Changeability and reconfigurability are some of the most important sources of competitiveness in today's manufacturing industry. However, the development and implementation of reconfigurable manufacturing systems still appear to be challenged and limited in industry. Therefore, it is increasingly relevant for engineers and professionals in the manufacturing industry to build knowledge and competences in reconfigurability. This paper presents preliminary insights and learnings from developing and running a problem-based learning (PBL) course in reconfigurable manufacturing for continuing engineering education (CEE). Presented insights cover both observed benefits and learnings for professionals participating in the course, as well as important learnings on how to best transfer knowledge from research to practice.

This book is for professionals working with the development of production systems. It provides guidance on how to design production systems capable of meeting uncertain market requirements in the future, whether these are fluctuations in demand volume, requirements for product variants, or introduction of completely new product families.

• An introduction to the fundamental principles of changeable, reconfigurable, modular, and platform-based production systems.
• A research-based method for developing reconfigurable production systems.
• Practical tools for analyzing existing capabilities, developing new concepts, and evaluating these.
• Examples from Danish and Swedish production companies of various sizes and industries.

In today's global manufacturing environment, changes are inevitable and something that every manufacturer must respond to and take advantage of, whether it is in regards to technology changes, product changes, or changes in the manufacturing processes. The reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) meets this challenge through the ability to rapidly and efficiently change capacity and functionality, which is the reason why it has been widely labelled the manufacturing paradigm of the future. However, design of the RMS represents a significant challenge compared to the design of traditional manufacturing systems, as it should be designed for efficient production of multiple variants, as well as multiple product generations over its lifetime. Thus, critical decisions regarding the degree of scalability and convertibility of the system must be considered in the design phase, which affects the abilities to reconfigure the system in accordance with changes during its operating lifetime. However, in current research it is indicated that conventional manufacturing system design methods do not support the design of an RMS and that a systematic RMS design method is lacking, despite the fact that numerous contributions exist. Moreover, there is currently only limited evidence for the breakthrough of reconfigurability in industry. Therefore, the research presented in this paper aims at synthesizing current contributions into a generic method for RMS design. Initially, currently available design methods for RMS are reviewed, in terms of classifying and comparing their content, structure, and scope, which leads to a synthesis of the reviewed methods into a generic design method. In continuation of this, the paper includes a discussion of practical implications related to carrying out the design, including an identification of potential challenges and an assessment of which tools that can be applied to support the design. Conclusively, further areas for research are indicated, which provides valuable knowledge of how to develop and realize the benefits of reconfigurability in industry. 

Increasingly volatile and complex manufacturing environments make the continuous development of engineering professionals’ knowledge and competences in changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing a major source of competitiveness in manufacturing companies. Enablers of this include modular and platform-based product and manufacturing system design, as well as industry 4.0 related technologies and digitalisation. Therefore, this paper focuses on Continuing Engineering Education (CEE) in changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing and investigates the implications of applying a university-industry collaborative approach to Problem-based Learning (PBL) for CEE in company-settings. The paper builds on a four-year CEE initiative from Swedish manufacturing industry and includes insights from implementing a CEE course in changeable manufacturing, which was designed based on PBL principles and run as an industry-university cooperation for four consecutive years. Implications addressed in the paper relates to (1) PBL as a suitable approach for CEE, (2) Research transfer to industry through PBL-based CEE, and (3) industry-university collaboration for CEE, which provides valuable insights on how to conduct successful CEE in knowledge fields that are fast evolving in order to enable fast industry transitions. 

Increasing product variety, rapid new product introductions, volatile market demands, and pressure for cost reductions are among the main drivers for developing changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems constituting platforms that can be developed and utilized jointly with product platforms. However, methodologies to support platform-based co-development of products and manufacturing systems remain limited in previous research, including lack of knowledge on successful practices for the platform-based co-development project and process. Therefore, the objective of the research presented in this paper is to identify practices for platform-based co-development of products and manufacturing systems through a case study of a company that has successfully transitioned towards changeability through platform-based co-development. The findings cover various aspects of the co-development process and project, providing initial insight into how to enable joint development of products and manufacturing systems, in order to achieve changeability and reconfigurability.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the development of a strategically integrated product and production system portfolio could be enabled by the concept of reconfigurable manufacturing. In previous research, several critical challenges related to developing production system portfolios have been identified, but it has not been investigated how developing a reconfigurable manufacturing concept could aid some of these. Therefore, through a multiple case study, these critical challenges have been investigated in two companies that have recently developed reconfigurable manufacturing concepts for multiple variants and generations of products. The findings reveal that the companies need to deal with several challenges in order to enable a functioning RMS. By running the project separately from the NPD project and to include several product types and production sites the company overcome several challenges. (C) 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Traditional production location decisions are mainly based upon economic factors while factors that facilitate decision makers in selecting the most suitable production location in terms of operations performance are rarely considered. Therefore, this paper presents a developed decision support for production localization that emphasises operational factors to be considered in the decision making. The research methodology combines a literature study with a multiple case study method. The findings are synthesised into a five phase decision process for making production localization decisions in practice. For each of these phases, key activities with related tools and expected output are developed.

