Production system: manufacturing support systems and facilities

Programmable Automation

• Programmable Automation
• The production equipment is designed with the capability to change the sequence of operations to accommodate different product configurations.
• The operation sequence is controlled by a program, which is a set of instruction coded so that they can be read and interpreted by the system.

New programs can be prepared and entered into the equipment to produce new products.

• New programs can be prepared and entered into the equipment to produce new products.
• The physical setup of the machine must be changed for each new products.
• This changeover procedures takes time.
• Eg: numerical control (NC) machine tools, industrial robots and PLC.

The features of programmable automation;

• The features of programmable automation;
• High investment in general purpose equipment.
• Lower production rates than fixed automation.
• Flexibility to deal with variations and changes in product configuration.
• Most suitable for batch production.

Flexible Automation

• Flexible Automation
• An extension of programmable automation.
• Capable of producing a variety of parts/products with virtually no time lost for changeovers from one part style to the next.

The features of flexible automation;

• The features of flexible automation;
• High investment for custom-engineered system.
• Continuous production of variable mixtures of products.
• Medium production rates.
• Flexibility to deal with product design variations.

Examples, flexible manufacturing systems for performing machining operations.

• Examples, flexible manufacturing systems for performing machining operations.
• The relative positions of the three types of automation for different production volume and product varieties are shown below.

• 100

• 10000

• 1,000,000

• Product Variety

• Production Quantity

• LOW

• MEDIUM

• HIGH