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Flexibility in Manufacturing Systems. Flexibility is the term used for the attribute that allows a mixed model manufacturing system
to cope with a certain level of variation in part or product style without interruptions in production for changeovers between
models. Flexibility is generally a desirable feature of a manufacturing system. Systems that possess it are called fknble
menutactunng systems, or flexible assembly systems, or similar names. They can produce different part styles or-can readily adapt
to new part styles when the previous ones become obsolete. To be flexible, a manufacturing system must possess the following
capabilities' Identification of the different work unltv. Different operations are required on different part or product styles, The
manufacturing system must identify the work unit to perfurm the correct OpCI atiou. In a manually operated or semi-automatic
system, this task is usually an easy one for the workerfs}, In an automated system, some means of automatic work unit
identification must be engineered. • Quick changeover of operating mstructlOlL~. The instructions, or part program in the case of
computer-controlled production machines, must correspond 10 the correct operation for the given part. In the case of a manually
operated system. this generally means workers who (I) are skilled in the variety of operations needed to process or assemble the
different work unit styles. and (2) know which operations to perform on each work unit style. In semi-automatic and fully
automated systems, it means that the required part programs are readily available to the control unit. • Quick changeover of
physical setup, Flexibility in manufacturing means that the different work units are not produced in batches. For different work
unit styles to be produced with no time lost between one unit and the next, the flexible manufacturing system must be capable of
making any necessary changes in fixturing and tooling in a very short time. (The changeover time should correspond approximately
to the time required to exchange the completed work unit for the next unit to be processed.)

Reliability : A measurement of how well a system performs over a period of time, regardless of the presence of faults. Availability
is defined using two other reliability terms, mean time between failure (MTBF) and mean time /0 repair (MTIR). The MTBF indicates
the average length of time the piece of equipment runs between breakdowns. The MTIR indicates the average time required to
service the equipment and put it back into operation when a breakdown occurs. Availability is defined as follows: A = MTBF - MTIR
/ MTBF

where A = availability. MTBF = mean time between failures (hr). and MTTR = meantime to rcp~ir (hr), Availability is typically
expressed as a percentage. When a piece of eq~ipment IS brand new (and being debugged). and later when it begins to age, its
availability tends to be lower.

An alternative to manual inspection is automated inspection. Automation of inspection procedure will almost always automated
machines are not given to the fatigue and human inspectors, Economic justification of an automated inspection system depends
on whether the savings in labor cost and improvement in accuracy will more than offset the investment and/or development cost
of the system. Automated inspection can be defined as the automation of one or more of the steps involved in the inspection
procedure. There are a number of alternative ways in which automated or semi automated inspection can be implemented:

Manual inspection is largely replaced by automated inspection as errors are reduced to great extent by automation of the process.
Economic justification of an automated inspection system depends on whether the savings in labor cost and improvement in
accuracy will be more than the investment and/or development costs of the system. Automated inspection is defined as the
automation of one or more steps involved in the inspection procedure. Automated or semi automated inspection can be
implemented in the number of alternative ways.

a) Automated presentation of parts by an automatic handling system with manual examination and decision steps.
b) Machine with manual loading parts into the machine doing, automated examination and decision making.
c) Completely automated inspection system in which parts presentation examination and decisions are performed automatically.
The inspection procedure is performed by a human worker in the first case, with all of the possible errors in this form of inspection.
In second and third case, the actual inspection operation is accomplished by an automated system.

A coordinate measuring machine (CMM) is a device that measures the geometry of physical objects by sensing discrete points on
the surface of the object with a probe. Various types of probes are used in CMMs, including mechanical, optical, laser, and white
light. Depending on the machine, the probe position may be manually controlled by an operator or it may be computer controlled.
CMMs typically specify a probe's position in terms of its displacement from a reference position in a three-dimensional Cartesian
coordinate system (i.e., with XYZ axes). In addition to moving the probe along the X, Y, and Z axes, many machines also allow the
probe angle to be controlled to allow measurement of surfaces that would otherwise be unreachable.
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Coordinate-measuring machines include three main components:

 The main structure which include three axes of motion. The material used to construct the moving frame has
varied over the years. Granite and steel were used in the early CMM's. Today all the major CMM manufacturers
build frames from aluminium alloy or some derivative and also use ceramic to increase the stiffness of the Z axis
for scanning applications. Few CMM builders today still manufacture granite frame CMM due to market
requirement for improved metrology dynamics and increasing trend to install CMM outside of the quality lab.
Typically only low volume CMM builders and domestic manufacturers in China and India are still manufacturing
granite CMM due to low technology approach and easy entry to become a CMM frame builder. The increasing
trend towards scanning also requires the CMM Z axis to be stiffer and new materials have been introduced such
as ceramic and silicon carbide.
 Probing system
 Data collection and reduction system - typically includes a machine controller, desktop computer and application
software.

