Method for Identifying, Measuring and Quantifying Fluctuations in Production Systems

The continuous improvement of production systems has led to a steady increase in efficiency, which is limited by the apparent uncontrollability of fluctuations. Fluctuations occur randomly and unpredictably, but also in a controlled manner. So far, there is no procedure for taking fluctuations in production systems into account. First approaches are provided by the queueing theory and theories on the operating characteristic curve. However, these approaches pursue respective goals. Fluctuations are taken into account, but not independently included as part of the production processes. Further consequences of system fluctuations and their disregard are the failure to achieve planned and target values. The paper shows an approach for identifying, measuring and quantifying fluctuations in production systems. The approach is presented within a control loop model. The central component of the control loop model is the measurement method. The measurement method describes a generic procedure for acquiring, processing, analysing and evaluating fluctuations in production systems. Data acquisition and transformation was carried out by using components of the CASO framework, which deals with asset management in complex production systems.

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