Flexible manufacturing system is a system that is able to respond to changed conditions. In general, this flexibility is divided into two key categories and several subcategories. The first category is the so called machine flexibility which enables to make various products by the given machinery. The second category is routing flexibility enabling to execute the same operation by various machi...

Nowadays, flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is introduced as a response to the competitive environment. Scheduling of FMS is more complex and more difficult than the other scheduling production systems. One of the main factors in scheduling of FMS is variable time of taking orders from customers, which leads to a sudden change in the manufacturing process. Also, some problems are created in p...

In this paper, we propose an approach, using Coloured Petri Nets (CPN) for modelling flexible manufacturing systems. We illustrate our methodology for a Flexibte Manufacturing Cell (FMC) with three machines and three robots. We also consider the analysis of t h e FMC for deadlocks using the invariant analysis of CPNs.

The time for electronically connecting business and manufacturing has come. Advancements in e-commerce have requested that business decisions on web be the direct driving info to the corresponding manufacturing activities without human interventions. Since orders from the web may arrive in random sequence and with a range of specifications, flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) may be the proper...

Mass customization manufacturing (MCM) has been gaining recognition as an industrial revolution in the 21st century. This paper presents innovative approaches in realizing and exercising MCM in theoretical and practical applications. Strategies of generalized production line platform and modularization are explored to support dynamic reconfigurations of MCM. NIST’s XML-based Shop Data informati...

machine-part family formation is one of major applications of group technology (gt). the machine cell formation problem in cellular manufacturing system (cms) involves the decomposition of the manufacturing system into machine cells. part families are identified such that they are fully processed within a machine cell. the problem of cell design is a very complex task with wide ranging implicat...

One of the most revolutionary concepts of Machining Processes to emerge in the last two decades has been the concept of Flexible Manufacturing System (F.M.S.). It is a concept of machining where a set of machine tools can be used to perform a wide range of machining operations to produce a variety of products. This dynamic nature of the machine tools can be achieved by developing a beautiful am...

In order to develop, test, and validate system control software for managing flexible manufacturing systems, most laboratories have constructed an experimental testbed using actual manufacturing equipment. These experimental systems typically occupy a large amount of lab space, cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to construct, and require considerable human expertise to operate. In addition, ...