Evaluation of Productivity, Quality and Flexibility of an Advanced Manufacturing System

Productivity alone does not depict the overall performance of a manufacturing system. Frequent changes in the design and need for continuously improving product quality require high degree of automation and flexibility of the manufacturing system. Thus, productivity, quality and flexibility have become critical measures of total manufacturing performance of a production system for justifying the investment. These three measures are quantitatively defined and their combined effect has been evaluated on the manufacturing performance index of the system. A mathematical model for performance index has been developed. Further the relationship among productivity, quality and flexibility has been investigated and a method has been proposed to serve as decision support to management.