A production planning system to continuously integrate the characteristics of reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Operation in a dynamic environment requires companies to constantly adapt their manufacturing systems to stay competitive. One approach to manufacturing is the use of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). Current production planning approaches cannot model and realize the production-side adaptions available in RMS. In this article a novel planning system for modeling that continuously integrates the key characteristics of RMS in production planning and control (PPC) is presented. First, the challenges for production planning using RMS are defined. A feasible planning system is then presented, based on modeling and specification approaches, followed by a planning method to realize capacity scalability and functionality changes in planning processes. Finally, a prototypical application is outlined and the planning system is evaluated with the help of different production scenarios. The application results demonstrate the feasibility of the planning system as well as the potential improvement of typical key performance indicators in manufacturing.