A variability taxonomy to support automation decision-making for manufacturing processes

Although many manual operations have been replaced by automation in the manufacturing domain in various industries, skilled operators still carry out critical manual tasks such as final assembly. The business case for automation in these areas is difficult to justify due to increased complexity and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProduction planning & control Vol. 31; no. 5; pp. 383 - 399
Main Authors Goh, Yee Mey, Micheler, Simon, Sanchez-Salas, Angel, Case, Keith, Bumblauskas, Daniel, Monfared, Radmehr
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Taylor & Francis 03.04.2020
Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects
Automation
Case studies
Decision making
decision support
Manufacturing
manufacturing process
Taxonomy
Variability
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Summary:Although many manual operations have been replaced by automation in the manufacturing domain in various industries, skilled operators still carry out critical manual tasks such as final assembly. The business case for automation in these areas is difficult to justify due to increased complexity and costs arising out of process variabilities associated with those tasks. The lack of understanding of process variability in automation design means that industrial automation often does not realize the full benefits at the first attempt, resulting in the need to spend additional resource and time, to fully realize the potential. This article describes a taxonomy of variability when considering the automation of manufacturing processes. Three industrial case studies were analyzed to develop the proposed taxonomy. The results obtained from the taxonomy are discussed with a further case study to demonstrate its value in supporting automation decision-making.
ISSN:0953-7287
1366-5871
DOI:10.1080/09537287.2019.1639840