Flexible Manufacturing Systems - An Integrated Approach to Automate Production Operations

摘要

The availability of reliable CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine tools at competitive prices resulted in their rapid spread out, throughout the machine shops of the world. The logical next step was to link them together by a central control system and common programmable devices for component handling and tool handling, to form, what is now called as Flexible Manufacturing Systems or simply FMS. Possible combinations of CNC machine tools, piece-part transfer mechanisms, control systems and computer control formats are nearly limitless and are constrained only by human ingenuity. In this paper, the various elements that are needed to establish an FMS plant and its optimisation procedures are discussed. A few applications of FMS in automating machining units, assembly units and process units are also discussed.