Abstract
Agile manufacturing requires facilities that can produce a variety of customized products with minimal reconfiguration and setup. Holonic and fractal approaches are investigated to locate machines in such an environment. Heuristic procedures for assigning machines to locations are proposed for holonic systems. Methods for routing jobs in holonic systems and assigning jobs in fractal systems are also proposed. A simulation study compares these approaches to process layouts on the basis of cycle time, material handling requirements, and uniformity of workload across machines. The holonic and fractal approaches are found to be potentially useful alternative layout concepts.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 961-978 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | International Journal of Production Research |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1999 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Strategy and Management
- Management Science and Operations Research
- Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering