A generic tool management system architecture for Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS)

Considering the fact that Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) should be able to accommodate a variety of different parts in random order, tool management at cell level and tool transportation, tool data management, tooling data collection, tool maintenance, and manual and/or robotized tool assembly at FMS system level are very important. Tooling information in FMS is used by several subsystems, including: production planning, process control, dynamic scheduling, part programming, tool preset and maintenance, robotized and/or manual tool assembly, stock control and materials storage. The paper summarizes the major tasks to be solved when designing tool management systems for FMS, as well as gives a solution for describing the data structure of a tool data base integrated with a generic tool description method, and shows a sample transaction of the way the FMS real-time control system can access and use this data base.