Pursuing manufacturing competitiveness in the dynamic industrial landscape necessitates implementing changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) capable of rapid adaptation to varying functionalities and capacities. However, current manufacturing system development methods often overlook product-driven changes during the system's life cycle, hindering companies from effectively responding to shifting demands and technological advancements. Consequently, this research paper proposes a systematic methodology for designing and developing changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems to address this gap. The proposed methodology is derived from a synthesis of design theory, reconfigurability theory, and practical insights to guide the development process from conception to implementation. The four-step development method adopts a system life cycle-wide perspective, encompassing (i) identification and clarification of the need for reconfigurability, (ii) formulation of reconfigurable concepts, (iii) detailed design of the reconfigurable system, and (iv) successful implementation and utilization of reconfigurability. Crucially, the development method blends existing RMS development tools and novel tools co-created with industry partners, ensuring its pragmatic and holistic applicability. Each step incorporates specific activities and supporting tools, rendering the methodology flexible and adaptable to diverse manufacturing environments. The proposed methodology was validated through case studies in seven diverse manufacturing companies. The primary contributions of this research lie in integrating new and existing development tools into a comprehensive and practical development method, facilitating a system life cycle-wide approach to RMS design, and promoting industry-specific adaptability. The validation across multiple manufacturing companies ensures the effectiveness and broad applicability of the proposed methodology. Consequently, this paper is a valuable resource for manufacturing companies aiming to enhance competitiveness by adopting changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing systems.

Due to continuous focus on sustainability and circular economy, product take-back programs are becoming increasingly relevant and attractive. Thus, closed-loop manufacturing systems have to be designed and developed for disassembly, reprocessing of materials, re-assembly, and remanufacturing in a cost-efficient way. Compared to traditional manufacturing, this involves a higher need for changeability due to higher uncertainty, e.g. in terms of timing and quantity that the system needs to handle, uncertainty in quality and materials of received items, and in particular significant variety in returned items, the system should be designed to process. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to investigate how reconfigurability, as the enabler of changeability at manufacturing system level, can be utilised to aid challenges in closed-loop manufacturing systems for product take-back. Initially, insights from an industrial case are presented regarding challenges in establishing and operating closed-loop manufacturing systems for product take-back programs. Secondly, different closed-loop manufacturing concepts applying the principles of reconfigurability are proposed and evaluated in terms of cost and robustness towards the inherent uncertainties in supplied end-of-use items. The results show significant potential of utilising a modular and platform-based approach towards meeting supply uncertainties through reconfiguration, which allows for a more efficient setup for product take-back.

The unpredictable market scenario in the manufacturing industry demands the adoption of reconfigurability enablers. These enablers reduce the reconfiguration effort throughout the system life cycle and allow frequent reconfigurations of the manufacturing system. Despite the relevance of the subject, examples and concepts of reconfigurability enablers are fragmented in literature. Therefore, this study systematically reviews literature in order to: (i) outline the state of the art on reconfigurability enablers in automated, mixed and manual systems; and, (ii) provides classification frameworks for reconfigurability enablers for manufacturing systems, machines, robots, material handling systems, and operators. Additionally, new reconfigurability enablers related to Industry 4.0 are outlined, which connect systems and human resources with different roles and facilitate responsive adaptation of humans to changes. Directions for future research include extending the theory on reconfigurable manufacturing with fundamentals of human-centric automation and operationalising the proposed classification framework.

This paper discusses the issue of transferring knowledge from recent research to practitioners in the fast-paced world of development. Research is often not presented in a way that is easily digestible to practitioners, leading to a lag in industry adopting new findings. The REKON dissemination format is presented as a solution to this problem making knowledge about reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) available for over 100 Danish manufacturing companies. The effectiveness of the REKON dissemination format is evaluated through surveys and initial results indicate that it has been successful in transferring knowledge about RMS and its potential to participating companies.

Many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are facing challenges in their manufacturing systems due to rapidly evolving and unpredictable customer requirements. To meet these challenges ensuring both responsiveness and cost-efficiency, SMEs may increase changeability by embedding appropriate levels of flexibility and reconfigurability in the design of manufacturing systems. In addition, the rapid diffusion of digital and smart technologies due to Industry 4.0, provides SMEs with new opportunities to increase changeability. This chapter details how flexibility and reconfigurability could be used to meet different change drivers; moreover, the related benefits are described and associated to Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Finally, three industrial examples from SMEs are provided. The three cases highlight that changeability can indeed create benefits in SMEs, especially for adjusting manufacturing towards frequent variants changes, mix changes, volume changes, and new product introductions.

In the current context characterized by turbulent market conditions and the increasing relevance of sustainability requirements, reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) offer great potentialities for supply chains and networks. While plenty of contributions have addressed RMSs from a technological and system-specific perspective since the mid-1990s, the research interest for the strategic potentialities of RMSs at the supply chain level is recent and mainly related to building supply chains’ resilience and sustainability. Despite the interest, methods to support supply chains to strategically exploit RMSs are still missing, while being highly needed. In this paper, a method—consisting of an index to assess machines reusability and a mixed integer programming (MIP) algorithm—is provided to support the identification of reusable and reconfigurable machine candidates at the early stage of the strategic network design. The overall method allows machines to be compared based on their reusability and geographical locations. The application of the method, as well as an example referring to the production of emergency devices during the COVID-19 pandemic are reported. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are also discussed, and, among others, strategic parameters related to machines have been identified and elaborated as enablers of supply chain reconfigurability; the proposed method supports practitioners in improving supply chain resilience and sustainability. The method also encourages practitioners towards the development and adoption of reconfigurable machines. Finally, this study also has social impacts for local communities and stimulates customer-centric collaboration among companies belonging to similar industries and sectors.