Flexibility in manufacturing automation: A living lab case study of Norwegian metalcasting SMEs

Flexibility can be defined as the ability to respond efficiently to the changing demands of the customer and is different in SMEs (Small-to-Medium manufacturing Enterprises) than the traditional OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). Costs involved in implementing manufacturing flexibility to meet customer demand are more important in the SMEs, especially that are labor intensive for example metalcasting companies, when located in a high cost country like Norway. Therefore the Norwegian Research Council initiated the Autocast project to promote SME business cooperation and flexibility by automating the manufacturing processes within the Norwegian casting/foundry SMEs. The project intends to identify and improve the areas crucial for flexible manufacturing to help SMEs stay competitive in global competition. Literature confirms the difficulty in the development of objective measures for flexibility, for example, because of its property of multidimensionality. Nevertheless, an attempt has been made in this paper to identify the suitability of essential spheres of manufacturing flexibility to a foundry set-up accompanied by two living lab foundry case studies. The paper also completes the set of design rules specifically for foundry automation and assist flexibility in manufacturing. Efforts have been made to sustain the existing flexible automation implementation on the basis of poka-yoke principles. The findings from the living lab case study assist in proposing the design for flexible foundry automation (DFFFA) guidelines for flexible automation in a consortium collaborative environment could allow for better response to customer needs and support on-the-move interaction collaboration. (C) 2012 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.