Reliability Modeling and Analysis of Flexible Manufacturing Cells

During the past half century, market competition has been very intense and production companies have been trying to find more efficient ways to manufacture their products. While during the period 1960 to 1970 manufacturing cost was the primary concern, later it was followed by product quality and delivery speed. New strategies had to be formulated by companies to adapt to the environment in which they operate, to be more flexible in their operations, and to satisfy different market segments. As a result of these efforts, a new manufacturing technology, called Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), was innovated. FMS is a philosophy, in which "systems" is the key concept. A system view is incorporated into manufacturing. FMS is also one way that manufacturers are able to achieve agility, to have fastest response to the market, to operate with the lowest total cost, and to gain the greatest skills in satisfying the customers.