Structural order measure of manufacturing systems based on an information-theoretic approach

A manufacturing structure is the material basis of production operation and management, and its rationality is a necessary prerequisite for ensuring highly efficient operation of manufacturing systems. Therefore, how to determine the rationality of manufacturing structures and accurately screen the optimal scheme in multiple alternatives has become an important production decision-making problem with expert and intelligent systems in recent years and needs to be solved urgently. To solve this problem, we put forward a structure entropy model and a structural order parameter in this paper, respectively. First, combined with the structural characteristics of manufacturing systems, the structure entropy model of manufacturing structures with dynamic characteristics is established and specially treated to make it operable in practical applications. Second, the structural order parameter and the definition of the order of manufacturing structures are developed, which are combined with the structure entropy model to realize the quantitative evaluation of the rationality of manufacturing structures and accurate selection of the optimal structure in the alternatives. Finally, in an empirical study, based on the two parameters of connective paths and connective spans, the structure diagrams of different manufacturing systems are made, which can directly reflect the complexity of manufacturing structures and the importance of equipment utilization, and provide another effective way for the assessment and selection of manufacturing structures. The results of the empirical study demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed approaches, which can solve the production choke point that can only rely on qualitative evaluation or trial operation of all schemes before determining the final one. Therefore, our algorithm not only provides theoretical support and decision-making basis for screening manufacturing structures, but also enriches the evaluation and decision-making methods with expert and intelligent systems. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.