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Dilemmas in factory design: paradox and paradigm

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Abstract.

The problems of factory design are notorious for their complexity. It is argued in this paper that factory design problems represent a class of problems for which there are crucial dilemmas and correspondingly deep-seated underlying paradoxes. These paradoxes, however, give rise to novel paradigms which can bring about fresh approaches as well as insights into their solution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Massachusetts, MA 01003, Amherst, USA

    J. MacGregor Smith

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  1. J. MacGregor Smith
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Correspondence to J. MacGregor Smith.

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I would like to thank the referees for their insights and suggestions and pointing out some problems in earlier drafts. My approach to factory design has evolved over the years, and is still evolving, and it is largely due to the influence of Professor Horst Rittel, my professor at the University of California at Berkeley during my formative undergraduate days, who instilled much of the basis of this philosophy.

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MacGregor Smith, J. Dilemmas in factory design: paradox and paradigm. OR Spectrum 27, 171–193 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00291-005-0199-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00291-005-0199-5

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