An Analysis of the Proactive Approach as a Potential Tool for Adaptability in Production Systems

Sammanfattning: Competitive systems for manufacturing, especially assembly systems, have to cope with frequent changes of external as well as internal demands. A proactive behaviour in an assembly system should make it capable of rapid changes and have an ability to handle frequent changes and disturbances.During recent decades several different system theories have occurred of which the majority remained theories never taken to actual production solutions.The thesis presents results from four case studies. It is suggested, that the proactivity of an assembly system is strongly influenced by the system’s ability to change the three parameters:1) level of automation,2) level of information,3) level of competence[l3]  (among the operators in a defined work area). Proactivity is not easy to describe. However, this[l4]  thesis has taken a step in that direction. A general definition of proactivity is “taking action by causing change towards a state and not only reacting to change when it happens”. Another way to phrase this is "to be anticipatory and taking charge of situations”.Proactivity can be described as the ability of preparation for:- Changes and disturbance during operation;- Planned long-term evolution for a sustainable and perfect production system. Such a system consists of technical components efficiently integrated with human operators and has the ability to handle frequent changes. Proactivity in an assembly system is dependent on the following factors:-         Continuous changes;-         Mandate to allocate resources;-         Mandate to do short term planning.The thesis presents a first model for evaluation of different technical resources that contributes to an overall proactive system behaviour. The model has been published but not yet tested.