Decision are commonly based on the available or easily accessible information; this is also true for more complex assessments like production localization. Where to locate production is often a key strategic decisions that has great impact on a company’s profitability for a long time; insufficient business intelligence may therefore have grave consequences. Six production localization factor studies have been assessed to see if they are focusing on the same issues and if there are any gaps. A new approach for structuring localization factors and the localization process is then presented and assessed with regards to some previously identified critical issues.

Production platforms can be considered as the foundation for the design, development, and reconfiguration of a production system. Even though, the product platform domain has been extensively researched and applied widely in practice, this is not the case in the production domain regarding production platforms and reconfigurable production systems. Therefore, this paper reviews the current product and production platform literature to distinguish the production platform co-development research. A systematic literature review has been carried out to explore the concept of production platforms and pinpoint what research gaps that needs to be bridged.

To enable manufacturing firms adapting their manufacturing capabilities to meet the market demands in a cost-efficient way the concept of reconfigurable manufacturing was initiated. A majority of the research within this field targeting production development has been focused on greenfield development methods, enabling the developers to ignore context and constraints that brownfield development methods cannot. The greenfield focus in reconfigurability research has resulted in how to find optimal solutions to reconfiguration problems. Taking a brownfield focus on reconfigurable manufacturing development would enable to move step-by-step towards a reconfigurable manufacturing strategy instead of the all-or-nothing approach of greenfield development methods. This study investigates through a literature review what assessment tools and methods that exists in literature, and classifies them into four categories, i.e. Configuration evaluation, Element of evaluation, Pre-design evaluation, and Potential evaluation. It is found that there only exist two assessment tools for potential evaluation. Through a multiple case study, the potential evaluation process is evaluated, and three gaps is identified, i.e. lack of connection to strategy, lack of predefined goals for reconfigurability, and the difficulty in interpreting the result of the analysis. These gaps are then address in a new conceptual assessment process for assessing the potential of reconfigurability. The conceptual assessment process links the six reconfigurability characteristics throughout the whole assessment process to link manufacturing strategy to the improvement suggestions.

To enable firms adapting their manufacturing capabilities to meet the market demands in a cost-efficient way the concept of reconfigurable manufacturing was established. A starting point towards implementing reconfigurable manufacturing in a brownfield setting is to identify the current level of reconfigurability. In this paper a model to assess the level of reconfigurability is proposed. The assessment model has been developed through a multiple case study in collaboration with industry. The model is founded on the characteristics of reconfigurability and provides indication of the reconfigurability level.

A well-performing product realisation process in order to introduce new products with high frequency to a low cost, is becoming more of a pre-requisite for manufacturing companies. In a multiple case study, this paper investigates applied industrial practices in production development to support the production realisation process and reports on the current ways of working and challenges therein. The areas of current production development practices, production platforms, standardised work, and knowledge development are explored. Identified challenges towards long-term production development based on the explored areas are presented. The inclusion of future need of production system adaptions from future products is argued for to increase its efficiency. Through including future need of the production system, the notion of considering one product at the time during industrialisation is challenged and a more proactive perspective can be taken. The production platform approach is considered as one enabler for such an improved production development.

The traditional way of developing production systems is often limited by merely considering an imminent new product. The longevity of a production system’s lifecycle is at risk following this approach and may create a focus on the current functionality and capacity rather than on fulfilling future product requirements. Changeable production address this challenge, however, support for production engineers to consider more changeable solutions is lacking. Thus, this paper proposes support for evaluating production capabilities and mapping how new products may impact the production system. The support is developed in two industrial cases which studied current production capabilities and future requirements put on two automatic assembly lines. The support allows for estimates of the cost of repurposing the assembly lines to accommodate the new products and paves the way for seeing beyond the dedicated manufacturing paradigm towards increased levels of changeable production.

As production equipment is often designed and built by equipment suppliers rather than made in-house, a collaborative buyer-supplier-relationship could be utilized in order to create robust solutions and enhance innovative ideas. The purpose with this paper is to explore critical user-supplier collaboration activities throughout the different lifecycle stages of the production equipment development. The purpose is accomplished by a literature review and a case study including more than 30 semi-structured interviews at four companies. The challenges vary depending on equipment life cycle phase and user/supplier perspective. A life cycle model with eight stages is proposed including critical interconnected activities for each stage.

The purpose of this paper is to refine existing theories on collaboration between users and suppliers in joint production equipment development projects by exploring critical collaboration activities throughout the lifecycle stages of the production equipment. By means of a literature review and a multiple case study of two equipment suppliers and two users, a lifecycle perspective on production equipment development is adopted. Our results show that collaboration intensity depends on the specific lifecycle stage of the production equipment. The contributions of this paper are illustrated in a developed lifecycle model in order to facilitate practitioners in organising critical collaboration activities.

