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Flexible manufucturing systems in practice
European Journal of Operational Research 39 (1989) 347-352 North-Holland
347
Book Reviews Roger BONETTO
Flexible Manufacturing Systems in Practice North Oxford Acad., London, 1988, ix + 208 pages The increase of demand variability and diversity during the last ten years has incited the industrial companies to adapt their production systems to the new market situation. Thus, more and more companies aim at taking profit of the recent advances in automation in order to manufacture small to medium product batches as efficiently as possible. In this context, the installation of a relatively new type of production facility, called flexible manufacturing system (FMS), is a possibility that has to be considered within the modernization process. This book is intended for non-specialists, working either in the industrial or academic world, who want to be introduced to the field of FMSs. The author has used his practical experience to illustrate with numerous examples as well the presentation of FMSs to some of the problems that occur when one wants to install such systems. The text is divided into ten chapters as follows. After a rather brief historical review of industry and computer science, the author describes the changes necessary to move from classical production methods to the most modern ones. The need for a higher level of integration is stressed. The main part of the book, chapter 4, is devoted to a descriptive introduction to flexible manufacturing and presents several types of cells and systems, including a few real examples. The problems related to reliability, maintenance and safety in FMSs, the organizational changes required when installing such systems and the economical aspects are then discussed. Finally, the author describes the design process of an FMS and especially insists about the errors that must be avoided at this stage. The end of the book deals with future developments in the field. It also contains a very short technical glossary. Of course, everything about flexible manufacturing systems cannot be summarized in about
two hundred pages. Nevertheless, in spite of its rather descriptive character, this book contains some important ideas as one can see in the following quotations: " T h e full advantage of FMSs will not be felt until a large part of the manufacturing is carried out in them", " . . . i t is useless...to consider automating a workshop without taking into account the automation of handling" and " A n FMS of any complexity will often be in 'abnormal' state and the work of the control system is to transform it into a ' n o r m a l ' s t a t e . . . " . It is also worthwhile to mention here that the chapter about reliability and maintenance is especially well written; the author may have experienced these kinds of problems in some of the FMSs described in this book! This book should be recommended to people who do know very little about flexible manufacturing. The best way of summarizing this review is may be to say that, in the book title, the words "in Practice" are much more important than the three others.
Philippe SOLOT Ecole Polytechnique Fbdbrale Dbpartement de Mathbmatiques CH-IO15 Lausanne, France F. H E L L E R , P. D R E N T H , P. K O O P M A N and V. RUS
Decisions in Organisations: A three Country Comparative Study Sage Publications, 1988, 250 pages Let me say first of all that I read this book with interest, and although I do not agree with all that is written, the authors should be commended for their efforts. The book describes a large and complex longitudinal study in 7 organisations in 3 countries i.e. United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia. A variety of decision problems were looked at using the same research tools. What is remarkable is that any worthwhile research results emerge.
0377-2217/89/$3.50 ~3 1989, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
347
Book Reviews Roger BONETTO
Flexible Manufacturing Systems in Practice North Oxford Acad., London, 1988, ix + 208 pages The increase of demand variability and diversity during the last ten years has incited the industrial companies to adapt their production systems to the new market situation. Thus, more and more companies aim at taking profit of the recent advances in automation in order to manufacture small to medium product batches as efficiently as possible. In this context, the installation of a relatively new type of production facility, called flexible manufacturing system (FMS), is a possibility that has to be considered within the modernization process. This book is intended for non-specialists, working either in the industrial or academic world, who want to be introduced to the field of FMSs. The author has used his practical experience to illustrate with numerous examples as well the presentation of FMSs to some of the problems that occur when one wants to install such systems. The text is divided into ten chapters as follows. After a rather brief historical review of industry and computer science, the author describes the changes necessary to move from classical production methods to the most modern ones. The need for a higher level of integration is stressed. The main part of the book, chapter 4, is devoted to a descriptive introduction to flexible manufacturing and presents several types of cells and systems, including a few real examples. The problems related to reliability, maintenance and safety in FMSs, the organizational changes required when installing such systems and the economical aspects are then discussed. Finally, the author describes the design process of an FMS and especially insists about the errors that must be avoided at this stage. The end of the book deals with future developments in the field. It also contains a very short technical glossary. Of course, everything about flexible manufacturing systems cannot be summarized in about
two hundred pages. Nevertheless, in spite of its rather descriptive character, this book contains some important ideas as one can see in the following quotations: " T h e full advantage of FMSs will not be felt until a large part of the manufacturing is carried out in them", " . . . i t is useless...to consider automating a workshop without taking into account the automation of handling" and " A n FMS of any complexity will often be in 'abnormal' state and the work of the control system is to transform it into a ' n o r m a l ' s t a t e . . . " . It is also worthwhile to mention here that the chapter about reliability and maintenance is especially well written; the author may have experienced these kinds of problems in some of the FMSs described in this book! This book should be recommended to people who do know very little about flexible manufacturing. The best way of summarizing this review is may be to say that, in the book title, the words "in Practice" are much more important than the three others.
Philippe SOLOT Ecole Polytechnique Fbdbrale Dbpartement de Mathbmatiques CH-IO15 Lausanne, France F. H E L L E R , P. D R E N T H , P. K O O P M A N and V. RUS
Decisions in Organisations: A three Country Comparative Study Sage Publications, 1988, 250 pages Let me say first of all that I read this book with interest, and although I do not agree with all that is written, the authors should be commended for their efforts. The book describes a large and complex longitudinal study in 7 organisations in 3 countries i.e. United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Yugoslavia. A variety of decision problems were looked at using the same research tools. What is remarkable is that any worthwhile research results emerge.
0377-2217/89/$3.50 ~3 1989, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)