Operation management in reconfigurable manufacturing systems: Reconfiguration for error handling

Abstract Reconfigurable manufacturing systems offer quick adjustment of production capacity and functionality in response to unpredictable market changes as being systems designed at the outset for rapid change in system configuration, its machines and controls. During the production process, out-of-ordinary events occur dynamically and unpredictably both at the system (machine breakdowns, change in job's priorities, etc.) and at the cell level (tool failures, robot collisions, etc.). Such exceptions interrupt the production process by causing errors in the schedule plan (system level) or in the task plan (cell level). Error handling is the policy meant for reacting to errors caused by the …