A classification and measurement structure for manufacturing plants

Abstract

Traditional ways of classifying manufacturing plants are proving increasingly unsatisfactory, particularly with the advent of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). An alternative is proposed based on the idea that the plant structure can be used as a basis. This is seen to evolve from progressively mapping product structures (referred to as product path structures) onto the resources available. It results in six identifiable structures, referred to as Cottage Industry, I, V, A, Diamond and T. In addition a measure of complexity for each type of plant is developed based on the extent to which its structure distorts flow. The measure, based on information theory, relates to the likely extent of the distortion. The measure is then used to make a number of predictions about how the six plant structures will behave