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System

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering

  • 28 Accesses

Synonyms

Arrangement; Organization; Schema

Definition

A system is an integrated composite of people, products, and processes that provides a capability to satisfy a stated need or objective.

Theory and Application

Introduction

The transdisciplinary study of systems which aims to identify and determine principles, applicable to all types of systems independent of the scientific field, is the field of the system theory. System theory as a minimum includes parts/wholes, system/boundary/environment, structure/process, emergent properties, hierarchy of systems, positive and negative feedback, information and control, open systems, holism, and observer. The term “system theory” is originated from the work “general system theory” of von Bertalanffy who first recognized the application of the aforementioned concepts across various disciplines (Bertalanffy 1968). System theory is associated with a vast number of theories of specific disciplines such as cybernetics, soft systems and problem...

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References

  • Bertalanffy L (1968) General system theory: foundations, development, applications. George Braziller, New York

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  • Chryssolouris G (2006) Manufacturing systems: theory and practice, 2nd edn. Springer, New York

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  • Chryssolouris G, Giannelos N, Papakostas N, Mourtzis D (2004) Chaos theory in production scheduling. CIRP Ann Manuf Technol 53:381–383

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  • Forrester JW (1961) Industrial dynamics. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA. Reprinted by Pegasus Communications, Waltham

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  • Mingers J, White L (2010) A review of the recent contribution of systems thinking to operational research and management science. Eur J Oper Res 207:1147–1161

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  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration (2007) NASA systems engineering handbook, NASA/SP-2007-6105 Rev1, NASA Headquarters Washington, DC, 20546

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  • Papakostas N, Efthymiou K, Mourtzis D, Chryssolouris G (2009) Modeling the complexity of manufacturing systems using non-linear dynamics approaches. CIRP Ann Manuf Technol 58:437–440

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  • Richardson GP (1999) System dynamics. In: Gass S, Harris C (eds) Encyclopedia of operations research and information science. Kluwer, Boston

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems and Automation (LMS), Department of Mechanical Engineering and Aeronautics, University of Patras, Patras, Greece

    Kosmas Alexopoulos, Konstantinos Efthymiou & George Chryssolouris

Authors
  1. Kosmas Alexopoulos
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  2. Konstantinos Efthymiou
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  3. George Chryssolouris
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kosmas Alexopoulos .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering School of Monastir (ENIM), University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia

    Sami Chatti

  2. Mechanical Engineering, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada

    Luc Laperrière

  3. Institute for Machine Tools and Industrial Management (iwb), Technical University of Munich (TUM), Garching, Germany

    Gunther Reinhart

  4. ITIA Institute of Industrial Technologies and Automation, CNR National Research Council, Milan, Italy

    Tullio Tolio

Section Editor information

  1. Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung (FIR) e. V, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

    Günther Schuh

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Alexopoulos, K., Efthymiou, K., Chryssolouris, G. (2019). System. In: Chatti, S., Laperrière, L., Reinhart, G., Tolio, T. (eds) CIRP Encyclopedia of Production Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-53120-4_6574

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