| Analysis of five- and six-machine micro-factory layouts for micro-pump productivity improvement Murali Subramaniyam, Sangho Park*, Jong Kweon Park
The Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology, vol. 24, no. 11, pp.2269-2273, 2010
Abstract : In the present study, analyses of two micro-factory layouts were performed to improve its micro-pump production rate and efficiency.
For the purpose of the analysis, the two layouts, Layout A (existing) with five micro machines (including one micro milling machine)
and Layout B (proposed) with six micro machines (including two micro milling machines), were constructed in the virtual environment.
First, Layout A was simulated to predict the production time and to calculate the production rate and efficiency. The robot-arm waiting
time, which was considered as the bottleneck, had a significant effect on the production rate. Second, to alleviate this bottleneck, we introduced,
based on the robot-arm reach envelope concept, another micro milling machine to the Layout A, and named this new scheme
Layout B. In the results of our analysis, Layout B improved the production rate by about 1.88 times and enhanced the efficiency by a
factor of 1.57.
Keyword :
Micro factory; Micro pump; Production time, Production rate; Robot-arm waiting time
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