Concepts and Layouts

The designing of automatic manufacturing system requires the determination of the concept of the process, until the object is comprehensively analyzed. The concept includes the general nature, shape, and type of the tools used; and also covers their action or operation sequence, and the conditions under which manufacturing must take place. The manufacturing process dictates the design of the product. A number of examples are used to illustrate this important point. Different manufacturing processes, tools, and techniques can usually produce the same object or part. Visualization of the concept is the next step, and the best way to do it is to express this concept graphically. The sketch must show processing and auxiliary operation; tools or elements, which carry out these operations; special conditions or requirements, which must hold during processing; and the basic calculations. While the layout sketch need not be to scale, it must clearly explain our concept of the process. The chapter discusses some of the examples. The first of these is a discontinuous process where the operations appear stepwise, one after the other. The second example, by contrast, is a continuous process for producing spiral springs.