Modelling manufacturing process flexibility: A systematic review

Manufacturing systems are often faced with uncer-tainty in the demand for products, which may lead to the system's inability to meet the fluctuating demand. Process flexibility, defined as the ability to shift capacity within a manufacturing system from a product with low demand to a product with high demand, represents one of the feasible solutions to overcoming the impact of uncertainty and improving the ability to meet fluc-tuating demand. Manufacturing systems with process flexibility have been modelled extensively via different approaches and with a view to investigating different research themes. Via a systematic review, this paper inductively derives four research themes that have been investigated in literature to date. The existing body of literature is categorised according to the aforementioned research themes, as well as the modelling approach and capacity allocation strategy employed. Observations and recommendations are made regarding possible future work for the modelling of process flexibility in a manufacturing system. The following potential research opportunities have been identified: modelling systems with a complex capacity allocation strategy; further exploration of the additional costs associated with different process flexibility scenarios; and utilising approaches such as simulation- and multi-criteria modelling to enable the evaluation of more complex systems and the simultaneous investigation of multiple objectives.