Modelling the impact of design, tactical, and operational factors on manufacturing system performance

The impact of factors from each level of a control hierarchy (design, tactical and operational) on each of four performance measures is examined. In a two phase approach, critical factors that affect each performance measure are first identified. In the second phase linear regression metamodels of the performance measures are constructed. The results indicate that operational factors are not always dominated by design and tactical factors. There are performance measures, such as meanflow, where there is a significant interaction between design and tactical factors, and others, such as makespan, where the performance depends on factors from all three levels in a complex manner.