Study of inter-operational breaks impact on materials flow in flexible manufacturing system

Present development of advanced technologies in production and logistics, orientation for a customer needs and global, competitive market determines a creation of flexible manufacturing systems. Each FMS consisting of the automated and robotized subsystems of production, assembly, inter-operational transport and storage should be treated as a complete logistics system in which the efficient flow of materials is realized, at every stage of processing. The efficiency of the system is based on possibility of quick, automated retooling and reprogramming for the manufacturing of new products, especially in the production for individual order. Except that, according to modern concepts of enterprise management, one of the factors to improve material flow is to minimize unnecessary inter-operative interruptions. The inter-operational breaks include many factors: handling and transport, waiting for a technological operation and assembly, quality control, unpredictable failures. While technological times are almost impossible to shorten, all issues related with logistics are possible to improve. The inter-operational breaks don't create added value, they're only waste. They often remain outside the research sphere or are treated marginally as a loss included in the manufacturing process. The article describes study on an effective method of searching for negative inter-operational breaks in advanced manufacturing processes and eliminating them. Advanced software for off-line programming of machine tools, robots, automated transport and warehouse systems and general-purpose simulation software for production and logistics gives possibility to conduct research on limiting the impact of inter-operational breaks on FMS.