# Economic efficiency of manufacturing technology integration

1. Aufl.. - Aachen : Apprimus-Verl. (2014, 2015)
Dissertation / PhD Thesis

In: Ergebnisse aus der Produktionstechnik 2014,42
Page(s)/Article-Nr.: IX, 173 S. : Ill., graph. Darst.

Zugl.: Aachen, Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2014

Abstract

Manufacturing technology integration is an arising paradigm that aims at the functional integration of diverse manufacturing technologies into machine tools which are called multi-technology platforms. So far, machine tool builders have attempted to justify manufacturing technology integration through the machine hour rate calculation. However, this calculation approach is inadequate for such purpose since it neglects output quantities and the configuration of the manufacturing system. This dissertation applies models of production, cost, and queuing theory to derive the conditions under which manufacturing technology integration leads to greater productivity, lower cost, and smaller throughput times than a conventional manufacturing system consisting of single-technology machine tools. Such a conventional manufacturing system is called segregated manufacturing system. Based on the efficiency models the design of multi-technology platforms is discussed with regard to the number and the type of manufacturing technologies to be integrated as well as the number of workspaces. It is found that manufacturing technology integration is particularly cost-efficient for low output quantities. However, although the logistic chain in a plant is shortened through manufacturing technology integration the throughput times of an integrated manufacturing system might be greater than the throughput times of a segregated manufacturing system. This is due to the fact that for low output quantities the resource utilization and as such the waiting times might be greater in an integrated manufacturing system than in a segregated manufacturing system.