Introduction of FMS Developments

Manufacturing systems that were championed during the early part of the twentieth century relied on hard automation. They are excellent when manufacturing volume are extremely large and product development and useful life are very large. But with the modern developments in the late twentieth century with excellent developments in microelectronics and computers, the manufacturing requirements have experienced a sea change in their requirements. As a result, many of the new products seen currently are characterised by

1. Very high quality (in terms of their accuracy and surface finish),

2. Large range of products providing varieties demanded by the consumers,

3. Smaller volume because of the large variety,

4. Manufacturing lead time to market is less since a competitor may bring a better product earlier, and

5. Need to provide with all the above characteristics at a low cost.

Using the conventional automation methods will not be suitable for such a scenario. It therefore becomes necessary that the manufacturers will have to strive for flexibility in manufacturing in such a way that all the above characteristics can be realized. The philosophies developed in the early 1980s relate to such systems termed as Flexible Manufacturing Systems or FMS to provide flexibility in manufacturing to cater to such difficult scenarios.

Objectives

After studying this unit, you should be able to

1. Understand various types of layouts used in organizing the equipment in an fms,

2. Recognize the need for various types of controls to be used in operating fms, and

3. Develop a fm cell by going through a systematic procedure utilizing all the available information about the parts that need to be produced in the cell.