Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) current diffusion and main advantages

The FMS statistical data bank was prepared at IIASA to analyze flexible manufacturing systems in the world. Apart from identification data, the bank includes 24 main variables concerning FMS application, technical complexity, economic and operation data, and relative advantages. The total number of systems included is 400, which accounts for 60-70% of the FMS world population. The FMS distribution over the variables is a main form of analysis. The portrait of a ‘typical FMS’ becomes clear from this investigation, which also gives a description of the most sophisticated cases and national peculiarities. This paper presents an important conclusion, i.e., that FMS installations can be divided into two flows: mass-type systems and experimental, sophisticated ones.