Soft-object technology for flexible machining systems (FMS)

Individual manufacturing sites are expected to become more demand-driven than plan-driven. Manufacturing industries are faced with the challenge of responding more rapidly to changing markets and evolving business opportunities. Focus of factory-floor information systems is on the operation of production equipment and the control of processes. There is no direct or regular communication with design and engineering systems. As a result, upstream information systems are unaware of factory-floor information details, such as the status of work-in-progress; records of past process performance; availability of appropriate tools, labor, and materials. Middle-level information systems, known as manufacturing execution systems, bridge this critical information gap between upstream and downstream activities