A METHODOLOGY FOR THE VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS OF JUST-IN-TIME PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

Great emphasis is given by literature to the fragility of just-in-time production systems, due to the different sources of uncertainty which usually affect industrial operations. In this paper, the authors prop ose a methodology, based on the concept of vulnerability, to evaluate the effect of variability on just-in-time system performance. The prop osed approach, specifically aimed to investigate the system sensitivit y to changes (in particular, its incapacity of reaction), can be usefu l to point out the weakness of such systems and to suggest prevention measures as well as improvements of the management system. A simple mo del, well known in the literature, is analysed in terms of vulnerabili ty to show the guide lines for the methodology implementation. Two ind ustrial problems are also discussed in order to stress the relevance a nd the usefulness of the vulnerability analysis.