Where is the "flexibility" of FPC manufacturing system?
With mass production reaching the bottleneck, the individualized demand of consumers is increasingly strong. Flexible manufacturing is produced in response to mass customization. It has the characteristics of small batch and many varieties, and realizes the efficient control of the production process with its good planning. In fact, flexible manufacturing mode exists widely, such as customization, which is common in our life. This kind of consumer-oriented, customized production mode is opposed to the traditional mass production mode. In flexible manufacturing, the response speed of production line and supply chain is tested. For example, "C2B" and "C2P2B" which are emerging in the field of e-commerce reflect the essence of flexible manufacturing.
Flexibility can be expressed in two aspects:
The first aspect refers to the flexible response capacity of production capacity, that is, the small batch production capacity of machinery and equipment.
Its equipment utilization rate and productivity are very high, and the cost of single piece is relatively low. But only one or several similar parts can be processed, and it is difficult to cope with the production of many varieties and small batches. With the era of mass production gradually moving towards a production era oriented to adapt to market changes, the competitiveness of a manufacturing system lies in the ability to develop multi-varieties, high-quality and low-cost products in a short time. Flexible manufacturing can just satisfy this point, and it is becoming more and more important in the development of manufacturing industry.
The second aspect refers to the agility and precision of the supply chain.
In flexible manufacturing, the supply chain system responds to a single demand for production and distribution. From the traditional "production-supply-sale-human-property-product" to "production-by-sale", the production instructions are triggered solely by consumers, whose value chain is displayed as a completely oriented activity with clear personality characteristics, namely "human-property-product-sale". In this process, it not only poses a major challenge to the production machinery, but also revolutionizes the traditional supply chain.
The "flexibility" of manufacturing system can be embodied in:
1. Flexibility of equipment - When a series of different types of products are required to be manufactured, the difficulty of machine processing different parts varies with the product.
2. Process flexibility - the ability to make a given part/product type from different materials.
3. Product flexibility - unique conditions that change the economy and speed of producing a new set of parts or products.
4. Work-rest flexibility - the ability to handle failures and continue to manufacture a given set of parts/product types using alternative routes.
5. Flexibility of production capacity - the ability to maintain profitability in a range of different production volumes.
6. Extension flexibility - the potential for gradual expansion in a modular manner.
7. Production flexibility - the volume of parts/product types that a system can produce.
Flexible Manufacturing Technology at Present
1. Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS). Many fully automatic CNC machine tools are connected by centralized control system and material handling system, which can realize the processing and management of multi-varieties, small and medium batches without stopping the machine.
2. Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC). FMC came out and was used in production about 6 to 8 years later than FMS. It is composed of 1 to 2 processing centers, industrial robots, CNC machine tools and material handling and storage equipment, and has the flexibility to process various products.
3. Flexible Manufacturing Line (FML). It is a production line between a single or small variety of large-scale non-flexible automatic line and a small and medium-sized batch of multi-variety FMS. Its processing equipment can be a general processing center, CNC machine tool, or special machine tool or NC machine tool. The requirement of material handling system flexibility is lower than FMS, but the productivity is higher. It is represented by flexible manufacturing system in discrete production and distributed control system (DCS) in continuous production. Its characteristic is to realize the flexibility and automation of production line.
4. Flexible Manufacturing Factories (FMF). FMF is a complete FMS that connects multiple FMS with an automated warehouse and is connected by a computer system. It uses FMS from order, design, processing, assembly, inspection and delivery to delivery. It includes CAD/CAM, putting the computer integrated manufacturing system (CIMS) into practice, realizing the flexibility and automation of the production system, and then realizing the overall process of production management, product processing and material storage and transportation in the whole plant. FMF is the highest level of automation production, reflecting the most advanced automation application technology in the world. It integrates the automation of manufacturing, product development and management into a whole. It is represented by the Intelligent Manufacturing System (IMS) with information flow controlling material flow. Its characteristic is to realize the flexibility and automation of factories.
