关键词: SERU系统, 柔性生产, 系统构建, 线性化处理, Gurobi求解器

Abstract: With the rapid development of information technology and economic globalization, the diversity of consumer preferences and the uncertainty of demand are increasing, making flexibility a key factor for manufacturing companies to maintain a competitive advantage. In order to achieve production flexibility, many companies have transformed their assembly lines into other production systems, and the SERU production method has emerged in this context. The SERU system is derived from the division and transformation of assembly lines, replacing conveyor belts and specialized automated machinery with movable workbenches, simple equipment, and hand tools, allowing for rapid and frequent construction, modification, dismantling, and reconstruction. Therefore, it is more flexible than traditional production methods. The construction of the SERU system is crucial for achieving flexibility and is also a focal point of research on the SERU production method. Currently, academic research on the construction of SERU systems mainly focuses on optimizing the operation process of SERU systems, emphasizing task-oriented SERU formation (TOSF). However, the strategic-level SERU system construction, as an important part of the construction problem, has received little attention. In addition, in terms of performance evaluation, existing literature mostly emphasizes the responsiveness to specific production tasks and focuses on operational evaluation metrics, which does not adequately reflect the adaptability of SERU systems to dynamic production environments. High flexibility, as the most important feature of SERU systems, has been rarely studied in terms of the flexibility performance of SERU systems. Therefore, studying the construction of flexible SERU systems at the strategic decision-making stage has important practical and theoretical significance.
This study focuses on the strategic-level construction of SERU systems, with a particular emphasis on the system’s flexibility performance. From the perspective of flexibility costs, the study utilizes flexibility investment costs (including formation costs and worker training costs) and flexibility loss costs (including opportunity loss costs and capability loss costs) to comprehensively evaluate the system’s flexibility level. A Flexible SERU System Formation Problem (FSFP) model is developed to comprehensively assess the flexibility of the system. The complexity of the problem is analyzed, and nonlinear models are equivalently transformed into linear models for precise solutions to small-scale problems. Through extensive numerical experiments, the performance of the FSFP strategy is compared with the TOSF strategy from the perspectives of demand scenario variations and cost parameter changes, confirming the effectiveness of the FSFP model. The research indicates that the FSFP model, considering the nature of dynamic demand changes, can generate different levels of flexibility based on demand variations, making it more suitable for dynamic demand environments. Furthermore, compared to the TOSF strategy, the FSFP model is more sensitive to changes in cost parameters, and as these parameters increase, the advantages of the FSFP model become more prominent. This study not only enriches the research field related to SERU production but also provides insights into optimizing construction methods to help companies leverage the high flexibility advantages of SERU systems.
As the first step in implementing the SERU production approach, the FSFP model based on product provides a high-quality solution that outperforms the TOSF strategy in situations of demand fluctuations. However, this study does not consider the dynamic SERU system formation that continuously adjusts internal configurations of the SERU system based on changing market demands, nor does it account for the internal structure within Serus. Combining the strategic-level SERU system structure with the capability reorganization at the operational decision-making stage to achieve relative system stability and optimize performance objectives for specific production tasks is a promising area for further research in the future. Additionally, considering dynamic adjustments in flexible SERU system formation is also an important research direction for the future.

Key words: SERU system, flexibility, system formation, linearization processing, Gurobi solver