A CASE STUDY ON FMS

Presented by: Saurabh Kumar Bharti CAD-CAM, SEM., MT09CDM015

What Is A Flexible Manufacturing System?

A system that consists of numerous programmable

machine tools connected by an automated material handling system.

The

flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is a configuration of computer-managed numerical work stations where materials are automatically handled and machine loaded. It consists of CNC machines, a cell computer and a robot.

Equipment of FMS
Primary equipment

work centers

Universal machining centers (prismatic FMSs) Turning centers (rotational FMSs) Grinding machines

Process centers

Wash machines Coordinate measuring machines Robotic work stations Manual workstations

Equipment of FMS
Secondary equipment Support stations

Pallet/fixture load/unload stations Tool commissioning/setting area

Support equipment

Robots Pallet/fixture/stillage stores Pallet buffer stations Tools stores Raw material stores Transport system(AGVs,RGVs,robots) Transport units(pallets/stillages)

FMS different approaches

The capability of producing different parts without

major retooling .
A measure of how fast the company converts its

process from making an old line of products to produce a new product .

The ability to change a production schedule, to

modify a part, or to handle multiple parts .

FMS and FMC

Early FMSs were large and very complex, consisting of

dozens of CNCs and sophisticated material handling systems.

Currently, the trend in FMS is toward small versions of the

traditional FMS, called flexible manufacturing cells (FMC).

Today two or more CNC machines are considered a

flexible cell and two more cells are considered a flexible manufacturing system.

The Cell Controller

The cell computer (typically a programmable logic controller) is

interfaced with the microprocessors of the robot and the CNCs. The supervision and coordination among the various operations in a manufacturing cell is also performed by the cell computer. Control of each workstation
Distribution of control instructions to each workstation Production control Traffic control Shuttle control Work handling system monitoring

Tool control
System performance and monitoring

The Cell Robot

In many applications, the cell robot also performs tool

changing, staging of tools in the tool changer, and inspection of tools for breakage or expressive wear.
When necessary, the robot can also initiate emergency

procedures such as system shut-down.

A case study on FMS

How Does It Work ?
-By implementing the components of robotics, manufacturing technology and computer integrated manufacturing in a correct order one can achieve a successful Flexible Manufacturing System.

Introduction
Concept : A flexible manufacturing system including different cells Components:
Name of Device 5 Axis Robot Personal Compute Universal belt Conveyor Flexible Conveyor PLC device Sensors Motors Other Quantity and description 2 3 1 1 2 9(4 Contact Sensors,3 Optical sensors,1 Metal detector and 1 Non-Metal Detector) 3(1 Emergency stop and run push button)

ROBOTS
First 5 axis robot is in charge of picking and placing parts which are scanned by the barcode reader, and transfer them to the left side for machining or throw it to the conveyor for the other operations. This robot utilizes a vacuum gripper to pick the parts. Pneumatic Robot which contained a few reed sensors, used to set the limits for the pneumatic cylinder motion. This robot is using a general griper which can be close or open in each time. This robot just picks the parts which are detected by the Metal Detector sensor, placed before it. Hence, the duty of this robot is to pick the Metal-Coated parts, chosen by the sensor placed near it. Second Five axis robot which has the same specifications as the former one, used to pick the Non-Metal parts (which are detected by non-metal detector sensor on the big conveyor) from the flexible conveyor and place them into a rail way for the next defined operations. This robot placed on a special Nut and Screw system which is connected to a Motor using to turning the screw in case of moving the robot across the Big conveyor .

First robot

second robot

pneumatic robot

COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARES First Robot is controlled by a General PC, using a visual basic program to read the barcodes and also control the robots motion. For each part the program decide Where to be placed according to the parts barcode. The second 5-axis robot is controlled by a PC using special software which is named Robotica. Generally, this software has a GIU (Graphical User Interface) which can be used for programming the robot remotely. After writing the program, by pressing the Run Button on the program screen, each line transferred to the robot using a general RS-232 cable. Also we have another PC which is used to monitor the Main PlC , placed in an anti dust cabin for safety.

