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Measurement of loading and operations flexibility in flexible manufacturing systems: An information-theoretic approach

  • I. Strategic, Economic And Flexibility Aspects
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Abstract

An information-theoretic approach is applied for measuring the flexibility in flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). The general relation between flexibility and entropy is discussed. The entropy for a Markovian process is obtained and then applied to closed queueing network models of FMSs to discuss loading flexibility which arises from the power to regulate the frequency of the visit of a part to different work stations. The concept of operations entropy as a measure of operations flexibility, which arises from the power to choose the work station and the corresponding operations, is introduced. The operations entropy has been decomposed into entropies within and between operations and entropies within and between groups of operations. This measure has been used to determine the next operation to be performed on a part by using the principle of least reduction of flexibility.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Business, Carleton University, K1S 5B6, Ottawa, Canada

    Vinod Kumar

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  1. Vinod Kumar
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Additional information

The present paper is an improved version of the paper “On measurement of flexibility in flexible manufacturing systems: An information-theoretic approach”, presented at the II ORSA/TIMS Special Conference on Flexible Manufacturing Systems, held at Ann Arbor in August 1986.

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Kumar, V. Measurement of loading and operations flexibility in flexible manufacturing systems: An information-theoretic approach. Ann Oper Res 15, 65–80 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02186791

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