Horizontal CNC machining centers are categorized as multi-tool and versatile machines, and are used for heavy rectangular black
Paris, where the majority of machining has to be done on more than one face in a single setup. There are many applications in this
area. Common examples are zarge Paris, such as Pump housing, gear cases, manifolds, engine blocks and so on. Since there
machines provides for heavier metal removal rates, the cutting tools used are normally big. As a result, the tool magazine has to
provide. For Zorger place for each tool. This results in the tool magazines for HMC being heavier. Because of their Flexibility and
Complexity, CNC HMC’s are priced significantly higher than VMC’s. A horizontal machining center (HMC) is a machining center
with its spindle in a horizontal orientation. This machining center design favors uninterrupted production work. One reason for
this is that the horizontal orientation encourages chips to fall away, so they don’t have to be cleared from the table. More
significantly, the horizontal design allows a two-pallet workchanger to be incorporated into a space-efficient machine. To save
time, work can be loaded on one pallet of an horizontal machining center while machining occurs on the other pallet.

CNC Rotary Tables and Index Tables are installed on the machining centers, tapping centers and special purpose machines and are
used in various workings and operations, such as the machining of automobile parts, IT parts and etc., and also auto-transfer line.
They have variety of features, such as light weight, compact, high precision, strong rigidity, patented water protection structure,
which contribute to rationalization of production and the cost reduction in your company.

Queueing networks fall into two main categories - open and closed. Open networks receive customers from an external source
and send them to an external destination. Closed networks have a fixed population that moves between the queues but never
leaves the system. We will now refer to single queues, as described in the previous section, as service centres. Service centres in
a network exhibit the same behavior as single queues. First we will discuss open networks. An example of an open network is
shown in Figure 1.

The yellow circle, B, represents an external source of customers.

There are three inter-connected service centers and an external
destination. Each service centre has a mean service time. When a
customer leaves a service centre there may be more than one
possible destination (eg at places marked A on the diagram). It is
therefore necessary to define routing probabilities. This is done by
attaching a weighting to each possible destination. For example
upon leaving queue 2, there are two possible destinations - queue
1 and queue 0. If both of these destinations had weight 1 then
there would be an equal probability of a departing customer going
to either queue. However, if queue 1 had weight 1 and queue 0 had weight 2, then, on average, one in three customers would go
to queue1 and two in three customers would go to queue 0. To solve the network and determine performance measures for each
queue one solves the Traffic Equations for the network. This allows us to find the effective arrival rate at each queue and then
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using the methods of the previous page we can determine performance measures for each queue. It is possible to design your
own open queueing networks using the applet below. See the Instructions for further details.

Closed queueing networks do not have a source or sink. An example

of a closed network is shown in Figure 2. The service centres
perform as in the open network case and routing probabilities are
defined in the same way (eg. at A on the diagram). When one builds
a closed network it is necessary to define the number of customers
which are initially in each of the service centres. These customers
can then travel around the network but cannot leave it. To solve a
closed network, we again have to solve the Traffic Equations.
However, we do not have an external arrival rate to allow us to solve
the equations completely so we have to define the throughput of
one of the queues as 1 and then express the throughput of the other
queues relative to this reference queue. Having solved the traffic
equations it is possible to determine measures for the network by
using Mean Value Analysis. You can design your own closed queuing networks using the applet below and it will use MVA to
determine measures such as the mean number of customers in each service centre and also the mean waiting time of a customer
at each service centre.

Automated manufacturing systems operate in the factory on the physical product. They perform operations such as processing,
assembly, inspection, or material handling, in some cases accomplishing more than one of these operations in the same system.

1. To increase labor productivity Automating a manufacturing operation usually

increases production rate and labor productivity. This means greater output per hour of
labor input.
2. To reduce labor cost Ever-increasing labor cost has been and continues to be the trend
in the world’s industrialized societies. Consequently, higher investment in automation has
become economically justifiable to replace manual operations.
3. To mitigate the effects of labor shortages There is a general shortage of labor in
some countries, and this has stimulated the development of automated operations as a
substitute for labor.
4. To reduce or eliminate routine manual and clerical tasks An argument can be put
forth that there is social value in automating operations that are routine, boring, fatiguing, and
possibly irksome. Automating such tasks serves a purpose of improving the general level of
working conditions.
5. To improve worker safety By automating a given operation and transferring the worker
from active participation in the process to a supervisory role, the work is made safer. The
safety and physical well-being of the worker has become a national objective with the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act
(OSHA) in 1970. This has provided an impetus for automation.
6. To improve product quality Automation not only results in higher production rates than manual operations. It also performs the
manufacturing process with greater uniformity and conformity to quality specifications. Reduction of fraction defect rate is one of the chief
benefits of automation.

