Tools for Assessing the Responsiveness of Existing Production Operations

A set of audit tools is being prepared for assessing the response capability of a production operation, as part of an EPSRC funded investigation into improving the responsiveness of manufacturing production systems. These tools are based on the idea that the ability to respond is linked to i) the nature of the disturbances or changes requiring a response, ii) their impact on production goals and iii) the decision processes which initiate system responses to disturbances. (6 pages)