Towards Flexible Production Facilities

1. Present-day industry, in particular engineering, is defined by the fact that its products – machine-tools, devices, instruments, etc.- are normally produced for a very short period of time and replaced by other more advanced products. The range of products is growing and the size of batches is decreasing. The new production environment has brought about new requirements. Thus, for example, earlier functionally " rigid" automatic production lines require considerable changes to be introduced or the line to be fully dismantled when the factory switches to a new product. Unlike the above lines, flexible production lines can be switched over to a new product virtually instantaneously. When operated on a 24-hour basis, these lines need only a minimal team of operators to attend the production.

2. A set of modules can be combined by a transport-and-storage system and a control system into a production line (or a production area). In Russia such lines from the basis for automated workshops capable of producing 100-250 parts of similar shape, sizes and requiring similar machining operations (milling, cutting, drilling, etc.).

3. The highest level of a flexible production facility, an automatic factory, incorporates several flexible production workshops. Such a factory has both automated equipment and automated services, including computer-aided design of products and processes, and software development for its control systems. Such automated factories are being designed and are expected to become fully operational in the near future. Russia and other industrialized countries are currently making use of flexible modules and workshops.