7. To reduce manufacturing lead time Automation helps to reduce the elapsed time between customer order and product delivery, providing a
competitive advantage to the manufacturer for future orders. By reducing manufacturing lead time, the manufacturer also reduces work-in-process inventory.
8. To accomplish processes that cannot be done manually Certain operations cannot be accomplished without the aid of a machine. These
processes have requirements for precision, miniaturization, or complexity of geometry that cannot be achieved manually.

9. To avoid the high cost of not automating There is a significant competitive advantage gained in automating a manufacturing plant. The advantage
cannot easily be demonstrated on a company’s project authorization form.

Automation is the technology by which a process or procedure is performed without human assistance. Automation or
automatic control is the use of various control systems for operating equipment such as machinery, processes in factories,
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boilers and heat treating ovens, switching on telephone networks, steering and stabilization of ships, aircraft and other
applications and vehicles with minimal or reduced human intervention. Some processes have been completely automated.

Automation covers applications ranging from a household thermostat controlling a boiler, to a large industrial control
system with tens of thousands of input measurements and output control signals. In control complexity it can range from
simple on-off control to multi-variable high level algorithms.

In the simplest type of an automatic control loop, a controller compares a measured value of a process with a desired set
value, and processes the resulting error signal to change some input to the process, in such a way that the process stays
at its set point despite disturbances. This closed-loop control is an application of negative feedback to a system. The
mathematical basis of control theory was begun in the 18th century, and advanced rapidly in the 20th.

Cellular manufacturing is a process of manufacturing which is a subsection of just-in-time manufacturing and lean
manufacturing encompassing group technology. The goal of cellular manufacturing is to move as quickly as possible,
make a wide variety of similar products, while making as little waste as possible. Cellular manufacturing involves the
use of multiple "cells" in an assembly line fashion. Each of these cells is composed of one or multiple different machines
which accomplish a certain task. The product moves from one cell to the next, each station completing part of the
manufacturing process. Often the cells are arranged in a "U-shape" design because this allows for the overseer to move
less and have the ability to more readily watch over the entire process. One of the biggest advantages of cellular
manufacturing is the amount of flexibility that it has. Since most of the machines are automatic, simple changes can be
made very rapidly. This allows for a variety of scaling for a product, minor changes to the overall design, and in extreme
cases, entirely changing the overall design. These changes, although tedious, can be accomplished extremely quickly and
precisely.

A cell is created by consolidating the processes required to create a specific output, such as a part or a set of instructions.
These cells allow for the reduction of extraneous steps in the process of creating the specific output, and facilitate quick
identification of problems and encourage communication of employees within the cell in order to resolve issues that arise
quickly. Once implemented, cellular manufacturing has been said to reliably create massive gains in productivity and
quality while simultaneously reducing the amount of inventory, space and lead time required to create a product. It is for
this reason that the one-piece-flow cell has been called "the ultimate in lean production."

