Faculty Publications

A Variability Taxonomy To Support Automation Decision-Making For Manufacturing Processes

Document Type

Article

Keywords

automation, decision support, manufacturing process, taxonomy, Variability

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Production Planning and Control

Volume

31

Issue

5

First Page

383

Last Page

399

Abstract

Although many manual operations have been replaced by automation in the manufacturing domain in various industries, skilled operators still carry out critical manual tasks such as final assembly. The business case for automation in these areas is difficult to justify due to increased complexity and costs arising out of process variabilities associated with those tasks. The lack of understanding of process variability in automation design means that industrial automation often does not realize the full benefits at the first attempt, resulting in the need to spend additional resource and time, to fully realize the potential. This article describes a taxonomy of variability when considering the automation of manufacturing processes. Three industrial case studies were analyzed to develop the proposed taxonomy. The results obtained from the taxonomy are discussed with a further case study to demonstrate its value in supporting automation decision-making.

Department

Department of Management

Original Publication Date

4-3-2020

DOI of published version

10.1080/09537287.2019.1639840

Repository

UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa

Language

en

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