  2. Dahai Rao
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  3. Hanyu Zuo
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  4. Xinyu Zhang
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zhifeng Zhang.

Additional information

Communicated by José Mario Martínez.

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Zhang, Z., Rao, D., Zuo, H. et al. Ordered indices of the production structure of manufacturing systems based on an information-theoretic approach. Comp. Appl. Math. 37, 501–514 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0354-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-016-0354-4

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