Flexibility means to produce reasonably priced customized products of high quality that can be quickly delivered to customers.
Criteria that affect flexibility include the technology capabilities of the equipment used and the level of set-up operations (SMED), the capabilities of production technology development (CAD / CAM, CAPP) and equipment compatibility (M2M), the level of production planning and resource utilization (PLM, ERP, MES), staff competence, work traceability and internal logistics (IoT, WMS, LIMS).
| Approach | Flexibility meaning |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing | The capability of producing different parts without major retooling. The ability to change a production order, to modify a part or to handle multiple parts without loosing the productivity |
| Operational | The ability to efficiently produce highly customized and unique products |
| Customer | The ability to exploit various dimension of speed of delivery |
| Strategic | The ability of a company to offer wider variety of products to its customers |
| Capacity | The ability to rapidly increase or decrease production levels, to shift capacity quickly from one product or service to another |
| Type of flexibility | Flexibility meaning |
|---|---|
| Volume flexibility | A measure of a system`s capability to be operated profitability at different volumes of the existing part types (products) |
| Routing flexibility | A measure of the alternative paths that a part (product) can efficiently follow through a system for a given process plan |
| Process flexibility | A measure of the volume of the set of part types that a system can produce without incurring any remarkable setup |
| Product flexibility | The volume of the set of part types that can be manufactured in a system with minor setup |
| Expansion flexibility | The ability to build a system and expand it incrementally |
The nature of flexibility is manifested through different outputs of flexibility, as the nature of their impact on a company's ability to compete is expressed through various parameters.
The purpose of the Flexibility Level is to assess whether the existing Flexibility Level matches the needs of the company, creating the conditions for increasing productivity and productivity in the company.
Reflects changes in the enterprise on a planned timeline (quarterly, semi-annually, yearly).
| Level of flexibility | Description of the nature of the level |
|---|---|
| Weak | The company has not implemented, or does not need, significant opportunities to increase production flexibility |
| Middle range | The company has implemented some production flexibility solutions to reduce mainly non-productive times and resource costs due to readjustments |
| Good | The company uses a variety of flexibility applications and technological equipment (CNC machines, industrial robots, SMED solutions, M2M interfaces, etc.) supports increasing the level of flexibility |
| Excellent | The company vigorously utilizes various technologies in Industry 4.0 to increase manufacturing flexibility and productivity |