Economic-evaluation of the planning of a flexible manufacturing system

The high initial cost of a flexible manufacturing system (FMS) and the presence of numerous stochastic variables during a long production period make it difficult to calculate the cost-profit ratio of FMS using ordinary cost accounting. The return on investment and the number of years of cost return cannot therefore be specified. This article focuses on how the industry can use the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate the economic effectiveness in planning an FMS as a production system. A model using the AHP to evaluate the economic feasibility of planning an FMS is established in this article. The authors recommend that the industry use the AHP to evaluate the priority of a job shop, a partial automation factory or an FMS factory. The results can serve as references for the industry in assessing the planning of an FMS system.