A hybrid simulation-based assessment framework of smart manufacturing systems

US manufacturers' capabilities have consistently been degrading over the past few decades with no end in sight. To ebb this tide and assist the decision-makers in designing better configurations and system capabilities, this paper proposes the use of smart manufacturing systems (SMS) to develop a framework that generates and evaluates pre-implementation near optimal manufacturing configurations and provide guidance to establishing appropriate information messaging protocols between system components using hybrid simulation modelling. The framework calls for the implementation of computer-based tools including an expert system to identify the required machines and their corresponding characteristics, a business process modelling and notation tool to capture the process plan in an object-oriented fashion and an agent unified modelling language tool to guide the application of message sequence diagram and state charts, in addition, a hybrid simulation tool to assist in determining the correct configuration, an agent-based modelling tool to capture the behaviour of the required machines and a discrete event simulation tool to mimic the process flow.The application of the proposed framework to a manufacturing case study shows positive outcomes to support upper management in the planning phase of establishing a SMS or evaluating an existing one.