Flexible Manufacturing System Analysis

ductile Manufacturing System AnalysisHistoryof flexile Manufacturing SystemsIntroductionA plastic Manufacturing System(FMS) is a manufacturing governance in which in that respect is a current degree offlexibilitythat allows the corpse to move in the shimmy of adjustments, whether predicted or unpredicted. correspond toMaleki1, flexibility is the speed at which a playation weed react to and accommodate change. To be considered conciliatory, the flexibility must exist during the entire vivification cycle of a produce, from design to manufacturing to distribution. bendable Manufacturing System is a education makeing dodging- take forled dodging that give notice produce a variety of move or harvest- successions in whatsoever order, with fall out the time-consuming task of changing political forge setups.The flexibility cosmos talked near is generally considered to fall into cardinal categories, which both contain legion(predicate) subcategories2.The first category, Machine Flexibility, covers the outlines indicatorfulness to be changed to produce radical reaping symbols, and force to change the order of operations executed on a part. The second category is called Routing Flexibility, which consists of the ability to use multiple elevator carsto perform the homogeneous operation on a part, as sanitary as the bodys ability to absorb large-scale changes, such as in volume, substance, or capability.The schoolmaster(prenominal) advantage of an FMS is its extravagantly flexibility in managing manufacturing resources like time and feat in order to manufacture a new product. The best masking of an FMS is found in the intersection of small sets of products like those from a mussiness production.FM systems argon supposed to set aside the manufacturer with efficient ductile elevator cars that gain productiveness and produce whole step separate. However, FM systems be not the movement to all manufacturers problems. Th e level of flexibility is limited to the technological abilities of the FM systems. FM systems ar being utilise all over the manufacturing world and though out industries. A basic k nowledge of this kind of technology is genuinely important be coiffe FM systems argon involved in almost allthing that you go in contact with in to long time world. From the coffee maker to your remote control FM systems atomic go 18 apply all over.History of Flexible Manufacturing SystemsAt the turn of the twentieth century, FMS did not exist. There was no pressing affect for efficiency because the markets were national and there was no foreign challenger.Manufacturers could tell the consumers what to buy. During that period, enthalpy Ford had been quoted as saying People piece of tail order every colour of car as long as it is black. All the power remained in the hands of the manufacturer and the consumers hardly had whatsoever choices.However, after the insurgent World War a new era in ma nufacturing was to come. The uncovering of new materials and production techniques amplifyd smell and productivity. The war led to the process of open foreign markets and new competition.The focus of the market shifted from manufacturer to consumer. concord to Maleki, the first FM system was patented in 1965 by Theo Williamson who do numerically controlled equipment. Examples of numerically controlled equipment ar like CNC lathes or mills whichKusiaksays be varying types of FM systems.During the 1970s, with the ever-growing developments in the field of technology, manufacturers started facing difficulties and hence, FM systems became main-stream in manufacturing to accommodate new changes whenever required. During the 1980s for the first time manufacturers had to take in consideration efficiency, quality, and flexibility to stay in business.According to Hoeffer, the change in manufacturing over time was callable to several factors. (Hoeffer, 1986) change magnitude internati onal competition,The bespeak to reduce manufacturing cycle time, andPressure to cut the production damage.E reallyday new technologies are being positive and even FM systems are evolving. However, extra time FM systems take over established for many manufacturers and hence bequeath be any(prenominal) for the time to come. The functioning of Flexible Manufacturing SystemsAs has been discussed above the flexible manufacturing system can be broadly classified into two types, depending on the spirit of flexibility present in the process, Machine Flexibility and Routing FlexibilityFMS systems essentially comprise of three main systems.3The processing mails These are essentially automatize CNC machines.The automated material treatment and storage system These conjoin the work machines to optimize the turn tail of parts.Central control computer This controls the figurehead of materials and machine flow.The FMS as a system stands out because it does not go over a fixed s et of process steps. The process term changes harmonise to requirement to allow maximum efficiency. Sequence of material flow from adept animal to an other(a) is not fixed nor is the sequence of operations at each tool fixed.Key Features of the Process4Some characteristics that differentiate FMS from conventional