Advanced Manufacturing Systems: Characteristics and Examples

The advanced manufacturing systems they refer to the generation and use of knowledge and innovative technology for the creation or improvement of products, processes, services and components that have a high added value and great potential to impact the market.

They are a set of technologies with a high level of efficiency, which allow great flexibility in activities related to planning, design, execution and control of operations. They aim to improve materials, systems, media and processes, covering all stages of production.

In today's competitive and demanding world, companies need to manufacture products that exceed the expectations of customers in terms of quality, service and cost.

As a consequence, they need to be increasingly efficient to stay in the global market. Therefore, they should take advantage of avant-garde knowledge and technologies as much as possible, replacing traditional manufacturing.

The most important thing for companies is to maintain a high competitive level. For this they must take into account many factors, such as: cost reduction, increased productivity, improved product quality, flexibility, among other elements.

characteristics

Interaction of people-machines and machine-machines

The manufacturing models have evolved, from specialized automation processes, with an isolated robotization, to another with more complex and autonomous processes, thus encompassing the whole value chain of products, with a connected robotization and with new protocols of interaction between people and machines, and between machines and machines.

Therefore, these systems arise from the evolution and union between different operative technologies, linked to the automation of industrial processes and the new platforms of information technologies, such as the Internet of things, the new generation of networks, computing in the cloud, artificial intelligence systems and large data analysis.

Use of technologies

These technologies make extensive use of the computer, as well as information technologies and high precision, all integrated into a high-performance workforce.

It is a manufacturing system capable of producing a heterogeneous mix of products, either in low or high volumes, with the same efficiency of mass production, and with the same flexibility of manufacturing by order, in order to respond Quickly to the demand of the customers.

They have been developing under the highly competitive Internet framework. Its use has been led by international corporations specialized in the computer industry, the automotive industry and industrial automation.

The development of these systems has been limited to countries with a geopolitical vision of new technological platforms, a sophisticated digital and industrial ecosystem, and strong partnerships between the private and public sectors.

Advantage

The implementation of these systems offers multiple advantages in different areas of a company. Among the main advantages we have:

Design

• They reduce the time of conceptualization and design of the product.
• Optimize the quality of the design.

Production

• Improve the use and organization of the plant.
• They enlarge the capacity of the plant.
• They reduce the cost of manufacturing.
• Shorten machine preparation times.
• They increase the reliability in the technological systems and in the manufactured product.
• Increase the quality of the product.
• They reduce the size of the production lot.
• The number of machine tools decreases.
• They make production more flexible by volume.
• They reduce waste.

Human Resources

• They reduce the cost of labor.
• They facilitate organization, improving communication flows.
• Increase operator productivity

Commercial - marketing

• They offer quick answers to the needs of the clients.
• Rapid positioning in the market.
• They reduce delivery times.
• Increase sales and market coverage.

materials

• Reduce inventory levels and the variety of components.
• They reduce the handling of materials.

Disadvantages

It requires a lot of industrial and technical preparation to implement an advanced manufacturing system, such as:

• The facilities for the implementation must be available.
• Hire trained personnel for its use.
• Achieve a management commitment (among other variables) with this technology.
• The equipment and technology are extremely expensive, although in the end they are going to reward profits for the company.

Among the main impediments to its expansion are:

• The uncertainty about how these technologies are going to evolve.
• The exclusive access of these technologies only to large companies with standardized production processes.
• The lack of personnel with essential skills (for example, large data analysis) and qualified and specialized human resources.
• The difficulty of agreeing the standards for interoperability.

It is expected that in the short and medium term new technologies will displace low-skilled jobs, requiring human resources with new skills to manage and manage these systems, so the effect on employment will be negative in traditional sectors .

Examples in companies

The advanced manufacturing systems described below are those that are currently being used most by different companies worldwide.

CAD

Computer Aided Design (CAD) uses a computer to improve the manufacture, development and design of products and allow simulating the operation of a product before its manufacture.

CAM

In Computer Assisted Manufacturing (CAM) the computer is the one that will directly control the manufacturing team, instead of the human operators.

This eliminates human errors and reduces the cost of labor. They give constant precision and optimal use of the equipment.

ERP

The Planning of Resources for the Company (ERP) integrates all the information and the computer processes of an organization. A known example of an ERP system is SAP R3.

CNC

Computer Numerical Control (CNC) allows to produce more precise quality standards, implementing flexible production schemes, but without sacrificing productivity. The necessary production conditions for each product are defined through the computer.

The visual systems are equipment with optical sensors with capacity to recognize images. They are used for the detection of manufacturing defects, for the selection and automatic classification of objects and to verify packaging specifications.

High precision measuring systems reduce the tolerances of design specifications, generating articles with solid designs and longer durations.

FMS

Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS), where there is enough flexibility to react in case of expected or unexpected changes.

They combine automation, modular design and cellular manufacturing to mass produce a wide variety of designs in the same product.

Main sectors and companies with advanced manufacturing

These companies are world leaders in their respective sectors, thanks to the use of these systems.

• Automotive industry: Toyota, Ford, Chrysler, G.M., Volkswagen, Honda.
• Auto parts and automotive equipment: Robert Bosch, Denso, China South, Hyundai.
• Aeronautics: Boeing, Airbus, China Aerospaces, United Technologies.
• Electrical equipment and components: General Electric, Siemens, ABB, Honeywell.
• Electronic industry: Samsung, LG, Sharp, China Electronic.
• Machines and tools: Deere, Caterpillar, Atlas Copco.
• Machinery, automation and robotics: Siemens, Panasonic, Hanwha.
• Hardware equipment: Apple, Samsung, HP, Cisco.
• Semiconductor industry: INTEL, Samsung, Qualcomm, Toshiba.

References

1. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (2018). Advanced manufacturing Taken from: en.wikipedia.org
2. Miguel Nava (2014). ADVANCED MANUFACTURING SYSTEM. Taken from: prezi.com.
3. Monica Casalet (2018). Advanced manufacturing: characteristics, international strategies: Impact of MA in aeronautics. Flacso Mexico Taken from: cepal.org
4. G I Siller, G Ibarra, JL García-Alcaraz, D Rivera (2012). Benefits of the implementation of advanced manufacturing technology: Key factors of success. Conference paper. Taken from: researchgate. net
5. Mario Castillo (2017). The state of advanced manufacturing. Competition between the platforms of the industrial Internet. Productive Development Series No. 217. United Nations - ECLAC. Taken from: giz-cepal.cl