A novel approach to measure machine reconfigurability in reconfigurable manufacturing system

Abstract

The reconfigurable manufacturing system is a new class of manufacturing system which offers the capacity and functionality that is needed and when it is needed by adjusting its modular structure. Reconfigurability is achieved through changing the hardware and software modules in the modular reconfigurable machine tools. In the present work, authors propose a systematic approach to measure the reconfigurability at machine level which will help in measuring the responsiveness offered by the machines. The developed approach is illustrated through suitable example.