The flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) in metal removal processing: An overview

Flexible manufacturing systems are, at present, the most advanced manufacturing systems and constitute an important step towards the automated factory.Their main area of application is in the small batch production and their use aims at integrating all the production activities, such as forming, machining, welding, painting, inspection, assembly, etc., into either an automated system or individual automated subsystems, which can be connected through the information and the material flow. They result in a high-level utilization of the work-stations a reduction of the throughput time of the orders and the work-in-process and implement faster any kind of changes on the products range.In this paper an overview of the development of the FMS is attempted. The main characteristics of the FMS used in the metal removal manufacturing processing are outlined.