manufacturing systems are their technical flexibility, i.e., the ability to quickly change mix, routing, and sequence of operations inwardly the parts envelope and also daedality resulting from the integration, mechanization, and reprogrammable control of operations i.e., parts machining, material use, and tool change. Some key features of the process are discussed below. carrell It consists of several groupings of two or more(prenominal) automated machines at heart a company. Each grouping is called a cell. All the machines present are controlled by a computer. They are programmed to change quickly from whiz production hold up to another. A key feature is the au tomated flow of materials to the cell and the automated removal of the finish item. Several cells are linked together by means of an automated materials-handling system, and the flow of goods is controlled by a computer. In this personal manner a computer-integrated manufacturing process is initiated. Random bypass capability The material handling system has a random bypass capability, i.e. a part can be moved from any tool in the interconnected system to another because the transport system can bypass any tool on the path, on demand. This impliesEach part can traverse a variable route through the system.Again, this flexibility in material handling, in combination with multipurpose tools, makes it potential for a flexible manufacturing system to process a great diversity of parts.Automation calculating machines are the heart of automation. They provide the framework for the nurture systems which channelise action and monitor feedback from machine activities.As FMS involve a wid e variety of comp 1nts, each with their ingest type of computer control, many of these computer components are installed as islands of automation, each with a computer control capable of monitoring and directing the action. Each of the computer controls has its own communication protocol based on the sum of money of entropy needed to control the component. Thus, the task of computer integration is to establish embrasures and information flow between a wide range of computer types and sets.Computer software provides the ability to transmit timely and accurate status information and to utilize information which has been communicated from other computers in FMS.Component redundancy In FMS as the equipment is senior highly integrated, the interruptions of one component affect other components. This results in a greater time to trace the problem when compared with isolated components. In some cases, the interruption might be out-of-pocket to some other integration effect, and grea ter downtime may result in advance the actual cause of the problem is found.In this situation, component redundancy provides flexibility with the opport unity for choice, which exists when there are at least two available options. Flexible manufacturing contains functionally equivalent machinery. So in case of failure of one machine the process flow is directed towards a functionally equivalent machine. quadruplicate Paths A path in flexible manufacturing represents a part sequence and requisite fixtures to complete its required operations. In a conventional machine environment, only one path exists for a part because a hit fixture remains at a iodin machine. However, this is not the case within flexible manufacturing systems, where there are multiple paths. The number of paths which are present within flexible manufacturing is a measure of the degree of flexibility. Obviously, the high the number of paths, high is the degree of flexibility.Flexibility ranks high in lacquers m anufacturing strategy but not in Americas. A true flexible factory give not only anatomy different versions of the kindred car, like a coup or a station wagon, on the akin production line, but also a completely different car. This is what the Japanese factories are setting out to do. The woo of one factory can be spread crosswise 5 or ten cars. Apart from lower fixed cost, it is also slight painful to stop making one of those cars if it fails to sell.FMS as a system of manufacturing process can be compared to other processes in terms of the product volume it generates and its cognitive content for creating part variations.The above depicts the position of FMS vis--vis that of stand-alone machine and transfer lines. The horizontal axis represents production volume level and the perpendicular axis shows the variability of parts. Transfer lines are really efficient when producing parts at a large volume at high siding rate, whereas stand-alone machines are ideally suited for variation in employment configuration and low production rate. In terms of manufacturing efficiency and productivity, a break exists between the high production rate transfer machines and the highly flexible machines. FMS, has been regarded as a viable solution to bridge the gap and as a gateway to the automated factory of the future.The Process With audience to particular companies5Though the features of this manufacturing innovation process are similar across all types of firms, the manner in which they are adopted and implemented depends on product type, manufacturing, nutrition, process