A fuzzy-based assessment model for a labour-intensive manufacturing system with repair

Abstract

This paper presents a novel assessment model for a labour-intensive manufacturing system with repairs as a consideration. The proposed model integrates a multistate network construction and reliability evaluation procedure. Such a manufacturing system is first constructed as a labour-intensive manufacturing network (LMN) to deal with the workstations comprising operators. We further define the workload state of a workstation by three fuzzy membership functions for ‘under-normal-workload’, ‘normal-workload’, and ‘over-normal-workload’. Hence, the workload of a workstation is fuzzy multistate and the workstation reliability can be measured by three fuzzy membership functions. Subsequently, the system reliability is evaluated in terms of all workstation reliabilities and is derived by fuzzy intersection. The reliability analysis can help the production manager to understand the demand satisfaction of an LMN. A case-based example of a footwear manufacturing system is utilised to validate the applicability of the proposed assessment model.

Keywords:

• labour-intensive manufacturing network
• fuzzy multistate
• system reliability
• operator
• repair

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [grant number MOST 102-2221-E-011-080-MY3].

Notes on contributors

Ping-Chen Chang

Ping-Chen Chang is currently a postdoctoral fellow of Industrial Management Department, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China. He received a bachelor's degree in the Department of Industrial and Business Management from Chang Gung University, Taiwan. He obtained his master's degree from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at Yuan Ze University, Taiwan. He obtained the PhD degree from the Department of Industrial Management at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan. He was a recipient of the Best Student Paper Award from the 2011 International Conference on Reliability and Quality in Design (ISSAT). His research interest includes stochastic network reliability, performance evaluation, and operations management.

Yi-Kuei Lin

Yi-Kuei Lin is currently a chair professor and the head of Industrial Management Department, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Republic of China. He received a bachelor's degree in Applied Mathematics Department from National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. He obtained his master's degree and PhD degree from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, Republic of China. He has the honour to get the Distinguished Research Awards from National Science Council of Taiwan in 2008, 2010, and 2013, respectively. His research interest includes performance evaluation, stochastic network reliability, operations research, and telecommunication management. He has published over 160 papers in refereed journals including European Journal of Operational Research; Computers and Operations Research; Reliability Engineering & System Safety; IEEE Transactions on Reliability; IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics–Part A: Systems and Humans; International Journal of Industrial Engineering; Computers and Mathematics with Applications; International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology; International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering; Journal of the Operations Research Society of Japan; Mathematical and Computer Modelling; Computers and Industrial Engineering; International Journal of Production Economics; and Applied Mathematics and Computation.