Development of manufacturing process chains considering uncertainty

Abstract

The production processes of forming companies are traditionally characterized by a high productivity. Process chains are developed with regard to cost efficiency for a predefined lot size. However, the accordingly determined optimal process chain might become inferior against the background of a changing company environment. This paper presents a feature-based methodology for the development of production process chains considering changeable company environments. A classification of influences on production processes is developed which allows the deduction of scenarios describing the interrelation between causes of change and companies' decision making criteria. Based on the value of the possibility to change or expand a process chain can be determined. The method is applied using the process chain planning for a particulate filter as an example.