CONVEYORS We have 2 Conveyors, one general belt conveyor and one big flexible conveyor which are driven by two different Motors . The specifications of these two conveyors are as below:

63Cm 176Cm

11Cm 97Cm

PLCs Two different PLC devices : A Siemens S7-200 PLC with 5 inputs and 5 outputs , which is used as secondary plc device , just to transfer the fire signal to the second five axis robot. A Telemeqanic PLC with inputs and output , used as main PLC device for controlling the motors, conveyors, sensors and all other feedback signals.

Telemeqanic Micro TSX PLC

SIEMENS S7-200 PLC

REVIEWING THE SCENARIO

To run the system three parts are designed for three different operations. At

the first cell the scenario is collaboration of the barcode reader and the first robot. After inserting the part in the input place , the small conveyor start switch pushed down and the small conveyor runs. barcode, after that the conveyor stopped when the part reached the optical sensor on the belt conveyor.

After this the parts moves across the barcode reader for reading the parts

The Barcode reader Device

3 parts(1 Metal and 2 Non-metal with different barcodes)

 Regarding to the parts barcode, two different operations may have done.

Parts with barcode going to the box 1, other parts must thrown to the second flexible conveyors , these parts including metal and non-metal parts. Throwing parts into the flexible conveyor, they switch the optical sensor on which caused the big conveyor to turn on.

After a while the parts reach the metal detector sensor, in this case if the

part was non-metal, it passes the sensor and continue it out, otherwise the metal detector sensor send a signal to the main PLC and main PLC send signal to the pneumatic robot to catch the metal part.

 The non-metal parts continue their route until they reach the non-metal

sensor, at this time, the sensor send a signal to the main PLC and the main PLC send the required signal to the robot and also to the screw motion control, so the screw starts turning and the robot get close to the part which is in the conveyor waiting to be caught by the robot. During this operation, the PC which is used to control the second robot must be run and ready to send the program to the robot. The robot catches the part and after that the signal from the non-metal sensor goes off, so the screw starts in reverse direction by receiving a signal from the main PLC , and the robot throws the parts into a special rail at the end of the rout.

Metal Detector Sensor

Non-Metal Detector Sensor

Part Flow monitoring

It must be considered that by detection of any part (metal or non-

metal) by the special sensors ,the big conveyor stopped and waiting for part-received signal from the first sensor of big conveyor.
Beside this an alarm system designed to warn the operator if the part is

going to reach the sensor in improper position (if it stands vertically) . When the alarm optical sensor detected the part which stood vertically the alarm beep starts and warn the operator to correct the part situation(it must lays on the width of the part) and after that push start button for resuming the conveyor cycle.

In todays manufacturing units several PLCs are used to switch on or off robots ,conveyer belts and other part of manufacturing systems. The advantages of PLC in automated systems made PLC one of the main component of any Manufacturing unit.

Computer integrated manufacturing and PLC

An example of a simple and modern manufacturing

Swarf disposal Universal Machining Center AGV transport system 2 Raw Materials Area

AGV transport system 1

Host computer Universal Machining Center Head Indexing Machines Wash Machin e Coordinat e Measuring Machine

1
Piecepart Buffer Area

Assembly Cells 1&2

Finish Machie Cell

One Design + One Assembly Process = Multiple Models

FMS Example

When different models are designed to be assembled in the same sequence they can be built in the same plant. This maximizes efficiency and allows the company to respond quickly to changing customer

FMS Example
Through the use of reprogrammable tooling in the body shop, standardized equipment in the paint shop and common build sequence in final assembly, Ford can build multiple models on one or more platforms in one plant.

Body Shop

Paint Shop

Final Assembly

In the body shop, where the sheet metal comes together to form the vehicles body, flexibility means more than 80 percent of the tooling is not specific to one model. It can be reprogrammed to weld a car or a truck or a

In the paint shop, flexibility means robotic applicators are programmed to cover various body styles as they move through the paint booth with equal precision. This results in minimizing waste and environmental impact while maximizing quality.

In the final assembly area, flexibility means the build sequence is the same among multiple models on one or more platforms allowing for efficient utilization of people and equipment.

Thanks