New processes: the flexible automation

>aims to produce more with less, thus using less
With the advent of the industrial revolution, workingresources and raw materials and with minimum
methods radically changed. From the early years ofwastage. The term lean production identifies a
the twentieth century, with the use of the assemblyphilosophy inspired by the industrial Toyota Production
line, modern society has changed completely, for goodSystem, which aims to minimize waste to annul them.
or evil.Lean principles are for example: the elimination of
But in recent decades, these concepts havewaste, specify precisely the value from the
undergone a major renovation, the old productionperspective of the customer; clearly identify the
methods are no longer cheap, so new concepts andprocess that delivered value to the customer and
new methods have been created. Now the neweliminate steps that do not add value; produce the
methods are called Just in Time, Toyotism (or Toyotaremaining steps that add value in a flow without
Production System), industrial automation, leaninterruption by organizing the interfaces between
manufacturing and flexible manufacturing systemdifferent phases; let the customer to pull the process -
(FMS). These seem only names, but in fact havenot to produce anything until there is a need, then
completely revolutionized the production processes indeliver that quickly; to pursue perfection through
factories and farms. The assembly line was based oncontinuous improvement.
the division of labor of the workers and the use of theThe automation of factories has also allowed to
conveyor belt. The benefits that the industry took fromfunction without the help of man, in an automatic
it, in terms of reduction of production time and costmachine tools through a computerized control and
savings were likely to push most of the industrialindustrial robots for machining and handling of parts.
companies to employ this method, which takes itsThis process was then added to the flexible
name from its creator, Henry Ford .automation (FMS), a system capable of automatically
The just in time method is an industrial philosophy thatproducing different products. This type of electronic
has reversed the "old method" of producing finisheddesign is one of the main characteristics of modern
goods for the warehouse waiting to be soldproduction systems.
(system-called "push") in the "pull" system for whichThese new methods are born from the need to adapt
only what has been sold or that we expect to sellto a new economic situation, especially after the oil
quickly should be produced. In this way, it is above all acrisis of the 70s. they have made the production more
policy of stock management, which aims to alleviate atlightweight and flexible and have increased the
most the stocks of raw materials and semi-finishedefficiency, but new techniques and new designs are
goods needed for production. In this way, any type ofalready been experiencing. In short, there is no longer
industrial processing, such as editing, assembly, wavethe factory with an assembly line, like in Charlie
soldering, fusion, are not carried out continuously, andChaplin’s movies, it is a dinosaur of the past,
as much as possible, but only when there is need andnow those buildings are in fact rediscovered by the
in the necessary amount.industrial archeology, memories of the recent past but
Toyotism, is a method of organizing production thatnot to forget though.