A core plant should be a centre of excellence, have a central role for knowledge creation, and ensure that the latest knowledge is diffused in the organisation's production network. Core plants can yield a range of benefits, such as increased resource efficiency and decreased costs in the production network. However, core plants face immense challenges in performing their roles, given the different interests of the different stakeholders that need to be satisfied. We use data gathered from an in-depth study of six core plants in Sweden to analyse the prerequisites. We conclude that the core plant prerequisites are influenced by human, organisational, and technological aspects, i.e., successful development of core plant capabilities can only be achieved if all the three components are considered together. Our findings are relevant to operation managers, plant managers, and others interested in developing and maintaining core plant excellence. 

The aim of the mobile manufacturing concept is to provide solutions for mobile and flexible manufacturing capacity on demand. The idea with the concept is that a mobile manufacturing unit (MMU) could sent to the place where it is needed, either within the company, to a local supplier, to a customer, or to a partner, in order to, for example, cover a temporary volume peak.

Within the research project Factory-in-a-Box, five fully operative MMUs have been designed and realized in close contact with Swedish manufacturing industries. The main logistic focus within the research project has been put on optimizing the transport solutions, while the implications on the relations in the supply chain have still not been analyzed. It is however, important to clarify that the geographical and organizational distance between the stationary site and the site where the MMU temporarily is located, affects the complexity of the information and material flow. In order to secure MMU productivity, both information and material flow to and from the stationary factory, the stationary factory’s sub-suppliers, the local suppliers, and the customer, must be handled.

In order to use the MMU’s resources efficiently, the level of interaction with all these actors has to be selected wisely. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the information flow and material flow in one of the demonstrators within the Factory-in-a-Box project, in order to highlight the importance of selecting appropriate level of interaction and how mobility affects the supply chain relations.

This paper deepens the understanding of the lead factory concept by examining how the lead factory role is operationalised and what challenges are associated with it. The research is based on an explorative case study of eight Swedish lead factories in the manufacturing industry. The empirical findings suggest that the understanding of the lead factory concept should be extended as it is not restricted to one type of set-up. The findings show a spectrum ranging from an entire manufacturing plant, parts of a plant, to a virtual plant considered to be the lead factory. The research also shows a broad range of challenges experienced by lead factories. Several of these are related to and originate from unclear role, responsibility and mandate of the lead factory. The lack of dedicated resources for lead factory activities, specifically long-term development and difficulties in measuring the benefits of the role, were other challenges faced. 

Project portfolio management (PPM) is central for project-based firms to achieve structure and prioritization among multiple projects. Competitive pressures, emergence of new technology and constantly changing customer demand imply a dynamic nature of PPM that calls for adjustments to different situations. This paper investigates PPM challenges that a company in the lighting industry face during a technology transformation from fluorescent technology to LED technology. The technology transformation resembles a modular innovation and the question asked is: How does technology transformation influence the project selection process? The findings rest upon an in-depth case study where data was collected via narrative interviews with representatives having detailed insights into the company’s PPM activities and decisions. The key findings from the study are: (1) When a company faces a technology, which involves most products in the portfolio to be converted to a new technology, the project selection focus shifts from “what products should be developed” to “in what order should the products be developed”. (2) The technology transformation might lead to that the planned order for carrying out projects can be frequently changed due to reprioritizations during project execution phase. Based on the key findings it can be concluded that PPM selection seems more dynamic than postulated in the literature.

This paper contributes with increased insights into the dynamic nature of project selection, specifically related to a technology transformation situations characterized by modular innovation. Further studies are needed regarding effects of other kinds of technology transformations on project selection activities and decisions as well as other factors contributing to the dynamics of PPM.

The product realisation process is one of several formalized supports for industrial actors to excel in concurrent engineering procedures. To satisfy customers today mass customization is increasingly in need, requiring delicate modular architectures, both in product designs and production. Emerging is also the digitalized co-platforming era of automating the synchronization of product and production platforms. Yet, in all these processes, humans as agents have different roles, objectives, and mental models that governs their decision-making, being the bearer of separate ideas on what to optimize from their end. In product development large sensitivity is given to customer demands and trends to design attractive products, while less attention may be placed on evaluating the increase of variation into the production flows from new products, potentially increasing the workload and complexity of assembly systems, as well as, the subsequent material logistics. In production, much effort is invested to increase standardization, increase the pace, and minimize the manufacturing cost, with the objective to minimize required changes to the current production system. Consequently, it is a hard problem to satisfy all criteria at once, and how to solve it has no clear answer. Therefore, this study has applied qualitative System Dynamics modelling, also often referred to as systems thinking, to investigate how these opposing views were represented at an industrialized house builder. The purpose was to explore and model the perspectives and mental models of two leading roles to model their conflicting objectives. As a result, an overall model of main interactions of product and production development is proposed to support interpreting the findings, visualize the identified conflicting dynamics, and work as a vehicle for analysis.

