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Manufacturing capability of a firm is given by the level of output generated by the production system employed which in turn decides the competitiveness in the market. The pattern of structural and infrastructural decisions in the manufacturing affects the capability of the production system. Therefore, it is crucial to know the overall manufacturing capability of a firm and the contribution of each decision in it. This paper presents quantification of manufacturing capability based on multi-criteria approach. A total of 33 decisions (criteria) and their corresponding choices have been identified from the literature analysis to quantify the manufacturing capability. These decisions are then classified into six decision areas (group criteria), and the manufacturing capability evaluation problem is modeled by using analytical hierarchy process (AHP) framework. The approach facilitates computation of manufacturing capability index by evaluating the decisions taken in the manufacturing, which is then mapped into four levels, namely, infant, industry average, adult, and world class as proposed by the Miltenburg. The methodology is illustrated with a numerical example for a job shop manufacturing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superior manufacturing capability provides long lasting competitive benefits to a company in the market. It is thus imperative to have an instrument to assess the manufacturing capability of companies. However, empirically tested and reliable tools for the purpose of evaluation of manufacturing capability along different decision areas are scarcely available in the literature. This paper develops questionnaires based on generally accepted principle of instrument design to assess the manufacturing capabilities along different decision areas for four categorization schemes of manufacturing decision areas reported in the literature. The reliability and validity of all four instruments are assessed through responses from managers of 32 manufacturing units and are found to be satisfactory for most of the factors. The criterion validity is found to be fairly good for all the four instruments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Manufacturing capability sharing and circulation are the most important aims in cloud manufacturing (CMfg). In order to realize the above target, the issue of how to realize the formal description of manufacturing capability need to be solved. In this paper, a modeling and description method of multidimensional information for manufacturing capability in CMfg system is studied. Firstly, the concept and current research related to manufacturing capability are summarized. Then a multidimensional information model of manufacturing capability is established. Based on the model, a description method of manufacturing capability is proposed, and the related key technologies, e.g., fuzzy information description and dynamic behavior description, are systematically analyzed. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]