Glossary · Manufacturing systems
Reconfigurable manufacturing system
Also known as: RMS
German: Rekonfigurierbares Fertigungssystem
In manufacturing, a reconfigurable manufacturing system is a production system designed from the outset for rapid changes in structure, hardware and software, so its capacity and functionality can be adjusted to new products or demand.
- Manufacturing systems
In one sentence
A reconfigurable manufacturing system is designed for rapid changes in structure, hardware and software to adapt capacity and functions.
Example
When demand doubles, two additional machining modules are added to the reconfigurable line and integrated through the existing control architecture.
How it applies
- Engineering: Key characteristics are modularity, integrability, customization to a part family, convertibility, scalability and diagnosability. Standard interfaces for mechanics, energy and data make reconfiguration practical.
- Compliance: Reconfiguration can change a machine or line so much that the risk assessment has to be repeated. Under EU machinery law, a Substantial modification can make the modifier responsible as a manufacturer.
- Change management: Every reconfiguration propagates to control software, safety functions and documentation; see Change propagation.
- Documentation: Keep documentation modular too: module documentation plus configuration-specific system documentation, with a record of which configuration is currently built.
Reconfigurable vs. flexible manufacturing system
A Flexible manufacturing system (FMS) provides built-in general flexibility. A reconfigurable system provides exactly the flexibility needed now and changes its structure when needs change.