Description

This book presents the evolution roadmap of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMS) and their characteristics since its invention in the 1990s. It discusses the role of RMS in today s increasingly competitive manufacturing environment and unpredictable markets and the new challenges and opportunities in RMS design and operations in the emerging Industry 4.0/5.0 era. In addition, this book investigates the relationship between reconfigurable manufacturing and smart manufacturing and demonstrates how smart manufacturing techniques can facilitate the design and operations of RMSs. With state-of-the-art research on the development of novel methodologies based on smart manufacturing to guide the design and operations of reconfigurable machines and manufacturing systems, this book is a valuable handbook for reconfigurable manufacturing/smart manufacturing researchers and practitioners. Engineering professionals will find the practical values and managerial insights of smart RMS implementations through case studies.