A clear and well-defined new product development (NPD) process, cross-functional development teams and project fit with manufacturing resources and skills, are three areas critical to achieve lower cost, high quality and short time to market in NPD. However it is not clear who from manufacturing function should be involved and in which phase during the NPD project. In order to address this issue, the purpose of this paper is to identify how and when manufacturing functions such as engineers and operators are involved in a NPD project. Results from a conducted case study in heavy automotive component assembly show that manufacturing engineers have been more actively involved compared to manufacturing operators during the early phases of the studies NPD. It confirms earlier results that it is not easy to involve operators in the early phases of project due to abstraction and ambiguity associated with early design.

The interface between the product development function and the manufacturing function is one key dimension in new product development (NPD) projects. Hard and soft requirements for manufacturability are defined and communicated to product development teams early in the NPD project to ensure the new products are fit for the manufacturing system. In this chapter, we determined what requirements are important for a manufacturing system and how these requirements are handled during an NPD project by analyzing two industrial cases. The results showed that requirements communicated from the manufacturing function to the design function had different sources and effects on different aspects of the manufacturing system. They were communicated and integrated to various degrees and through various mechanisms. There was a tendency to rely on the personal and verbal communication of requirements, as opposed to using more formal structured methods. This way of working was sufficient when product change was incremental and not radical. The case studies showed that the manufacturing function needed to employ more efficient methods to define and communicate their requirements in large and complex NPD projects.

The concept of the Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS) was introduced for the first time almost 20 years ago as a new manufacturing system concept with functionality and capacity being dynamically changeable through modularity, integrability, diagnosability, and customization. Since its introduction, the RMS concept has been extensively researched from various perspectives and new trends are today increasing its relevance. This research revisits the current status of both RMS research - in terms of research domains and trends - and RMS practice - in terms of potentialities and limitations towards broad industry application. Based on this, a design methodology in four steps is proposed and, to ensure its industry-applicability, the existence or lack of tools for each step is summarized as a basis for future research developments.

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to investigate the alignment between current product and manufacturing systems and how it could be achieved.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Case study research method was chosen for the collection and analysis of empirical data. The data was of qualitative nature and was collected using research techniques such as observations through video recordings of processes, documents and open and semi-structured interviews.

Findings

The variation of outer side sub-element of the exterior wall element was found to not be aligned with its corresponding assembly. A hybrid assembly of outer side sub-elements characterised by flexibility and reconfigurability can be developed.

Research Limitations/Implications

The study is limited to the exterior wall element and corresponding manufacturing system. Practical Implications The presented approach was formulated with the aim to be used both for the analysis of existing products and manufacturing systems as well as for the design of new manufacturing systems.

Originality/Value

So far, this is the first study in the context of timber house building where the alignment between product and manufacturing systems was investigated by considering product variety and flexibility of manufacturing systems.

Production systems must be easy to change in different configurations in order to meet the demands of e.g. changing product volumes and product types. In order to meet the demands efficient support for design of reconfigurable production systems that is easy to apply in an industrial setting is needed. The problem is to get an understanding of how the production system design process can capture and support the design of reconfigurable production systems with technology, organization, and personnel under consideration. The objective of this paper is to describe and define reconfigurability and discuss how reconfigurability characteristics better can be considered in the production system design process. A literature review is made in order to describe the RMS design research and what is characterizing reconfigurability. A case study has also been carried out in order to analyze how the reconfigurability characteristics were considered in a production system design process. The case study motivate a structured and systematic way to consider reconfigurability in the production system design process. A tentative structure of a support to concider reconfigurability in the production system design process is presented.

To compete, manufacturing companies need production systems that quickly can respond to changes. To handle change drivers such as volume variations or new product variants, reconfigurability is advocated as a competitive means. This implies an ability to add, remove, and/or rearrange the structure of the production system to be ready for future changes. Still, it is not clear how the production system design process can capture and support the de-sign of reconfigurable production systems. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to increase the knowledge of how to support the design of reconfig-urable production systems. Reconfigurability could be defined by a number of reconfigurability char-acteristics including convertibility, scalability, automatibility, mobility, modularity, integrability, and diagnosability. In eight case studies, reconfigu-rability characteristics in production system design were studied in order to investigate reconfigurability needs, knowledge, and practice in manufactur-ing companies. In three of the case studies reconfigurable production sys-tems were studied to identify the links between change drivers and reconfig-urability characteristics. In the remaining five case studies, reconfigurability in the production system design processes was addressed in terms of needs, prerequisites, and consideration. Based on the literature review and the case studies, support for reconfigu-rable production system design is suggested including two parts. The first part comprises support for analyzing the need for reconfigurability. Based on relevant change drivers the need for reconfigurability must be identified to enable selection of right type and degree of reconfigurability for each specif-ic case of application. A comprehensive view of the reconfigurability charac-teristics is presented and links between change drivers and reconfigurability characteristics are described. The characteristics are divided into critical characteristics, that lead to a capacity or functionality change of the produc-tion system, and supporting characteristics, that reduce system reconfigura-tion time but do not necessarily lead to a modification of functionality or capacity of the production system. The second part provides support in how to consider reconfigurability in the production system design process. A holistic perspective is crucial to design reconfigurable production systems and therefore constituent parts of a production system are described. Accord-ing to their character physical, logical, and human reconfiguration must be considered through the whole production system design process.

