Flexible Manufacturing Systems Key Terms

Understand the technical terms before you start searching for information about a flexible manufacturing system

By Howard Robertson

A flexible manufacturing system (or FMS) is an important tool to improve the productivity of your company. An industrial flexible manufacturing system provides better flexibility in managing manufacturing resources and helps in reducing labor costs and idle time for the manufacturing process.

Whether you want to set up a flexible manufacturing system or educate yourself about it, you must understand the different technical terms that you will hear from the industrial engineering professionals.
This guide intends to familiarize you about certain popular technical terms, such as mass production, CAM and robots.

Lean manufacturing

This manufacturing concept was made popular by the Japanese manufacturing giant Toyota. This manufacturing approach improves productivity through continuous improvement in the inventory management process.
Try: Lean Manufacturing Guide.com is an online resource that offers information about the lean manufacturing technique. MAMTC, a manufacturing consultant firm, offers a glossary of technical terms in the field of lean manufacturing.

Mass production

As the name indicates, this is the manufacturing technique to produce many products in shorter time duration by implementing time-saving techniques. This technique also helps manufacturers to produce more products per hour and to lower labor costs.
Try: ThroughPut Solutions, a lean manufacturing training and implementation company, offers detailed explanation about the concept of mass production.

CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing)

As the name indicates, CAM is the technique to improve the productivity of a manufacturing company by implementing computer technology to assist the manufacturing process. An efficient CAM system also improves the flexibility of the manufacturing company to produce different types of products.
Try: MachineWorks, a leading provider of CAM systems, offers a glossary of technical terms, including CAM and CNC.

CNC (Computerized Numerically Controlled) machine

A CNC machine operates by means of a computer program. This computer program can be edited by a code known as CNC code. CNC machines are useful for metal cutting operations in various industries, such as automotive, aerospace and defense.
Try: Read through the glossary of technical terms at Digitech Engineers, a provider of turn key solutions in the field of CNC networks. In addition, you can also refer to the micromechanical machining key terms at the Department of Mechanical Engineering -Engineering Mechanics of Michigan Technological University.

Machining center

A machining center is the basic unit of a manufacturing system. It is a CNC machine that can perform various machining operations as per the computer program fed to it.
Try: Nagasaka, a reputable company in the automotive air-conditioning sector, provides a glossary that explains various manufacturing key terms including a machining center.

Robots

An industrial robot is a highly automated electromechanical device that can be programmed to provide a pre-defined motion in order to accomplish certain task.
Try: To understand the basics of a robot and various types of industrial robots, read through the glossary of technical terms at The Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) (PDF).

LAN (Local Area Network)

For an efficient operation of different FMS units in a company, these units must be connected through a LAN. A LAN is a group of computers and machining centers coordinated through a computer network.
Try: To understand the definition for LAN, you can read through informative websites, such as Vonage and PCTechGuide. wiseGEEK explains the difference between a LAN and the internet.