Category: Type 1 Model

Comments: Also known as ESPRIT 3143.

It is generally considered that production in the future will be based on a one-of-a-kind system of product manufacturing. That's why the FOF Project (Factory of the Future - a Basic Research Action in the ESPRIT Program) was launched. The ultimate goal of the project is to obtain a designer's workbench for the development of CIM in future production systems providing one-of-a-kind products (OKP) to the market, each OKP will require its own product design and process design [12].

There are many methods for describing the operations which occur in production systems. However, the methods are all fundamentally fragmented as they are all based on a set of scattered, theoretical notions (communication, organization, human point of view, decisional approach). Fig. 4.6 illustrates the various 'views' identified in the project, and points out their relationships. As the views are presented separately, we need an integrated approach for PMS design. This integrated approach in the design phase was first based on an integrated model called REMBRAND. A set of Design Choice (DC) and a set of Performance Indicators (P.I.) were connected by a set of relations. The designs of the Production Management System (PMS) were done in agreement with the value of the P.I. and depending on the DC. See Fig. 4.7.

[12] Falster, P., Rolstadas, A., and Wortmann, A., 'Factory of the Future Production Theory', FOF WP2 Report, Design of a Conceptual Model, Technical University of Norway, Trondheim, Norway (January 1991).