The paper provides empirical insight on how changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing system concepts can be developed to meet requirements in manufacturing companies, as well as the related organizational and technical challenges. The findings reveal that there are still strong barriers towards the wider implementation of reconfigurability and that a paradigm shift in industry is required, e.g., in terms of managing stepwise investments, organizational culture and mindset, approaches to production development, organizational structures, and knowledge on changeability and reconfigurability.

To increase changeability and reconfigurability of manufacturing systems, while maintaining cost-efficiency and environmental sustainability they need to be designed in accordance to the need for change. Since companies often need to convert existing manufacturing systems to handle variation, implementation of reconfigurable manufacturing systems calls for an analysis of the current system to understand to what extent they fulfil reconfigurability characteristics. This requires an assessment of the needs for reconfigurability as well as assessment of the existing ability to reconfigure the manufacturing system. Although a lot of reconfigurable manufacturing system assessment models are proposed in theory there is an evident knowledge gap pertaining to what extent the existing systems in the industry are in achieving reconfigurability. The purpose with this paper is to propose an assessment criterion for existing manufacturing systems to measure reconfigurability and their readiness to change with respect to products and volume variations. Based on a literature review of existing reconfigurability assessment models and a case study within the automotive industry, a criterion is developed and tested to analyze how reconfigurable a system is and to decide which parameters that need more attention to achieve higher degree of reconfigurability.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore activities, challenges, and suggest tactics for the design of industrial reconfigurable production systems that can easily adapt to changing market opportunities.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper synthesizes the empirical findings of seven case studies including 47 in-depth interviews at four manufacturing companies.

Findings – A conceptual production system design process and including activities that enables a long-term perspective considering reconfigurability is proposed. Additionally, critical challenges indicating that reconfigurable production system design is not a trivial issue but one that requires separate control and coordination are identified and tactics to overcome the challenges described.

Research limitations/implications – The authors propose a process for designing reconfigurable production systems that are better suited to adjust to future needs. The knowledge of reconfigurability from the reconfigurable manufacturing system literature is applied in the general production system literature field. This study contributes to a clearer picture of managerial challenges that need to be dealt with when designing a reconfigurable production system.

Practical implications – By clarifying key activities facilitating a long-term perspective in the design process and highlighting challenges and tactics for improvement, the findings are particularly relevant to production engineers and plant managers interested in increasing the ability to adapt to future changes through reconfigurability and improve the efficiency of their production system design process.

Originality/value – Although reconfigurable production systems are critical for the success of manufacturing companies, the process of designing such systems is not clear. This paper stretches this by giving a comprehensive picture of the production system design process and the activities that need to be considered to meet these challenges. 

It is a well-known fact that it is in the early phases of production system design where the most important decisions are made. If the production system is not designed in a proper way, this will eventually end up with disturbances and problems during serial production and it is in the early phases the potential to influence is greatest. The purpose with this paper is therefore to describe how to work and what activities to focus on in early phases of production system design by proposing a structured production system design model focusing on the early phases which can be applied by practitioners and academics. Six production system design projects were studied in three real-time case studies and three retrospective case studies. Combined with literature studies a production system design model is developed describing the initial phases of initiation, project definition and concept including activities and decision points. 

In early phases of production system design important decisions are made that set prerequisites for the whole project. However, production engineers often gets involved when the decisions already are made. This paper aims to develop support for early production involvement founded on multiple case studies.

An industrial need is to develop and operate changeable manufacturing systems that easily can be changed according to customer requirements, production volumes, and new product generations. Such a manufacturing system needs to be developed with the manufacturing footprint in mind, comprising solutions at a conceptual and technical level that can be standardized and duplicated for new geographical locations. This demands the mindset and the incentives of the manufacturing industry to define and implement a life cycle approach when designing, thinking in system generations and recycling of solutions. It requires an integrated development process of the product and the manufacturing system with conscious planning of a ‘manufacturing systems portfolio’ that corresponds to the product portfolio. These are issues addressed in this paper with the objective to investigate available methods or tools for manufacturing system design, how they correspond to the product portfolio, and how they support life cycle perspective.

An industrial need is to develop and operate changeable manufacturing systems that easily can be changed according to customer requirements, production volumes, and new product generations. Such a manufacturing system needs to be developed with the manufacturing footprint in mind, comprising solutions at a conceptual and technical level that can be standardized and duplicated for new geographical locations. This demands the mindset and the incentives of the manufacturing industry to define and implement a life cycle approach when designing, thinking in system generations and recycling of solutions. It requires an integrated development process of the product and the manufacturing system with conscious planning of a ‘manufacturing systems portfolio’ that corresponds to the product portfolio. These are issues addressed in this paper with the objective to investigate available methods or tools for manufacturing system design, how they correspond to the product portfolio, and how they support life cycle perspective.

