Analysis of flexible machining cells for unmanned production

In this paper the effective use of a single NC machine with multiple functions is discussed in order to pursue fully-automated, unmanned production. A problem maximizing the number of workpieces to be machined as a primary objective, as well as maximizing the tool life as a secondary objective, is formulated under the limited capacity of the tool magazine, the available processing time, the restricted machining force, etc. This problem is solved by applying the decomposition procedure. A numerical example is given to show the practical applicability of the proposed algorithm.