Answering the question, in flexible manufacturing, machines are designed to do multiple tasks so that they can produce a variety of products.
A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) refers to a production technique that is developed to easily adjust to changes in the amount and types of product that is being manufactured
It is an automated machine cell that is made up of different categories of processing workstations which are linked together with automated materials handling and storage.
A flexible manufacturing system can have a positive impact on production; it can also reduce a company's cost of production. A flexible manufacturing system can also be a major part of a build-to-order strategy whereby consumers can request to customize the product they desire.
This production method can be very expensive, buying and setting up the equipment that will perform such task will attract a higher upfront cost.
Also, humans are required to effectively control the operation of the flexible manufacturing system.
Some of the functions mainly performed by humans in this production method include
The idea behind a flexible manufacturing system was developed by Jerome H. Lemelson.
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