Facilitating ease of system reconfiguration through measures of manufacturing modularity

In recent years, many design approaches have been developed for automated manufacturing systems in the fields of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), holonic manufacturing systems (HMSs), and multiagent systems (MASs). One of the principle reasons for these developments has been to enhance the reconfigurability of a manufacturing system, allowing it to adapt readily to changes over time. However, to date reconfigurability assessment has been limited. Hence the efficacy of these design approaches remains inconclusive. This paper is the second of two in this issue to address reconfigurability measurement. Specifically, ‘reconfiguration ease’ has often been qualitatively argued to depend on the system's modularity. For this purpose, this paper develops modularity measures in a three-step approach. Firstly, the nature of typical manufacturing system interfaces is discussed. Next, the qualitative understanding underlying existing modularity measures is distilled. Finally, these understandings are synthesized for a manufacturing system context. This approach forms the second of two pillars that together lay the foundation for an integrated reconfigurability measurement process described elsewhere.