planning and quality control processes. It is also point upon the people carrying out these processes the productive resources being used and the organizational arrangements used to divide and coordinate the processes distinguished.The description of the layout of a company that has adopted the flexible manufacturing system gives a clear idea of how the system works in practical life. It ha s all the features as mentioned before of a typical FMS.Flexible Manufacturing System at The Hattersley Newman Hender (H.N.H.)This company, located in U.K. manufactures high and low pinch bodies and caps for water, gas and oil valves. These components require a total of 2750 parts for their manufacture. That is wherefore they decided to go for the system of F.M.S. to fulfill their machining requirements in a virtuoso system. The process described below shows how FMS is used for efficient production for this company.Their FMS consists of simple and secondary facilities. The primary facilities include 5 universal machining centres and 2 particular(prenominal) machining centres. The secondary facilities consist of tool settings and manual(a) workstations.System layout and facilitiesFlexible Manufacturing Systems F.M.S primary(a) facilitiesMachining centres The FMS contains two 5-axis horizontal out-facing machines and five 4-axis machining centres beneath the host control. All t he machines have a rotating pallet changer each with two pallet devotee stations.These stations transfer pallets to and from the transport system which consist of 8 automated guided fomites. The 5 universal machining centres have 2 magazines with capacity of 40 tools in each magazine. The special purpose out-facing machines (OFM) each have one magazine having a capacity of 40 tools. The tool magazines can be perverted by sending instructions to the tool setting manner either from the host computer or the machines numerical controller.Processing centres The system contains two processing centres a wash machine and two manual workstations. Wash machines It contains two conveyor belts where one is for input and one for output of pallets, each with a capacity of three pallets to transfer the pallets. The wash stalling has a capacity of three pallets. The pallets are washed in the stall and turned upside-down to drain out the water. Then they are dry with blown air. Manual worksta tions (ring fitting area) The operator fits metal sealing go into the valve bodies at the manual workstations. He receives work instructions via computer interface with the host.Secondary facilities supplemental stations Load/ swing stations The FMS has four-piece-part load and unload stations. Loading and unloading is performed at these stations with the instructions again received via computer interface with the host. Fixture-setting station At these stations the fixtures are readjusted to accommodate different piece parts. Administration of tools Tools are assembled manually. The tool-setting machine checks the dimensional offsets of the tools and generates a bar code for further identification of the tool that has been set.Auxiliary facilities Transport system The transport system consists of a controller and 8 automated guided vehicles (AGV). The system also contains an A.G.V. battery charging area. Buffer gunstocks The FMS has 20 buffer stores in order to store the empty an d loaded pallets objet dart they are waiting to be taken to another transfer station (i.e. a load/unload station or a machine tool etc.). Maintenance Area This facility caters to pallets that may be damage or need servicing or for storing scrapped piece-parts. Raw Material Stores These stores are located in front of the load / unload stations and are used to store the raw materials (like forged valve bodies etc). The store is served by two fork-lift-stacker cranes and motor roller conveyors. It has a capacity of 80 containers. Fixture store The fixtures that are not stored in FMS are stored here. It has a capacity of storing long hundred fixtures. The store is served by a stacker crane and motor roller conveyors. Flexible Manufacturing System at TAMCAM Computer Aided Manufacturing (TAMCAM) Lab.This is an example of flexible manufacturing system that is used to describe the TAMCAM Simulation- ground Control System (TSCS)6. This system is located within the TAMCAM Computer Aided Man ufacturing (TAMCAM) lab.The system consists of three CNC milling machines, one CNC play centre, two industrial robots, and an automated cart based conveyor system.In addition to the automated equipment, human operators are used to load and unload some machines and perform assembly and inspection tasks. Advantages of Flexible Manufacturing Systemwhy would firms embrace flexible manufacturing systems? What benefits does FMS provide? Answers to these two questions are important to the winner of flexible manufacturing systems. It is important to understand the equals on product life cycle, direct labour input and market characteristics.Various advantages arise from using flexible manufacturing systems.7 Users of these systems enlist many benefits* Less scrap* Fewer workstations* Quicker changes of tools, dies, and stamping machinery* minify downtime* Improved