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The concept of flexible manufacturing systems went on evolving at that time
when robots, programmable controllers, and computerized numerical con-
trols succeeded in bringing a controlled environment to the factory floor in
the form of numerically-controlled and direct-numerically-controlled ma-
chines. Early FMSs were large and very complex, consisting of dozens of
Computer Numerical Controlled machines (CNC) and sophisticated mate-
rial-handling systems. They were too expensive and they were controlled by
incredibly complex software.
Currently, the trend in FMS is towards small versions of the traditional
FMS, called flexible manufacturing cells (FMC). Today two or more CNC
machines are considered a flexible cell and two or more cells — a flexible man-
ufacturing system. The progress of computing machines allowed to introduce
a wide scale automation of all branches of industry and led to independent
development of automation processes:
— Automated Data Processing: the appearance of Automated Control
Systems and Computer-Aided Designing (CAD);
— Automation of Production Technology: the appearance of Numerical-
ly-Controlled Equipment, Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) and In-
dustrial Robots.
Thus, a flexible manufacturing system is a group of numerically-controlled
machine tools, interconnected by a central control system. The various cells for
machining are interconnected via loading and unloading stations by an automat-
ed transport system. Simply defined, it is an automated production system that
produces one or more families of parts in a flexible manner. Today, this prospect
of automation and flexibility presents the possibility of producing non-standard
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