The impact of corporate culture on manufacturing system design

The work-culture of an industrial firm has a profound impact on the selection of the right production system configuration when cost, throughput, and maintenance capability are weighted in the analysis. We present a novel mathematical analysis that computes the optimal system configuration that fits the culture at the workplace. The analysis is based on the extension of k-out-of-n systems in reliability theory to multistage manufacturing systems, and yields a locus that divides the configuration space into two architectures: serial lines in parallel, and RMS. The analysis clarifies why Japanese manufacturing system design practice is different than the system configurations in U.S. factories. (C) 2016