quality through better control over it* decreased labour cost due to increase in labour productivity* Increase in machine eff iciency* Reduced work-in-process inventories* Increased capacity* Increased production flexibility* Faster production* Lower- cost/unit* Increased system reliability* Adaptability to CAD/CAM operationsSince savings from these benefits are sizeable, a plethora of examples from the manufacturing intentness are available to illustrate these benefits.A major(ip) Japanese manufacturer, by installing a flexible manufacturing system, has lessen the number of machines in one facility from 68 to 18, the number of employees from 215 to 12, home requirements from 103000 square feet to 30000 and processing time from 35 days to a 1.5 daysFord has poured $4,400,000 into overhauling its Torrence Avenue engraft in Chicago, giving it flexible manufacturing capability. This will allow the factory to add new models in as atomic as two weeks instead of two months or longer. The flexible manufacturing systems used in five of Ford Motor connections plants will yield a $2.5 billion savings. By the year 2010, Ford will have converted 80 percent of its plants to flexible manufacturing.The benefits enlisted above are the operational benefits.8 Flexible Manufacturing Systems also give rise to benefits in terms of strategy for the firm. in operation(p) BenefitsStrategic BenefitsLower Costs per unitA source of hawkish advantage in present and future.Lesser workstationsLess space in plant required.Reduced InventoriesLess of Storage Space. Plant Layout gets simplified. The space is freed up for other activities.Increase in labour productivityLesser custody required.Operational FlexibilityAbility to meet varying customer demands in terms of numbers (seasonality) and choices.Improved QualityIncreased customer enjoymentLess inspection costsLesser lead timeIncreased Machine EfficiencyLess technical workforce for handling care and repairLess Scrap and ReworkConsistent fruition ProcessOn a macro level, these advantages reduce the risk of investing in the flexible manufacturing system as well as in current projects in such a firm.Let us ask at how flexibility helps firms. To maximise production for a given amount of rough-cut capacity, one should minimize the interruptions due to machine breakdowns and the resource should be full utilized. FMS permits the minimization of stations unavailability, and shorter repair times when stations fail. Preventive maintenance is done to reduce number of breakdowns. Maintenance is done during off hours. This helps to maximize production time. Cost of maintaining spare part inventories is also reduced due to the fact that similar equipment can share components. Hence we can see that higher(prenominal) the degree of flexibility of the workstation, the lower the potential cost of production capacity due to station unavailability.To make a product every day, the trade off between inventory cost and setup cost becomes important. However, each time the workstation changes its function, it incurs a set-up delay. Through flexibili ty one can reduce this set-up cost. 9CAD/CAM aids in computerized tracking of work flow which is helpful in positioning inspection throughout the process. This helps to minimize the number of parts which require rework or which must be scrapped. FMS changes the prognosis of inspection from a post-position to an in-process position. Hence, feedback is available in real time which improves quality and helps product to be within the tolerance level.10Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) are to the highest degree always used in conjunction with just-in-time (JIT) order systems. This combination increases the throughput and reduces throughput time and the length of time required to turn materials into products.Flexible Manufacturing Systems have a made a huge impact on activity-based costing.11 Using these systems helps firms to spank to process costing instead of job costing. This set uping is made possible because of the reduced setup delays. With set-up time only a small atom of previous levels, companies are able to move between products and jobs with near the same speed as if they were working in continuous, process type environment.To look at another aspect of strategic benefits, enterprise integration can be facilitated by FMS. An agile manufacturer is one who is the fastest to the market, operates with the lowest total cost and has the greatest ability to delight its customers. FMS is simply one way that manufacturers are able to achieve this agility.12 This has also been reported in many studies that FMS makes the transition to agility faster and easier. Over time, FMS use creates a positive attitude towards quality. The quality management practices in organizations using FMS differs from those not using it.The adoption of flexible manufacturing confers advantages that are primarily based upon economies of scope. As a result of aiming simultaneously at flexibility, quality and efficiency, the future manufacturing industry will strive towards produci ng to order, virtually no stock, very high quality levels, and high productivity. 