Toward Antifragile Manufacturing: Concepts from Nature and Complex Human-Made Systems to Gain from Stressors and Volatility

Abstract

AbstractTaleb coined the term “antifragility” to describe systems that benefit from stressors and volatility. While nature provides several examples of systems with antifragile behavior, manufacturing has so far only aimed to avoid or absorb stressors and volatility. This article surveys existing examples of antifragile system behavior in biology, biotechnology, software engineering, risk management, and manufacturing. From these examples, components of antifragile systems and principles to implement these components are derived and organized in a framework. The framework intends to serve as guidance for practitioners as well as starting point for future research on the design of antifragile systems in manufacturing.