För att kunna hantera dagens snabba förändringar är agilitet en färdighet svenska tillverkande företag behöver besitta och kontinuerligt utveckla vidare. Kärnpunkten i att vara en agil verksamhet är att snabbt kunna agera på förändringarpå marknaden eller omgivningen med ett fokus på kundens behov som kräver anpassade snarare än standardiserade produkter.

Agilitet inbegriper många olika begrepp som idag cirkulerar kring förmågan att snabbt anpassa sig och förändra sin produktion eller sin organisation till förändringar på marknaden. Relaterade begrepp är flexibilitet, rekonfigurerbarhet och resiliens.

Rekonfigurerbarhet innebär att göra det möjligt att lägga till, ta bort och / eller ordna om element/beståndsdelar i produktionssystemet på ett snabbt och kostnadseffektivt sätt som kan resultera i en önskad uppsättning alternativa konfigurationer.

Denna handbok är framtagen för att ge ett stöd till tillverkande svensk industri vid utveckling av agila och rekonfigurerbara produktionssystem. Detta innefattar både att använda agila projektmetoder och att skapa agila och rekonfigurerbara produktionssystem.

Oavsett om företaget står inför en större förändring av befintliga produktionssystem eller ska utforma något alldeles nytt är handboken användbar. Den är ett stöd både för projektgenomförandet och för hur det faktiska produktionssystemet ska utformas utifrån agila principer. Handboken behandlar således både projektmetod (kap 2) och utformning av ett agilt och rekonfigurerbart produktionssystem(kap 3).

Disruptions in supply chains, changing customer requirement, and fluctuating volume demands create a production situation where companies need to have the ability to reconfigure the production to stay competitive. However, to implement reconfigurable production solutions efficiently, identifying the current state of reconfigurability is necessary. Several methods for assessing and evaluating reconfigurability have been proposed previously but as reconfigurability might be unfamiliar to companies, difficulties in profoundly understanding the field exist. In order to aid manufacturing companies in initially evaluate their reconfiguration ability, the purpose of this paper is to picture the introduction of changeability in the industrial practice and aid manufacturing companies in initially evaluating their current reconfigurability. The paper introduces a rapid reconfigurability assessment method that will support this introduction. The tool includes the assessment areas of Modular system, Standardized interfaces, Mobility of Equipment, and Volume/Product variety capability, i.e., elements directly related to reconfigurability. To ensure industrial application of the tool, it was tested jointly by practitioners and researchers in multiple manufacturing companies. In the application of the tool, the current ability of reconfigurability amongst the companies was identified and dialogues regarding the development towards a more reconfigurable production was initiated. This enabled the possibility for realizing the adjustments in production to cope with disruptions and changes.

To shift the focus from a reactive development approach to a purely proactive approach is a comprehensive and decisive challenge. Reconfigurable manufacturing principles offer a new perspective that emphasizes adaptability over obsolescence. This paper aims to explore how automotive industries include reconfigurability and circularity in production system design to prolong the production system lifetime. In a multiple case study within automotive industry the long-term view in machining system development has been investigated. The results show that the companies try to leave the linear approach behind to look beyond the specific project boundaries and enable a system to be reused over time. There is an awareness of the importance to adopt long-term approaches to achieve a circular mindset and the study reveals that machining systems are characterized by a higher flexibility and higher degree of standardization to enable turbulence in requirements. Still, there are methods required to consider future needs, strategies, and technologies to enable reconfigurable and circular systems.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore theoretical and practical challenges to achieve reconfigurable production system designs. Design/methodology/approach – Presented results are based on a multiple-case study involving two industrial companies and in total four production system design projects in which considerations of reconfigurability were studied. Additionally, literature related to reconfigurability and production system design was reviewed.

Findings – For more than a decade foresight reports have pointed out the need for responsiveness to change through reconfigurability in production system design. In order to achieve reconfigurable production systems, three challenges were identified: to use a structured design methodology, to gain knowledge in reconfigurability and its characteristics, and to include the reconfigurability knowledge in a structured design methodology. Still there is no comprehensive support available for reconfigurability in the production system design process.Research limitations/implications – Limitations are mostly related to the chosen methodology approach, and additional empirical studies to establish generic results are required. Practical implications – By combining knowledge from the production system design field with the reconfigurable manufacturing system field a potential of meeting identified challenges is pointed out. Originality/value – This paper adds to current knowledge by pointing out three main challenges to achieving reconfigurable production systems. The paper also contributes with ideas on how to respond to these challenges.

A key aspect in the manufacturing footprint analysis is the risk and sensitivity analysis of critical parameters. In order to contribute to efficient industrial methods and tools for making well-founded strategic decisions regarding manufacturing footprint this paper aims to describe the main risks that need to be considered while locating manufacturing activities, and what risk mitigation techniques and strategies that are proper in order to deal with these risks. It is also proposed how the risk analysis should be included in the manufacturing location decision process.

