On the Measure of System Flexibility

In this paper a new approach for measuring flexibility is proposed and measures for two flexibility dimensions are developed. The paper is therefore organized as follow: in section 1, we provide a short introduction on the concept of flexibility and its importance; in section 2, we explain where the need of flexibility measures stems from; in section 3, we present a methodology for analysing and measuring flexibility; in section 4, we develop measures for assessing the flexibility of a resource and the flexibility of systems made of a group of resources; finally, in section 5, we will drawn some conclusions and we will illustrate what the future research steps will be.