The objective of this book is to support readers facing the urgency, challenges, analysis, and methodologies to reconfiguration. It presents a comprehensive framework for reconfiguring manufacturing enterprises and provides a set of valuable conceptual frameworks and methodologies for analyzing, evaluating, and assessing reconfiguration indices. This book offers practical guidance for implementing the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). It presents open-ended problems pertaining to the concepts covered in the book and provides a new approach for reconfiguring industrial systems. Not only is this book for industrialists and academics, it will also appeal to undergraduate and graduate students studying industrial, mechanical, and manufacturing engineering. Scholars and practitioners in operations management will also find this book of interest.

This book develops innovative techniques from operational research and management science for the design and implementation of a reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS), and subsequently analyzes and assesses their performance. A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a paradigm that can address many of the challenges posed by the modern market. Accordingly, substantial research is now being conducted on RMS, focusing on various levels of decision-making (strategic, tactical and operational). However, as a relatively new research area, there are still only very few books and articles available on reconfigurable manufacturing system design and management. In addition to filling that gap, this book provides a forum for investigating, exchanging ideas on, and disseminating the latest advances in the broad area of RMS applications in today’s industry. Gathering contributions by experts from academia, industry and policy-making, it represents an essential contribution to the existing literature on manufacturing and logistics in general and industry 4.0 in particular.

To succeed in the ever-changing economic environment, it has become important for industrial enterprises to implement digitization, intelligentization and adopt rapid advancement of new technologies based machines, machine tool and manufacturing systems. Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) combines the strengths of Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) and Dedicated Manufacturing System (DMS) with computer based technologies (i.e. smart sensors, autonomous robot, automatic material handling, computer based machine etc.). Today's manufacturing sector stand on the threshold of the fourth Industrial Revolution 4.0, in which many smart technologies have been developed such as Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing, Augmented Reality, Simulation, Block Chain, Cyber Security System, Big Data , Horizontal and Vertical System Integration, Additive Manufacturing and others. The uses of these smart technologies are powerful driver for Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) to meet the requirement of digital manufacturing world. The objective of this paper is to provide the overview of Industry 4.0 based emerging technology and its drivers, enablers, goals. This research will be helpful to equip manufacturers, customers, researchers, industrialists, and other concerned persons in understanding the importance, severity and benefits obtained by the application and implementation of the Industry 4.0 based concepts.

The book develops manufacturing concepts and applications beyond physical production and towards a wider manufacturing value chain incorporating external stakeholders that include suppliers of raw materials and parts, customers, collaborating manufacturing companies, manufacturing service providers, and environmental organisations. The focal point of the value chain remains as a manufacturing system and its operations whiles flows of parts/materials and information and services across the supply/value chain tiers are taken into account. The book emphasises on the two innovative paradigms of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) and the 4th industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) along with their incorporated development. RMS, as a relatively new paradigm, has been introduced to meet the requirements of ‘the factories of the future’, which is aimed by Industry 4.0, though introducing greater responsiveness and customised flexibility into production systems, in which changes in product volumes and types occur regularly. Manufacturing responsiveness can be achieved by RMS through reconfiguring the production facilities according to changing demands of products and new market conditions. The book addresses challenges of mass-customisation and dynamic changes in the supply-chain environment by focusing on developing new techniques related to integrability, scalability and re-configurability at a system level and manufacturing readiness in terms of financial and technical feasibility of RMS. It demonstrate the expected impacts of an RMS design on operational performance and its supply/value chain in the current/future manufacturing environment facing dynamic changes in the internal/external circumstances. In order to establish a circular economy through the RMS value chain, an integrated data-based reconfiguration link is introduced to incorporate information sharing amongst the value chain stakeholders and facilitate grouping products into families with allocation of the product families to the corresponding system configurations with optimal product-process allocation. Decision support systems such as multi criteria decision making tools are developed and applied for the selection of product families and optimising product-process configuration. The proposed models are illustrated through real case studies in applicable manufacturing firms.

The concrete tools manufacturing enterprises need to thrive in today's global environment For a manufacturing enterprise to succeed in this current volatile economic environment, a revolution is needed in restructuring its three main components: product design, manufacturing, and business model. The Global Manufacturing Revolution is the first book to focus on these issues. Based on the author's long-standing course work at the University of Michigan, this unique volume proposes new technologies and new business strategies that can increase an enterprise's speed of responsiveness to volatile markets, as well as enhance the integration of its own engineering and business. Introduced here are innovations to the entire manufacturing culture: An original approach to the analysis of manufacturing paradigms Suggested methods for developing creativity in product design A quantitative analysis of manufacturing system configurations A new manufacturing "reconfigurable" paradigm, in which the speed of responsiveness is the prime business goal An original approach to using information technology for workforce empowerment The book also offers analysis and original models of previous manufacturing paradigms' technical and business dimensions—including mass production and mass customization—in order to fully explain the current revolution in global manufacturing enterprises. In addition, 200 original illustrations and pictures help to clarify the topics. Globalization is creating both opportunities and challenges for companies that manufacture durable goods. The tools, theories, and case studies in this volume will be invaluable to engineers pursuing leadership careers in the manufacturing industry, as well as to leaders of global enterprises and business students who are motivated to lead manufacturing enterprises and ensure their growth.

This book develops innovative techniques from operational research and management science for the design and implementation of a reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS), and subsequently analyzes and assesses their performance. A reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a paradigm that can address many of the challenges posed by the modern market. Accordingly, substantial research is now being conducted on RMS, focusing on various levels of decision-making (strategic, tactical and operational). However, as a relatively new research area, there are still only very few books and articles available on reconfigurable manufacturing system design and management. In addition to filling that gap, this book provides a forum for investigating, exchanging ideas on, and disseminating the latest advances in the broad area of RMS applications in todays industry. Gathering contributions by experts from academia, industry and policy-making, it represents an essential contribution to the existing literature on manufacturing and logistics in general and industry 4.0 in particular.

This book explores sustainability within manufacturing enterprises and examines the concepts and principles of this field. It also reviews the quantitative and qualitative tools available for analytic assessment. It presents a new framework for sustainable manufacturing requirements and discusses the implementation of sustainable manufacturing in terms of practices, indicators, and sustainability level assessments. The book also details the important conditions necessary for the conversion of existing traditional plants to ones with more sustainable processes. Chapters explore topics including the assessment of economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, sustainable manufacturing practices, and sustainability optimization. Serving as a reference for engineers, managers, and practitioners involved in manufacturing, this book will also be a valuable resource to students and researchers of industrial engineering, manufacturing engineering, systems engineering, and operations management.