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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 March 2009
The centre of a Flexible Manufacturing System is its computer control. This paper identifies the component parts for computer control and explains how they have been combined to produce a turnkey cell controller, which provides the intelligence requirements to control cells utilising up to six resources that may be a combination of numerically controlled machine tools, inspection machines, workstations, robots, etc. It provides for various types of part/tool transport and schedules the parts movement within the cell. A second computer handles part programme information within the cell and also gathers management information during the cells operation.