Abstract
The concept of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs) was formulated due to the global necessity for production systems that are able to economically evolve according to changes in markets and products. Technologies and design methods are under development to enable RMSs to exhibit transformable system layouts, reconfigurable processes, cells and machines. Existing factory design methods and software have not yet advanced to include reconfigurable manufacturing concepts. This paper presents the underlying group technology framework for the design of manufacturing cells that are able to evolve according to a changing product mix by mechanisms of reconfiguration. The framework is based on a Norton- Bass forecast and time variant BOM models. An adaptation of legacy group technology methods is presented for the synthesis of evolving cells and two optimization problems are presented within this context.
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