Evaluation of Material Supply Strategies in Matrix Manufacturing Systems

Today's productions are driven by increasing variants, uncertainty of variants' distribution as well as volume and shorter innovation cycles. A matrix manufacturing system aims to tackle these challenges. This new system concept consists of independent and flexibly linked process modules, which have no uniform cycle time and no fixed product order sequence in the system. However, new challenges arise from this system setup. The changes in the structure have an impact on logistics. In research, there are only a few investigations regarding the consequences to logistics, especially to material supply. Common and new innovative supply strategies are used without knowing their suitability to the new system. The applicability of kanban, single product supply or kitting basket supply differs to the usage in a line assembly. A systematic derivation of suitability in the new context is missing. The paper fills the gap of research in the outlined field. Firstly, changes and characteristics through the new structure which occur as challenges to the material supply are investigated. These are e.g. the flexibility of order and process sequences. In a second step, the material supply strategies are evaluated according to strategic requirements. As a result, each material supply strategy's suitability is evaluated for usage in matrix manufacturing systems. The paper concludes with a derivation of guidelines for the planning and selection of a material supply strategy.