Introduction

A manufacturing system converts input to output with the output being, in general, of higher value than the input when measured in terms of market prices (cf. Zäpfel [336] pp. 1). The large variety of different manufacturing systems can be characterized by the input, the output, and the way input is converted to output (cf. Dietrich [78], Zäpfel [336] pp. 2). This book focuses on manufacturing systems which convert raw materials, parts, and subassemblies in a multi-level, fabrication-assembly process to customer-specific products (cf. Figure 1.1).