Agile Manufacturing
int. j. prod. res., 2001, vol. 39, no. 16, 3561±3600
A review of agile manufacturing systems
LUIS M. SANCHEZy and RAKESH NAGIy*
About a decade ago, the agile manufacturing paradigm was formulated in response to the constantly changing `new economy’ and as a basis for returning to global competitiveness. While agility means di erent things to di erent enterprises under di erent contexts, the following elements capture its essential concept: agility is characterized by cooperativeness and synergism (possibly resulting in virtual corporations), by a strategic vision that enables thriving in face of continuous and unpredictable change, by the responsive creation and delivery of customer-valued, high quality and mass customized goods/services, by nimble organization structures of a knowledgeable and empowered workforce, and facilitated by an information infrastructure that links constituent partners in a uni®ed electronic network. During this period, a signi®cant amount of attention from both the academic and industrial communities has produced a large body of results in research and development related to this topic. Each contribution has tackled a di erent aspect of this large ®eld. In this paper, we review a wide range of recent literature on agile manufacturing. About 73 papers from premier scienti®c journals and conferences have been reviewed, and a classi®cation scheme to organize these is proposed. We critique these bodies of work and suggest directions for additional research and identify topics where fruitful opportunities exist.
1.
Introduction World-class performance is a moving target that requires constant attention and e ort; the process is a neverending journey. In the past, economies of scale ruled the manufacturing world and everybody knew that mass production and full utilization of plant capacity was the way to make money. This style of manufacturing, resulted in in¯exible plants that could not be easily recon®gured, and were associated
A review of agile manufacturing systems
LUIS M. SANCHEZy and RAKESH NAGIy*
About a decade ago, the agile manufacturing paradigm was formulated in response to the constantly changing `new economy’ and as a basis for returning to global competitiveness. While agility means di erent things to di erent enterprises under di erent contexts, the following elements capture its essential concept: agility is characterized by cooperativeness and synergism (possibly resulting in virtual corporations), by a strategic vision that enables thriving in face of continuous and unpredictable change, by the responsive creation and delivery of customer-valued, high quality and mass customized goods/services, by nimble organization structures of a knowledgeable and empowered workforce, and facilitated by an information infrastructure that links constituent partners in a uni®ed electronic network. During this period, a signi®cant amount of attention from both the academic and industrial communities has produced a large body of results in research and development related to this topic. Each contribution has tackled a di erent aspect of this large ®eld. In this paper, we review a wide range of recent literature on agile manufacturing. About 73 papers from premier scienti®c journals and conferences have been reviewed, and a classi®cation scheme to organize these is proposed. We critique these bodies of work and suggest directions for additional research and identify topics where fruitful opportunities exist.
1.
Introduction World-class performance is a moving target that requires constant attention and e ort; the process is a neverending journey. In the past, economies of scale ruled the manufacturing world and everybody knew that mass production and full utilization of plant capacity was the way to make money. This style of manufacturing, resulted in in¯exible plants that could not be easily recon®gured, and were associated
Citations: Areas Design of manufacturing systems Yes No No No Design for recon®gurability Yes Design of manufacturing work-cell No Yes Integrated design Yes No No No Yes No No No No Author Lee (1998) He and Kusiak (1995) Kusiak and He (1997) Cheng et al 3567 Author Lee (1998) He and Kusiak (1995) Yes (2) Integer programming Kusiak and He (1997) Cheng et al. (1998) Lee (1997) No Yes (3) No Integer & dynamic programming Integer programming He and Kusiak (1994) Quiinn et al 3568 Author Lee (1998) Dove (1995) * The values provided by the author were 12.53 and 230.53%