A Flexible Manufacturing System Can Automate More Than One Line

Flexible manufacturing has been around for a long time. Previously a flexible manufacturing system was only for operations that use very expensive CNC equipment to create fabricated metal products. Now flexibility has much more capability because of the capabilities of automation robotics and their decreasing costs. Flexible work stations can give production lines the ability to create many different products with a minimum of changeover time. Every work cell that is part of the flexible manufacturing system and is controller directed has far reaching ability with the abilities of the high speed controller giving directions. Having a single automated work station on a production line adds much benefit, but having a whole series of automated devices on a production line adds much more ability than just the sum of the positive effect of each of the individual automated work cells. The machines in such a production line have the ability to converse with one another for maximum effectiveness. As one work center completes a task the programming of the entire system communicates with the next work cell for this task to start. Flexibility also means that a device can be positioned in a new location on the production line or another line to do other tasks. This is a move away from the static machines that were part of the production lines in years gone by. Those devices did not have the latitude to be moved to another line, much less, be configured to produce some totally different types of products. Production lines are losing their rigidity to become adaptable to the changing world of automated manufacturing. With the increase in flexibility production rats are adjusting upward due to the variation in types of products that can be produced in a single manufacturing facility. It is important for manufacturers to consider the what can be the ability of factories to mass produce products when designing flexible automation. It is a good idea to make the production line as reconfigurable as possible to open up many other product manufacturing possibilities.

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