Choosing the system configuration for high-volume manufacturing
比较了大规模制造系统的几种配置（串行线、纯并行、并行串行线和可重构系统）在成本、响应性和质量上的表现，帮助管理者选择能最大化长期经济价值的配置。
When designing a new large manufacturing system with high throughput, the corporation should weigh several factors: the capital investment cost, the system’s responsiveness to future varying market demand, the production losses due to disruptive events, and the product quality. These performance metrics depend heavily on the system configuration. In this paper, typical configurations of large-volume manufacturing systems for mechanical products are compared from cost, responsiveness and product quality perspectives. In addition to traditional serial lines and pure parallel systems, we also discuss two practical configurations – parallel serial lines, and reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The results offer managerial insights for selecting the system configuration that creates the maximum economic value over the lifetime of the system, and fits the corporation needs and culture.