13Disadvantages of Flexible Manufacturing System14Now that we have looked at the multiple advantages flexible manufacturing systems offer, the next obvious question is, if they are so good and so useful then why are they not ubiquitous by now? It is essential to look at the other side, especially the impact these systems have on costing, product mixes decided by the company and the inevitable trade- off between production rates and flexibility.Following are the major disadvantages that have been observedComplexityThese sophisticated manufacturing systems are extremely complex and involve a lot of substantial pre planning activity before the jobs are actually processed. A lot of detail has to go into the processing. oft users face technological problems of exact component positioning. more thanover, comminuted timing is needful to process a component.Cost of equipment15Equipment for aflexiblemanufa cturingsystem will commonly initially be more high-ticket(prenominal) than traditional equipment and the prices unremarkably run into millions of dollars. This cost is popularly known as the Risk of Installation.Maintenance costs are usually higher than traditional manufacturing systems because FMS employs intensive use of preventive maintenance, which by itself is very expensive to implement. Energy costs are likely to be higher despite more efficient use of energy.Increased machine exercise can result in faster deterioration of equipment, providing a shorter than just economic life. Also, personnel training costs may prove to be relatively high. Moreover there is the additional problem of selecting system size, hardware and software tailor made for the FMS.Cost of automation in the form of computer integration is the most significant cost in a flexible manufacturing system. The components require extensive computer control. Also, the costs of operation are high since a machi ne of this complexity requires equally skilled employees to work or run it.Adaptation IssuesThere is limited ability to accommodate to changes in product or product mix. For example, machines are of limited capacity and the tooling necessary for products, even of the same family, is not always feasible in a given FMS. Moreover, one should keep in mind that these systems do not reduce variability, just enable more effective handling of the variability.Equipment UtilizationEquipment utilization for flexible manufacturing systems is sometimes not as high as expected. Example, in USA, the average is ten types of parts per machine. Other possible problems may arise due to lack of technical literacy, management incompetence, and curt implementation of the FMS process. It is very important to differentiate between scenarios where FMS would be advantageous (ex, where fast adaptation is the key) and those where it wouldnt (ex where a firms competency is based on minimizing cost).Product/ Job Costing16Arguably the biggest disadvantage of flexible manufacturing systems is the difficulty faced by the company in allocating overhead costs to jobs. Usually, several products share the same resources with different consumption characteristics. Ideally, the overhead allocation should be directly comparative to the resource consumption. But this becomes complicated in the case of flexible manufacturing systems since it is very difficult to estimate which product used which machine for which purpose and for how long. frequently this leads to under costing of some products and consequently over costing of others.In systems that use FMS, usually the fixed costs are quite high due to the following reasons* The machines are costly, material handling is more expensive and the computer controls are state of the art, thereby leading to a higher depreciation than seen in traditional manufacturing systems.* A lot of items which are other than usually treated as direct costs are count ed under substantiative costs in case of flexible manufacturing systems. For example, labour is normally attributed to the job directly done, but in FMS, the same workers work on machines that usually run two jobs simultaneously. Hence even labour costs are to be treated as overhead or indirect costs.* In order to ensure smooth running of the flexible manufacturing systems, a lot of support activities carried out by engineers and technicians.Keeping the above points in mind, we can infer that in order to cater to these scenarios, Activity Based Costing techniques are used with FMS to reduce distortion of product costs.FMS bankers acceptance in Automobile IndustryThe Flexible manufacturing system has been adopted extensively in the manufacturing industry in this day and age. It addresses the issue of automation and process technology which is a key area for concern of manufacturing management along with inventory production planning and scheduling and quality.One industry which has extensively adopted this system is the Automobile Industry. Almost all global giants now follow the Flexible Manufacturing system and many have developed their own manufacturing system keeping FMS as an integral part of it.The high-risk tierce of the American Automotive Industry namely General Motors, Ford Motors and Chrysler Motors enjoyed a monopolistic environment for a very long time. This in some