Although automation is often seen as an efficient way to achieve cost efficient production and to relieve humans from
heavy or dangerous tasks, it also has its drawbacks. Earlier research has shown that increasing levels of automation in
unforeseen production situations can be related to production disturbances. The human operator that can handle those
unforeseen situations does not always have the ability to interpret present and future production situations, based on
available information from the production system. The aim of this thesis is to theoretical and practicable development of
the concept of Levels of Automation (LoA) in production systems and to improve the distribution of functions and tasks
between humans and automation. A systems approach was adopted and an abductive research approach chosen, since the
underlying data are based on qualitative analysis of the literature and observations, as well as individual and consensus
views of automation. The empirical studies were conducted as seven case studies in order to develop a LoA taxonomy
and a LoA measurement methodology. An exploration of existing taxonomies of LoA was carried out by means of a
literature review, and the Swedish industry’s views of automation were explored through a Delphi survey. Also, two
reference scales for assessment for LoA was developed. The results of the research show that the level of information
automation, from an industrial perspective, has primarily been seen in terms of an increase in the pace of information and
providing decision support in order to help the human in understanding the situation. However, this research also
demonstrates that, from a production perspective, it is important to recognise that many automated processes in
production involve automation of physical tasks, which are for the most part controlled by computers. It is also concluded
and verified that the two reference scales presented for levels of automation are applicable to production tasks and that
the level of automation in production systems can be assessed, measured and analysed with the DYNAMO methodology.
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Fuzzy set theory was introduced in 1965 by Zadeh [62]. Fuzzy sets and their extension to dealing with linguistic variables
(Zadeh, [63]) were later successfully employed in many engineering applications. Fuzzy sets are also particularly useful
in control problems, due to the development of fuzzy logic systems (FLS), widely described in the literature (e.g., Kosko
[34], Mendel [38]). Using fuzzy logic to control flexible manufacturing systems seems very appropriate due to its easiness
in dealing with uncertain data, along with the multi-objective nature of the problem. Hintz and Zimmermann [25], are
probably the first to propose a production planning and control system that uses fuzzy set theory. The interesting part of
their work consists in the application of approximate reasoning techniques to both the sequencing and the priority setting
problems. The authors develop a hierarchy of elements that are important to make a decision in both cases. Those elements
become the antecedents of the fuzzy rules in the scheduling procedure. This methodology is quite general, thus it can be
easily modified and extended by changing the antecedents.The consequent of the rules are the next job to be entered into
the system (sequencing) or to be processed (priority setting). The antecedents of the fuzzy rules for sequencing are:
slack time;
waiting time;
utilization uniformity across machines;
unguarded (i.e., with no personnel) utilization of machines;
external priority (i.e., priority given by external sources such as management, etc.).
Each antecedent is divided into three fuzzy sets with trapezoidal membership functions. All the sequencing rules are
stored in a knowledge base, along with their "strength". In the priority setting problem, the same mechanism but different
antecedents are used, that is:
slack time;
waiting time;
machine up-time;
alternative machines up-time;
queue length in alternative machines.
The performance of this fuzzy controller is compared to common heuristics by means of discrete event simulations of a
particular FMS configuration (Hintz and Zimmermann [25]). As a result, fuzzy expert systems seem to perform better
then heuristics in terms of:
mean waiting time;
number of in-time (i.e., not late) parts;
mean machine utilization.
This approach is very innovative for introducing a fuzzy expert approach to scheduling, but it also suffers from being an
early approach, in that it only considers sequencing and priority setting. Moreover, the scheduling rules are predetermined
with human expert aid and no explicit design procedure is presented. The multiple objective nature of the problem is also
not thoroughly investigated, because the comparison with heuristic approaches is done on a limited number of production
objectives, whereas tardiness, throughput and work in progress are not considered.

The term inspection can be defined as the activity of examining the products, its components, sub
-
assemblies, or materials out of which it is made, and to determine whether they adhere to design specifications. The design
specifications are prescribed by the product designer.
2.2.1
Types of Inspection : Classification of inspection is based on the amount of information derived from the inspection procedure
about the item’s conformance to its specifications. Inspection for variables, in which, appropriate measuring instruments or
sensors are used to measure one or more quality characteristics.
Inspection for attributes
, where the parts or products are inspected to conform to the inspected quality standard. The determination is sometimes based
simply on the judgment of inspector. Attribute inspection involves counting the number of defects in a product. In general,
inspection for attributes uses P-chart and C-chart whereas inspection for variables uses the X-and R-chart.
2.2.2
Inspection Procedure The steps in the inspection performed on an individual item, such as part, sub-assembly or final product are
as follows :Presentation The item is presented for evaluation. Examination The item is examined for non-
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conforming features. Measurement of a dimension or other attributes of the part or product are examined, while inspecting the
variables. Decision It is based on the evaluation, a decision is made whether the item adhere to the defined quality standards. The
simplest case involves a binary decision, in which the item is deemed either acceptable or unacceptable. Action Action should be
taken based on the decision to accept or reject the item, or sort the items to the most appropriate quality grade.
In the past few decades, massive growth has taken place in the sensor and computer technology and this resulted in the wide
ranging acceptance of automated inspection systems for the maintenance of strict quality standards. Naturally, emergence of
automated inspection system has put the manual inspection process in the back seat due to advantages felt by the industries in
terms of accuracy and time saving. In some production situation, inspection procedure is applied only to one item (e.g. a one of a
kind of machine or a prototype). In batch and mass production system, either inspection of whole lot is done (called screening) or
a sample is taken from a lot (sampling inspection). When only one item or few samples are inspected, it is done manually whereas
for the mass production, automated systems are used for 100% inspection. It is time consuming and expensive task to inspect all
the specified dimensions and attributes of the parts. Certain dimensions and specifications are imperative in terms of assembly or
function of the product and are called key characteristics (KCs).

