Techniques for designing production systems

While individual production technologies are developing rapidly to meet modern manufacturing objectives, emphasis now needs to be directed towards finding ways of maximising their effectiveness when the various components are combined into systems. In supporting the optimal designs of complex systems like FMS, new tools are required that not only follow a systems approach but also attempt to prescribe a system design. This paper provides some background to FMS design, briefly reviews several supporting design techniques, and highlights the need for new tools that will lead to more effective systems.