way inhibited their innovation capabilities as there was no competition in the market which could drive them to innovate. These companies, therefore, maintained production facilities that were suitable for mass production of any single model, which ensured economies of scale and plant advantageousness. But stepwise as Asian car makers gained prominence in the automotive market, the Big Three of the United States faced huge challenges across all product lines. The main Asian competitors that came into picture were Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mitsubishi from Japan and Hyundai from Sou th Korea. With these Asian countries export vehicles to the United States of America, competition heightened and the profitability of the Big Three decreased. To improve its profitability and maintain its market share Chrysler Corporation, General Motors and Ford Motor Company employed Flexible Manufacturing System in their production lines following what had been started in Japan.The essential driving force for adoption of FMS in Automobile industry is1. The emphasis on increasing product variety and individualization has created a strong need to develop a flexible manufacturing system to respond to small batches of customer demand.2. Cost savings were required to be more competitive. Newer varieties needed to be introduced in lesser time and at lesser cost.Given below are examples of some companies and their motive for adopting FMS as well as the benefits that they have achieved through itJapanese Companies and Latest FMSToyotaToyota has been at the forefront of adopting flexibl e manufacturing system which has been in place since 1985. In 2002, Toyota unveiled its planetary Body fold (GBL), a radical, company-wide overhaul of its already much-envied FMS.17 The GBL process was developed so Toyota could implement a common vehicle-assembly platform at any and all of its worldwide assembly locations regardless of volume or manner of assembly. GBL helps Toyota to meet its goal To seamlessly manufacture our products in any country, at any volumeThe advantages that GBL delivers over the older FBL system of Toyota are* 30% simplification of the time a vehicle spends in the body shop.* 70% simplification in time required to complete a major model change.* 50% cut in the cost to add or switch models.* 50% reduction in initial investment.* 50% reduction in assembly line footprint.* 50% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions due to lower energy usage.* 50% cut in maintenance costs.More than 20 of Toyotas 24 worldwide body lines already have been converted, and th e emit either are in the process of conversion or will be refitted for GBL in conjunction with upcoming model changes.Operations in ToyotaOlder Flexible Body Line (FBL) System Each vehicle would require three pallets each tightly gripping either a major bodyside assembly or the roof assembly and assuring its union to dimensional hard points as the body panels travelled through the respective(a) stages of welding to the floorpan and to one another. Three pallets limited the number of vehicles that could be in the build sequence at any given time in some plants the number was 50. Also, the design of the pallets which held the bodysides and roof panels from the outside limited the rise to power of welding robots and required a lot of floor space. Planners had to guess about how many pallets to build and work that guess into the plants vehicle mix (FBL-equipped plants could trade as many as five different models). Bad guesses about pallet allocation were very costly. Also, qui ck reaction to a change of production mix was discouraged by the 3-pallet system.Newer Global Body Line (GBL) System GBL design solves those problems by replacing FBLs three pallets with a single pallet, one that now holds all three major body panels from the inside. This master pallet, layout eliminates the need for predicting initial pallet demand. Since each model or unhomogeneous requires only the lone pallet, switching new models in or out of the production mix is a breeze. Thus the 70% reduction in time required to facilitate a model change18. GBL doubles the amount of floor space that can be occupied by robots, and, on a GBL tour here, every inch appears to be used. In the Georgetown plant of Toyota, the floor space freed by GBL allows a second GBL line support the plant achieve a recently announced capacity increase to 500,000 units.Highly advanced robots are central to leveraging the advantages of the GBL layout the system was designed to make the most of new-generation body shop robots that are smaller, more precise and more energy efficient. The number of robots has increased from about 250 to nearly 350.GBL system is enhanced by initial vehicle designs that ensure commonality for various hardpoints. This makes it easier to accommodate a variety of models GBL-ready plants now can build as many as eight, rather than five with the FBL system.However even with the ability to produce eight different models, there is a limit to GBLs flexibility. at a time pressed, engineers admit that not everything Toyota makes, from Vitz to Land Cruiser, can be produced on a single GBL line. There are two siz