A manufacturing system is a collection of integrated equipment and human resources, whose function is to perform one or more processing and/or assembly operations on a starting raw material, part, or set of parts.

Different types of manufacturing systems may be identified; these include: single station cells; machine clusters; manual assembly lines; automated transfer lines; automated assembly systems; machine cells (cellular manufacturing); and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS).

A manufacturing system consists of the following components: production machines (plus associated tooling); a material handling system; a computer system for co-ordination and/or control; and human workers.

Machines can be classified according to worker participation in the task, as: manually-operated; semi-automated; or fully automated.

The following material handling actions may be distinguished: loading work units at each station; positioning work units at the station; unloading work units from the station after processing; transporting work units between stations; and performing temporary storage, if necessary, also.

Loading, positioning, and unloading work units are a group of material handling actions that are regularly performed together at individual workstations, and, as such, may be considered together.

Material transport systems involve passing work units between workstations by hand or in batches, by means of manual techniques or by using appropriate material transport systems.

There are two types of work transport, fixed routing and variable routing.

Workpart transport can be accomplished by means of pallet fixtures, work carriers, or direct transport.

Computer functions utilised in automated manufacturing include: the communication of instructions to workers; the downloading of workpart programmes; the control of the material handling system; the scheduling of production; the diagnosis of failures; the monitoring of safety; the maintenance of quality control; and the management of operations.

Humans supply direct and indirect labour to automated manufacturing systems.

Operational types include processing operations on individual work units, and assembly operations to combine individual workparts into sub-assemblies, or full assemblies.

The number of workstations in a manufacturing system exerts a strong influence on the performance of the manufacturing system, in terms of its workload capacity, production rate, and reliability.

System configuration, or the layout of the manufacturing system’s workstations, is also an important factor. Workstation layouts for fixed routing are usually arranged linearly, as in a production line, while variable routing layouts can have multiple configurations.

The level of automation deployed is an important characteristic of the manufacturing system.

The manning level of a workstation is the amount of time that a human operator is required to be in attendance at the workstation in question.

 In manufacturing systems the manning level produces two levels for single station systems (manned and fully automated), and three levels for multi-station systems (manned, fully automated, and hybrid).

Part or product variety examines the manufacturing system’s flexibility for dealing with variations in the parts or products it produces. The cases of part or product variety in manufacturing systems are single model, batch model, or mixed model.

The flexible capability of the mixed model of manufacturing is an important determinant of the success of the manufacturing scheme that is adopted.

Single workstations come in two forms: manned workstations, and automated stations.

A multi-station system with fixed routing is a production line.

A multiple-station system with variable routing is a group of workstations organised to achieve some special purpose.

The single-station manned cell is the most popular type of single-station manufacturing cell owing to its flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and relatively quick set-up and maintenance characteristics.

The machines in single-station manufacturing cells are usually manually or semi­operated.

The single-station automated cell consists of a fully automated machine that can operate unattended for a time period longer than one machine cycle.

Enablers for unattended cell operation include (for all models): a programmed cycle, a parts storage subsystem, the automatic transfer of work parts, periodic attention of worker, and built-in safeguards; and (for mixed models): a work identification subsystem; a programme downloading capability; and a quick set­up changeover capability.

The length of time that the automated cell can theoretically operate unattended can be calculated by considering storage capacity and the cycle time of the automated cell in question.

The time of unattended operation increases directly with storage capacity.

If storage capacity is greater than one workpart, unattended operation is feasible when load/unload tasks are accomplished in less time than the machine processing time. This often requires innovative parts storage system design.

Numerous examples of both manned and automated single-station cells can be given, right across the manufacturing environmental spectrum.

The number of workstations that are required is determined by the total workload that must be accomplished over a certain period, divided that by the hours available on one workstation during the same period; together with a consideration of any mitigating factors.

A machine cluster is defined as a collection of two or more machines producing parts or products with identical cycle times and serviced by one worker.