الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are systems that are designed for cost
effective response to changes in production requirements. Well-designed RMS should
be able to cope with random changes in production requirements. RMS derived its
name from the ability of a manufacturing system to be reconfigured. Reconfiguration
is an iterative process that entails setting of the system configuration that is optimally
fit for various purposes. Although RMSs are considered to be highly automated
systems nowadays, still there is a human involvement in the process of
reconfiguration itself. This enforces considering the human as the user of the RMS
equipment on both physical and cognitive levels. Also, it is presumed that a highly
usable manufacturing system will guarantee rapid system’s reconfigurability to be
able to acquire high rate of customized output. Reconfigurable Manufacturing System
is becoming a new manufacturing system paradigm that aims at achieving cost-
effective and rapid system changes, as needed and when needed. This research
investigates the level at which usability is contributing to the dynamic changeability
of a reconfigurable manufacturing system. It addresses the equipment
reconfigurability, usability, along with different environmental working conditions
(physical work environment, organizational conditions, and task characteristics). A
detailed analysis for each of the three factors was carried out to clearly identify the
attributes affecting this factor. These attributes were then presented in a Cause and
Effect diagram. The evaluation of all attributes was done via constructing single
utility function for each attribute. Multi-attribute utility analysis (MAUA) was then
implemented to integrate these utility functions in a single utility function with a three
weights presenting the system’s reconfigurability, system’s usability, and the working
conditions. To compute these three weights and estimate the level of usability
importance in the reconfiguration process, weights are computed by applying the
suggested function on a selected case study in Unilever-Mashreq. The study was
focusing on all three production lines of the culinary factory. Qualitative interviews
and likert scale questionnaires were used to collect all needed data in order to be able
to test the utility function of the proposed model. The initial hypothesis states the
usability has a significant effect on the re configuration process.