Flexibility of manufacturing systems: Concepts and measurements

The issue of flexibility is assuming increasing importance in manufacturing decision making. Flexibility is important to accommodate changes in the operating environment. Manufacturing systems that are flexible can utilize the flexiblity as an adaptive response to unpredictable situations. Many researchers have defined various types of manufacturing flexibility and provided methods for measuring them. In this paper the authors have classified the literature based on the ways researchers have defined flexibility and the approaches used in measuring it.