click on star to go back to Joseph Sarkis' HomepageThe strategic decision to integrate Advanced Manufacturing Systems (AMS) within a traditional production system has become an attractive and sometimes necessary alternative in many industrial settings. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that focuses on this particular decision-making problem. Simplifications and approximations introduced at the operational level permit two key issues to be addressed: (1) where should AMS be implemented and (2) when should this implementation occur. The model is shown to have good structure for a simplified analysis, thus making it particularly useful in instances where only rough estimates of costs are available and extensive "what if" type analyses are therefore required.
click on star to go back to Joseph Sarkis' Homepage