A robustness measure of the configuration of multi-purpose machines

This paper presents new results for assessing the robustness of a configuration for multi-purpose machines. The workshop manager is provided with quantitative and meaningful information on how a configuration behaves when disturbances affect the demand. Thus, configurations can be compared on the basis of temporal performance, and also on robustness. The robustness measure of a configuration is returned by assessing the minimum magnitude of disturbances affecting the forecast demand that may lead to breaking the deadline provided by the decision-maker. First, it is shown how to minimise the completion time for a given demand. The demands such that the deadline can be met for a given configuration are then characterised, and two robustness measures for a configuration are also provided. The theoretical results are illustrated in detail using an application example.