Complexity control, flexibility and the coherence of production

The essential hypothesis of this paper is that the control of complexity depends intrinsically on flexibility. Greater flexibility induces increased complexity arising from the growth of potential combinations a production system can handle. This growth of complexity leads to a need for operational and managerial principles which can be helpful to master a process’ complexity. Problems of integration of different types provide a wide range of solutions to controlling complexity. In particular, the paper investigates as a special case the definition, use and impact of ‘group technology classification methods’.