Practical and relevant competence ready to apply in an industrial setting is of crucial importance for University Engineering Education (UEE). However, what is considered as industrial relevant knowledge and skills are changing in an increasing pace and the gap between the research front and application in industry is decreasing. Within manufacturing industry, engineers must be able to jointly optimize the design and operation of manufacturing systems and products, transferring newest research, knowledge, and technology into the business at fast pace. Continuous Engineering Education (CEE) commonly involves development of theoretical skills together with the practical work in a company setting. In this paper, learning activities comprising both CEE and UEE students are studied. By mixing students from the two groups potential benefits could be achieved within each group. The purpose with the paper is to describe how learning activities integrating CEE and UEE can be achieved to strengthen the CDIO goals as well as exploring the benefits and challenges related to the mixed student group. Learning activities combining the student groups were studied in 4 CEE courses. Several types of learning activities gathering the student groups were identified including project work in industrial settings, lecture discussions, and project presentation seminars. Challenges identified related to e.g., the differences in background knowledge and skills in the areas affecting the design of project works as well as practical factors such as scheduling.

The current industrial environment faces an increased demand for products to be delivered to market at a higher pace with high variety and customization. An increasing trend for automation and changeability to manage the increased volume of variants further intensify the challenge to design and integrate a manufacturing process that effectively incorporates the capacity to fulfil both aspects. The concept of reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS) is a system designed to rapidly react to market opportunities and changes while enabling adaptability on a production system and machine level. RMS provides sufficient manufacturing flexibility in combination with dedicated manufacturing that strikes an effective balance between the two. RMS can utilize emerging technologies such as Automation, Integrated Internet of Things (IIoT), Cloud Computing, and Simulation to increase its ability to manage flexibility. Scalability can be achieved with automated manufacturing solutions such as human-robot collaboration (HRC). The operator, in these RMS that utilize emerging technologies, is an integral part of a manufacturing system, due to the interactivity between operators and reconfigurable or automated equipment. Extensive research has been conducted on technical solutions, safety challenges, ergonomics, and interfaces of the technology within HRC systems, yet limited research has been conducted on such systems from the operator's perspective. The aim of this article is to explore current academic literature on the topic of HRC and analyse its relevance within changeability as well as identify potential knowledge gaps of implementing an HRC system within RMS from an operator's perspective. 

Nowadays customer needs are changing rapidly, resulting in shorter product life cycles and a need for a higher product introduction rate. This requires manufacturers to introduce new products whilst keeping production efficiency at a satisfactory level and production costs low. Based on these challenges, there is a need to consider both production efficiency and potential assembly line investment costs during the planning of new product introductions. Hence, this paper aims to support decision-making regarding whether to introduce and produce a new product in an already existing assembly line or to invest in a new assembly line. To its support, a tool which illustrates how to support manufacturing investment decisions through line balancing techniques has been developed. The tool was based on theoretical findings from two literature reviews, investigating assembly line balancing techniques and assembly line investment costs, and through data collected in a single case study, including how a company is currently supporting investment decisions and performing line balancing. The case study was conducted with a large Swedish company from the automotive industry. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews, document studies and a focus group. The proposed decision-supporting tool conducts line balancing for both combined and separate assembly lines, and converts the results into costs. These costs are then compared with the potential investment costs of either producing in an already existing assembly line or investing in a new assembly line. The final output is a summarization of the potential costs related to both alternatives which provides the user with the most economically beneficial alternative by taking both production efficiency and investment costs into consideration.

Due to the accelerating global warming crisis, interest in the concept of circular economy (CE) has started to excel. Adapting to a CE is especially important for manufacturing companies as they play major part in the global warming crisis. Hence, studying how manufacturing companies are transitioning to fit in a CE is highly relevant. Thus, the research question posed in this study is: How are manufacturing companies approaching circularity and which circularity practices can be identified? To answer the research question, a document study was carried out, wherein the latest available sustainability reports of the 20 largest manufacturing companies in Sweden were studied. A four-step process was followed, including sample selection, circularity extraction, data coding and data analysis. The findings include the creation of 61 unique circularity categories based on numerous identified circularity practices. This study focused identifying circularity practices, not only from a product perspective but for all resources and assets utilized by the company; hence, whilst many of the identified circularity practices involve product design, circularity practices have also been identified related uniquely to, e.g., manufacturing, for instance, in terms of reusing re-sources. Practical implications for this study include a clear overview of how Swedish manufacturing companies are working towards circularity and which specific circularity practices they mention in their sustainability reports.

In line with the accelerating global warming crisis, the concept of circular economy (CE), wherein the utilization and lifetimes of resources and materials are maximised, has gained a significant increase in attention. For manufacturing companies, adapting to a CE is particularly important due to high CO2-e emissions. In order to increase the knowledge regarding how manufacturing companies have adapted to a CE, sustainability reports wherein the companies themselves report upon their circularity practices can be examined. This study has aimed at investigating the publicly available sustainability reports of the 20 largest manufacturing companies in Sweden, with the purpose of identifying which, and on what level of implementation, circularity practices are mentioned. The 10R framework was used as a foundation for categorizing and analysing the identified circularity practices. The findings in this study include a total of 38 unique circularity practices, whereas 13 are categorized as visioned or planned, and 36 are categorized as ongoing or already realised circularity practices. The circularity practices were primarily related to reducing, reusing, and recycling. Suggestions of further research include elaborately describing the circularity practices as well as further exploring the implementation of repairing, refurbishing and remanufacturing amongst manufacturing companies.

