Raising the bar for tomorrow ’ s standards
The new standard for flexible manufacturing with modular systems
The markets are changing , and thus so are the requirements of the process manufacturing industry . Whether it is fluctuating demand , more customised products or smaller batches , manufacturers need to respond more quickly and flexibly . Here , Bradley McEwan , business development manager at automation and control technology specialist Beckhoff UK , discusses how software and modular hardware enables easy integration of technologies , like robotics and vision , that were once considered ‘ standalone ’.
Flexible manufacturing is a modern approach that emphasises adaptability , responsiveness and customisation in the production process . Unlike traditional mass production , where the focus is on producing large quantities
8 FDPP - www . fdpp . co . uk of identical products , flexible manufacturing systems can efficiently handle small to medium-sized production runs and easily adapt to changes in product design or customer requirements .
Enabling manufacturers to quickly switch between different products without incurring significant downtime or retooling costs , the move towards flexible manufacturing happened before the destruction of the supply chain , pandemic and global wars . In fact , a major driving force behind the move was because of short run times and manufacturers wanting to test the market with products , owing to end users promoting seasonal events , such as Easter and Christmas .
Machine life cycles
Typical commercial products , such as shampoo , used to have a life cycle of between three and five years . Therefore , it was financially viable for manufacturers to buy machinery solely for a single product that has a long-life cycle .
Now , we are now seeing a significant decrease in the life cycle of commercial products , which is paving the way for flexible manufacturing . Manufacturers are no longer tied to a product line for the same amount of time , instead they require a production line that consists of at least two or three products .
The advent of Industry 4.0 kickstarted the need for machines