Performance analysis of modular products

In this paper, the impact of modular product designs on the performance of manufacturing systems is studied. The performance of product designs is measured by the makespan of the corresponding aggregate schedule of the manufacturing system. Design rules for the improvement of performance of a manufacturing system arc developed. Based on the design rules developed, the selection problem of modular designs is formulated as an integer programming problem. The problem can be solved by an existing heuristic algorithm. Examples are provided to illustrate the issues discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of International Journal of Production Research is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)