Comparative influence of three flexibility types on manufacturing lead-time performance

This paper presents the results of a conceptual study and simulation experimentation aimed at understanding the impact of three important types of flexibility on the lead-time performance of a manufacturing system. The three flexibility types, viz. transformation flexibility, sequencing flexibility and product flexibility have been identified based on a new conceptual model for flexibility in manufacturing systems and supply chains. The influence of these three flexibility types has been studied using simulation models. The studies indicated that among the three, product flexibility has the greatest influence followed by transformation flexibility and the sequencing flexibility. The reasons for the inferior performance of sequencing flexibility is found to be reduction of dynamic flexibility levels as compared to its static flexibility levels and the reasons for superior performance of product flexibility is found to be the lower movement of products within the manufacturing system.