Machining is only one part of the overall production process in the engineering workshop. There are two more basic operations: design and administration.

In the engineering industry of the future, all three of these opera­tions will be done with the help of computers, which will greatly re­duce the need for labour.

There would be three main computers: one each for the flexible manufacturing system, design and administration. Instructions that enter the first computer control how and which goods are made; draughtsmen work out which goods they want made with the second machine; and in the third are lodged all the details about orders, scheduling, the state of stocks and so on. All three computers are linked to each other, and also to an automated warehouse from which raw materials are passed by a transport mechanism to the factory floor and the machining area.

The few places where people would be involved with the factory's processes would be in the design room and in a control area where the factory's administrators sit. Draughtsmen would design products us­ing their keyboards and screens. The codes representing these parts would come along wires to the production computer, which, in turn, would instruct its battery of machine tools to make the items. There would be a few "seeing" robots in the production department, to make the assembly job easier. Meanwhile, the factory's administrators would keep track of the whole operation, getting information from the system by keying in instructions to their terminals.

UNIT 2. A FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEM

One step on the road to the completely automated production was the development of production cells of machines controlled by other machines. Here, a "supervisor" computer could control up to ten to twenty computerized machines. With these systems there was less work for people. A separate operator for each machine tool was no longer required. However, the production cells still needed people to feed instructions to the central computer. They required workers to load raw bits of metal and take off finished products.
Another step to organization of unmanned production is a flexible manufacturing system. This type of production system has appeared in the past few years. In this equipment, central computer controls each separate machine tool and also arranges for the blocks of metal being machined to travel from one machine-tool to another by some transport mechanism. The transport mechanism can vary. It can be a conveyer belt that carries parts around the system; it can be a se­quence of robots that grab the components and place them in the rele­vant machine tool at the appropriate moment.

The key factor of this system is its flexibility. Not only does the central computer tell the machines to perform a wide range of functions. It also directs the transport mechanism to carry parts round the system in a manner which the computer decides is the most efficient. Thus in a system comprising machines A to D, the central computer could ensure that a part due for a series of complex machining opera­tions visits first A, then C, before going back to В and on to D. At each point in the system, the part would be machined in a different way until it becomes a finished product. The next component that en­ters the system could then travel in an entirely different sequence Thus this method of making things differs from the inflexible automa­tion of the transfer line, where there is no chance of varying the se­quence in which parts travel through the system: it is A to В to C to D.

Operating of the new system is not too difficult. An engineer sits in a control room with a keyboard equipment terminal and probably 2 computers – one each to control the transport mechanism and the machine-tool themselves. He types into the terminal the details of the parts he wants made, and when is die time for making them. The job for scheduling the work between the various machines in the system is then left to the two computers.

Flexible systems around the world make anything from razors to parts for complicated machinery and turbine blades.

UNIT 3. THREE "PILLARS" OF FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

The three basic conditions for the development of flexible systems are technology, equipment and electronization. Electronization is ex­tensive development and wide use of electronic equipment: computers at all levels, sensors, information transmission systems and so on. In flexible production a computer must play the role of organizer and guide. Before the appearance of microelectronics the greater part of labour productivity increment after automation was "devoured" by inspectors, record keepers and other workers dealing with routine op­erations. The more production was automated, the larger became the army of people specializing in these fields: parts had to be checked, counted. The management had to be promptly informed about the production process. The condition of machines and instruments had to be constantly checked. In flexible systems microelectronics must, as­sume all these tasks. Our country has produced in large numbers big and small computers, microcomputers, numerical programmed control systems for machine-tools, presses and industrial robots. New designs of pickups, including sensors, are being developed.

The task is to increase two-three times the production of comput­ers, and develop at high rates the production of facilities for automat­ing the work of engineers, highly efficient small computers, personal computers, numerical programmed control systems for multifunc­tional machine-tools and flexible production modules, programmed master controllers.

UNIT 4. FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION AND INDUSTRIAL ROBOTS

This country's machine-building industry is now facing the task of restructing on a large scale engineering production, and developing new methods of organization, new equipment and new technologies This is a global process. Swift production automation, the introduc­tion of microprocessors, robotics, rotary and rotary-conveyer lines, flexible readjustable production is vital for today's industry.

Industrial robots play an important part in the process. Many in­stitutes are currently engaged in developing them. The concept of de­signing robot modules is making successful headway.

The task today is to raise their reliability, speed and failure-free operation. Also needed for the operation of flexible systems arc robots which will transport billets and parts between machine tools, i.e. transport robots, robot trailers, as well as measuring robots. Experts from the Institute of Machine Studies are developing measuring ma­nipulators and coordinate-measuring machines.

It is hard to enumerate all the problems facing our engineers and designers in the development of flexible productions. Automated sys­tems of adjusting, controlling instruments, machined parts and many other things are needed

The combination of flexible systems with the general system of pro­grammed production, the spreading of flexibility to the processes of pre­paratory productions – foundry, forging and welding – arc also very complicated problems. The flexible system must embrace all the stages of machine building, all its processes.

UNIT 5. TOWARDS FLEXIBLE PRODUCTION FACILITIES

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 be 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.

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). Such lines form the basis for automated workshops capable of producing 100-250 parts of similar shape, sizes and requiring similar machining operations (milling, cutting, drilling, etc.).

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 arc being designed and are expected to become fully operational in the near future.