Changeability of the manufacturing systems in the food industry - A case study

Like other industries, the food industry currently faces increased demand for low-cost product variety. One potential response to this demand is increasing the changeability of the manufacturing setup. This paper has the purpose to explore how four changeability enablers (re-configurability, scalability, standard interfaces, and flexibility) impact four measures of changeability (changeover time, ramp-up time, ease of implementing minor product changes and ease of introducing radically new products) in the food industry. To do so, the paper conducts a nonparametric Kendall's tau correlation test using data collected from 18 production lines via questionnaires addressed at plant managers from six different plants part of the same industrial bakery. The results indicate that changeability enablers cannot support all outcomes simultaneously, and that trade-offs between certain enablers and outcomes may exist. In addition, the results indicate that perishability might play a crucial role in the degree and type of changeability enablers a food manufacturer can adopt.