a short-term aspect, which arises from the necessity to cope with machine shutdowns due to equipment or quality problems. A measure for each aspect should reflect the following mutually exclusive possibilities: it is possible to reroute components directly affected by the stoppage; rerouting is not possible but production of other components produced by the machine or manufacturing system continues; and all production stops. Alternatively Buzacott (1982) suggested measuring rerouting flexibility by the drop in production rate when a machine stoppage occurs.