What Is a Factory Automation System?
A Factory Automation System (FA system) is a general term for systems that automate industrial operations such as factories, distribution warehouses, and plants.
The main purpose of FA systems are to reduce manpower by saving labor, to avoid hazards, to improve quality by increasing processing accuracy and reducing processing variation, and to increase profits by improving processing speed.
Uses of Factory Automation System
FA Systems are used, for example, to move objects that are too heavy, too large, too small, too irregularly shaped, too hot, too cold, or too large to be handled by humans. FA systems can also be used to process objects that are too hard or soft for humans to handle with high precision, or to perform tasks that are dangerous to humans.
FA Systems cover four basic areas: processing, assembly, material handling, and management. They combine machines to safely and reliably perform tasks that would be dangerous or impractical for humans to perform.
Since the quantity, shape, material, procurement form, processing details, and other characteristics vary depending on the company installing the FA system and the products it handles, it is often built as a custom-made product to match the requirements of each company.
Principle of Factory Automation System
Examples of FA system equipment include stockers, conveyors, parts feeders, processing machines, and inspection machines. These are combined and constructed as a system.
There are various types of systems, ranging from specially designed systems to simple customized versions of general-purpose machines. Therefore, the scale and budget are the basic guidelines for considering the introduction of a system.
1. Stocker
Stockers refer to equipment used to temporarily store materials, and mainly consists of a loading entrance, a storage section, and an unloading entrance. Equipment ranges from semi-automatic equipment that relies partly on human labor and partly on automation to fully automatic equipment that performs everything automatically. Selection and specialized designs are made according to the shape, size, weight, etc. of the product.
2. Conveyor
This term refers to equipment that transports materials between machines or processes. They are selected or specially designed according to the shape, size, and weight of the items to be conveyed.
3. Parts Feeder
A parts feeder is a device that supplies parts for processing or assembly. For example, a parts feeder that feeds screws to a screw fastening machine aligns the direction of many screws that are fed in separately and feeds them one by one to the screw fastening machine.
4. Processing Machine
This term refers to equipment that processes materials through certain processing presses, including bending presses, punching presses, cutting, assembly, welding, etc. Since there are a thousand different combinations of processing details, types of materials, sizes, shapes, weights, etc., it is common practice to prepare such equipment after detailed discussions with FA suppliers to determine specifications.
5. Inspection Machine
Inspection machines are mainly used to check the quality of processed products. Generally, inspectors are composed of a combination of inspection equipment and conveyance/positioning equipment, such as laser length measuring machines that measure physical size, image inspection equipment that visually detects scratches and irregularities, force/torque measuring equipment, and temperature measuring equipment, depending on the inspection target.
Other Information on Factory Automation System
Application of Factory Automation System
In today’s FA systems, FA devices or systems prepared for each process are often connected via Ethernet or other means. An increasing number of business establishments are building systems to manage schedules and costs by consolidating information on raw material usage, processing quantities, work-in-process quantities, defective quantities, etc., and centrally controlling the entire factory.