Complexity in manufacturing systems and its measures: a literature review

Abstract

Complexity in manufacturing systems still remains a challenge and leads to operational issues and increased production cost. In this paper, drivers of complexity and typical symptoms of complex manufacturing systems are identified. A comprehensive review of studies published within the last two decades to assess manufacturing system complexity are presented. The key contributions of this review are: 1) a classification of complexity assessment methods based on perceived complexity symptoms; 2) a comprehensive review of assessment methods with cross-evaluation to identify appropriate use based on available data; 3) recommendations for the wider academic and industrial community, based on research trends identified in the literature, as to how complexity assessment should be addressed in the future. It is concluded that the assessment of complexity is necessary so that it can be controlled effectively, however the industry suffers from a lack of practical tools to support in this endeavour. [Received 23 December 2016; Revised 18 August, 14 October 2017; Accepted 22 October, 2017]