In contact inspection, physical contact is made between the object to be inspected, and the measurement device. Typically contact
is achieved using a mechanical probe or other device that touches the item, and allows the inspection procedure to occur. By its
nature, contact inspection is concerned with some physical dimension of the part, and so contact methods are widely used in
manufacturing and production industries to assess metal parts, and for electrical
circuit testing. Principal contact inspection technologies include: BULLETLIST Conventional measuring and gauging instruments Co-
ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and related techniques to measure mechanical dimensions Stylus type surface texture
measuring machines to measure surface characteristics such as roughness and waviness Electrical contact probes for testing
integrated circuits and printed circuit boards ENDLIST KEYPOINT Physical contact occurs between the object to be inspected and
the measurement device in contact inspection; this is typically done by means of a mechanical probe or other device that touches
the item, which allows the inspection procedure to occur. END KEYPOINT Contact inspection techniques are the most widely-used
inspection techniques. As well as possessing considerable accuracy and reliability, in many cases they represent the only methods
available to accomplish inspection.
11.3.2 Non-contact Inspection Techniques Non-contact inspection techniques use sensors instead of a mechanized probe favoured
by contact inspection methodologies. The sensor is located at a certain distance from the object to be inspected, to measure or
gauge the desired features of the object. KEYPOINT Non-contact inspection techniques use a sensor to measure or gauge the
desired features of the object. END KEYPOINT There are two categories of non-contact inspection technologies: BULLETLIST Optical
inspection technologies—these use light to accomplish the measurement
or gauging cycle. The most important technique is machine vision. Non-optical inspection technologies—these use other forms of
energy than light to perform the inspection. Various energies utilized include: electrical fields, radiation, and ultrasonics. ENDLIST
The advantages of non-contact inspection techniques over contact inspection techniques include:
BULLETLIST They avoid possible surface damage that can be caused upon contact Inspection cycle times are faster as the
contact probe must be re-positioned for each new part inspected, while the non-contact sensor remains stationary Parts handling
is lower with non-contact inspection than with contact inspection, as parts in the latter methodology usually require special
handling and adjustments so that inspection can occur It allows for the possibility of 100% automated inspection, for the above
reasons ENDLIST

Petri nets (PNs) have recently emerged as a promising approach for modeling flexible and automated manufacturing systems. PNs
are a graphical and mathematical modeling technique that is useful for modeling concurrent, asynchronous, distributed, parallel,
nondeterministic, and stochastic systems, as attested by a steady stream of papers which appeared throughout the 1980s. Since
1989, there has been an explosion of interest in using PNs to model, simulate, and analyze manufacturing systems. We present an
overview of PN theory. We then present a schema for categorizing PN models of manufacturing systems, followed by a survey of
PN models of flow lines, automatic transfer lines, job shops, flexible manufacturing systems, and assembly systems. This discussion
represents the most comprehensive survey of applications of PNs to manufacturing through 1994. Finally, we present a summary
and some conclusions. Petri nets are a powerful graphical tool for modeling, analyzing, and control concurrent, parallel,
simultaneous, synchronous, distributed, and resource sharing manufacturing systems and are widely used today. In this
paper, a comprehensive overview for applications of Petri nets and their extensions in modeling, analyzing, and control
of manufacturing systems are presented. More than 25 major production, manufacturing, operations management, and control
journals published in years 1988–2015 has been reviewed. The survey is classified into two fields, applications Petri nets with
modeling and analyzing and applications Petri nets with control, each field is classified into three groups, and additionally
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a historical progression in these fields was emphasized. This work offers readers updated results in this area and makes it
easier on engineers in finding a convenient principle or technique for their industrial scenarios

Competition among the industrial nations has renewed interest in the issues of increasing productivity through
state-of- the-art manufacturing technology. The Petri net approach for modeling, control, I and performance
analysis of automated manufacturing systems has become more important in recent years . This is because the
Petri net approach can solve problems that cannot be modeled using queuing theory, while avoiding the time-
consuming, trial-and-error approach of simulation. The modeling problem in manufacturing systems is usually
characterized by concurrent and asynchronous discrete events. Petri nets are well suited for this type of modeling
because they capture the precedence relations and interactions among these events. In addition, a strong
mathematical foundation exists for describing these nets. This allows a qualitative analysis of such system
properties as deadlock, conflict, and boundedness. The Petri net model can also be used as the basis of a real-time
controller for a manufacturing system. Petri nets also serve as a very valuable performance analysis tool. These
and other related issues are the subject of this book.