A system-of-systems meta-architecting approach for seru production system design

Abstract

Sponsored by expedient technologic innovation, consumers frequently expect manufacturer offerings to exhibit extensive product variety and regular product advancement. These expectations have rendered many traditional production practices less applicable. Chiefly impacted is the notion of mass produced, low-variety artifacts via massive assembly lines. These operations have difficulty meeting the high-customization, short life-cycle requirements imposed by contemporary demand. Many industries and organizations have begun the transformation from these rigid assembly mechanisms to a more versatile, cellular production strategy known as seru production. To facilitate this transition, methods are needed to aid manufacturers in appropriately selecting and arranging seru system components, a critical step in seru system design. Herein, a generalized model is proposed utilizing a system-of-systems architecting approach to determine the component assembly best suiting the needs of the manufacturing entity. Candidate architectures are generated and evaluated using a multi-objective genetic algorithm from which a preferred alternative is selected through a fuzzy inference system. Directing this genetic algorithm, domain-independent objectives are presented, maintaining applications to most seru production design scenarios. The proposed method is then applied to a camera production example, culminating in the identification of a well-performing architecture. The presented method should find increased use as organizations further adopt this flexible production methodology.