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) have since the introduction almost two decades ago been recognized as the future of manufacturing. In line with a rapidly increasing customer demand for mass customization, RMS have been found to be a solution for managing frequent product introductions whilst keeping a high production efficiency. However, in recent years the focus has partly shifted from producing solely from an economic standpoint towards establishing a triple bottom line of sustainability, i.e., taking economic, social and environmental perspectives into consideration. Some authors have found RMS as an enabler for sustainable manufacturing, however, this needs further investigation. This paper aims through a literature review at describing and summarizing the hitherto conducted research on RMS and sustainability. A literature review in the database Scopus was carried out and a total of 265 papers were initially reviewed. Two categorizations of prominent papers were carried out: an initial categorization and a categorization according to the triple bottom line of sustainability. Based on these categorizations, the hitherto conducted research on RMS and sustainability was described. Several frequently discussed sustainability factors were identified, as well as suggestions of future research.

Circularity is most often related to resource usage directly affected by products. However, as manufacturing companies hugely affect global warming, enhancing resource utilization throughout all activities and practices of a manufacturing company is crucial. Not knowing where to start carrying out circularity practices in manufacturing might lead to the neglection of doing so. To aid manufacturing companies in initiating their journey towards circularity and to get a rapid insight into current circularity practices, this paper introduces an industry applicable assessment tool providing insight into the plant’s current state of circularity practices based on rapid plant assessment methodology. The developed rapid circularity assessment consists of 20 theoretically derived questions and 10 categories within key areas of circularity. It has been tested in five Swedish manufacturing companies enabling an iterative development process, as well as validation of questions and categories.

Reconfigurability is widely acknowledged as a foundation for achieving sustainable manufacturing, while also being an enabler for establishing circular manufacturing. However, further clarifications of how reconfigurable manufacturing can support sustainable manufacturing are necessary. Thus, there is a need to further investigate how reconfigurability can help companies in achieving sustainable manufacturing and to identify future research directions. In this paper, a literature review was conducted to categorise, describe, and summarise the previously conducted research on reconfigurable manufacturing in relation to sustainability. The literature review was conducted in the database Scopus and 265 papers were initially reviewed. After excluding papers not fulfilling the inclusion criteria, 79 papers were analysed in detail using five different categorisations. Based on these categorisations, the previously conducted research on sustainability and reconfigurable manufacturing was analysed. Several frequently discussed sustainability focus areas were identified and described, as well as suggestions of future research directions.

Manufacturing companies must significantly reduce their negative environmental impact, while simultaneously needing to be capable of managing changing customer requirements and increasingly fluctuating volume demands. These constraints require discontinuing developing production systems in line with the outdated and unsustainable linear economy, wherein the system is design and developed for short term production only. In this paper, it is motivated how a production system is distinguished from a product and why state-of-the-art circular economy theory must be adapted to production systems in order to deal with these issues. Furthermore, based on theory and inputs from workshops with participants from the industry, a conceptual framework for circular production system is proposed. In the proposed circular production systems, the principles of circular economy is adapted in order to maximize resource utilization and prolong the lifetime of the production system. Challenges towards the circular production systems have been identified through workshops and potential solutions described. Lastly, future research directions for further developing the circular production system is presented.

There is a need for a manufacturing concept that is characterized by ease in changing between manufacturing places, ease in producing wherever it is convenient for the moment, ease in collaborating with different partners, and reconfigurability and reuse of manufacturing capacity, while at the same time keeping control of the own capabilities.

The objective of this thesis is to investigate and describe the concept of mobile manufacturing in order to find new ways of competing for the manufacturing industry. The concept of mobile manufacturing is characterized by changeability, where mobility is defined as the ability to change between geographical places with little penalty in time, effort, cost, or performance. A mobile manufacturing system is thus a system that efficiently changes between different departments or sites and is easily reconfigured to fit different orders and locations.

This thesis consists of a comparison of five cases where mobile manufacturing systems were developed and realized. The mobility characteristic in those manufacturing systems has been analysed. Factors affecting mobility and how the mobile manufacturing system is designed have been described, such as the organizational and geographical distance that the mobile manufacturing module is transported, and different types of management and ownership structure. A great range of mobility has thereby been identified and it has been shown that there are different dimensions of mobile manufacturing.

By viewing the mobile manufacturing system in a life-cycle perspective, the focus has been on the iterative reuse of the manufacturing system. Mobile manufacturing equipment could be used, for example, in order to perform low-frequency operations or to cope with occasional volume peaks. There are a number of advantages of mobile manufacturing that make it a potential future manufacturing concept: instead of investing in new equipment, mobile manufacturing modules could be used and shared by several actors; efficiency is maximized; mobile manufacturing gives opportunities for joint investments; and it also enables moving closer to the customer or reaching new markets.