A typical FMS typically consists of three subsystems. They are processing systems, logistics systems, and control and management systems. The block diagrams and functional characteristics of each subsystem are shown in Figure 12-17. The organic combination of the three subsystems constitutes the energy flow of a manufacturing system (changing the shape and size of the workpiece through the manufacturing process), the material flow (mainly the workpiece flow and the tool flow) and the information flow (information and data processing of the manufacturing process) . The processing system is the execution system in the FMS that actually completes the change of physical tasks. The machining system is mainly composed of CNC machine tools, machining centers and other processing equipment. The processing equipment in the system has standard interfaces that can be connected with other subsystems in three aspects: workpiece, tool and control. From the various flexible meanings of the flexible manufacturing system, the performance of the processing system directly affects the performance of the FMS, and the processing system is the most expensive part in the FMS. Therefore, the proper selection of the processing system is the key to the success of the FMS. 1. Processing system configuration and requirements At present, there are mainly two types of workpieces for metal cutting FMS: prismatic (including box-shaped, flat-shaped) and rotary (long-axis, disc-shaped). For machining systems, FMS is usually used for machining prismatic workpieces from vertical and horizontal machining centers, CNC combined machine tools (CNC-specific machine tools, interchangeable spindle box machines, modular multi-power CNC machines, etc.) and pallet exchange. The device is composed of a numerical control lathe, a turning center, a numerical control combined machine tool, a loading and unloading robot or a robot and a bar material conveying device. The processing system of small FMS is composed of 4 to 6 machine tools. The configuration of these CNC machining equipments in FMS is alternately (parallel), complementary (series) and mixed (and series), see Table 12- 1. Nonwoven Industry,Woven Material,Nonwovens,Nonwoven Fabric Myriad Corporation , http://www.wxfoil.com
Figure 12-17 Composition of a flexible manufacturing system 
Table 12-1 Comparison of machine configuration forms and features Previous page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next page