Towards improving the performance of flexible manufacturing system: a case study

Increasing global competition has evolved a manufacturing environment which gleans vast product variety, reduced manufacturing lead times, increased quality standards and competitive costs. Simultaneously, with a rising trend toward globalization, these manufacturing environments must be designed to cater new challenges to survive and grow in the marketplace. To deal with such multifaceted problems, new technologies support increased flexibility and automation. These objectives intended for the improvement of the manufacturing environment have been the key rationales for the introduction of flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs). In this paper a case study of a firm is presented with a contribution to suggest some methods of performance improvement for a flexible system of manufacturing. The study is based on the mathematical models illustrated in literature to estimate possible performance parameters like maximum production rate, make span time and overall utilization. Through this study, an effort is also made to present the improved design for existing flexible manufacturing system employed in the company. Various design and performance parameters are then evaluated and compared for the existing and improved FMS.