Abstract

WALKER, A.J.  and  BRIGHT, G.. Reconfigurable product routing and control for mass customisation manufacturing. S. Afr. J. Ind. Eng. [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.2, pp.173-190. ISSN 2224-7890.

Reconfigurable control of flexible manufacturing systems can allow for the efficient and responsive production of customised product instances. This can aid in providing make-to-order business models for various small- to medium-sized enterprises in South Africa, and provide competitive advantage in a dynamic global marketplace. Reconfigurable control application requires an understanding of the modes of production variability in mass customisation manufacturing. Temporally uncorrelated workflow routings are considered as one of these production variability modes. In this light, this paper addresses the flexible material payload routing problem, and presents a mobile robot platform that has been developed to research and design reconfigurable routing systems.

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