Title: Cooperation in a distributed dual resource-constrained manufacturing system

Authors: Jos A.C. Bokhorst, Jannes Slomp, Gerard J.C. Gaalman

Addresses: Production Systems Design Group, Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. ' Production Systems Design Group, Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands. ' Production Systems Design Group, Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands

Abstract: In this paper, we distinguish two types of cooperation between distributed manufacturing cells to deal with variations in the request for manufacturing capacity between cells. Load-oriented Cooperation (LC) concerns the reallocation of jobs to different cells. Resource-oriented Cooperation (RC) refers to movements of workers between cells. We investigate the effect of these types of cooperation on manufacturing performance by means of a simulation study. Major outcome of our study is that the maximal effect of LC is higher than the maximal effect of RC. Furthermore, our study indicates that a high level of LC may absorb all positive effects of RC. However, RC remains relevant in case of low levels of LC. LC remains profitable, even in case of a maximal level of RC. Our study also shows that increased labour utilization magnifies the effect of a first introduction of some cooperation.

Keywords: cellular manufacturing; dual resource constrained systems; routing flexibility; labour flexibility; distributed manufacturing; cooperation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2006.010084

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2006 Vol.26 No.1/2, pp.83 - 90

Published online: 16 Jun 2006 *

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