Concept of a manufacturing system

Abstract There is no single concept of a manufacturing system covering all industries in every detail. It is necessary to examine the fundamental properties and characteristics of a range of systems and to consider the way they are synthesized and operated before consolidating general conclusions. What is seen depends very much on the viewpoint and the narrowness of the focusing range. Nevertheless there is much to be gained from a fundamental study of-all aspects of manufacturing systems and their interactions since there are opportunities for technology transfer between industries Manufacturing systems must be designed by taking into account both steady state and-dynamic performance, whilst ensuring there is an adequate number of controllable variables to compensate the effects of uncontrolled disturbances. The technological process part of the manufacturing system is synthesized from interacting unit-operation subsystems, and this itself is a subsystem of the overall business system. The business system has a complex multivariate nature and for its effective control it is important that information flows and plans or set points are well defined to allow people to be effective controllers of the system. System design and system control must be effectively integrated.