Title: Optimal selection of modular products in reconfigurable manufacturing systems using analytic hierarchy process

Authors: Kamal Kumar Mittal; Pramod Kumar Jain; Dinesh Kumar

Addresses: Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee -247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Jabalpur- 482005,Madhya Pradesh, India; Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India ' Mechanical and Industrial Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247667, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract: Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are considered as a major resource of providing variable production capacities and capabilities by different manufacturing companies. To fulfil the market requirement variety of a modular product, manufactured in a reconfigurable manufacturing system, a methodology for optimal selection of modular products in reconfigurable manufacturing systems using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed. The analytic hierarchy process is a theory of measurement through pair-wise comparisons and relies on the decisions of experts to obtain priority scales. The comparisons are made using a scale of absolute judgments that shows how much better one component is than another with respect to a given attribute. AHP is also helpful in taking decision when both qualitative and quantitative attributes are in a system. A case study is given to understand the applicability of the proposed methodology on a given system.

Keywords: reconfigurable manufacturing system; RMS; analytic hierarchy process; AHP; reliability; modular products; modularity; reconfigurable machine tool; RMT.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2018.093586

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2018 Vol.30 No.4, pp.521 - 537

Received: 11 Nov 2016
Accepted: 14 Feb 2017
Published online: 30 Jul 2018 *

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