Formation of a generic technique for manufacturing systems monitoring

To enhance resources utilisations, dispersed manufacturing systems are getting popular presently. With such systems, the connections among worldwide-dispersed activities are often made by telephones, emails and facsimiles, etc. to overcome some geographical barriers. It is very clear that knowledge of fabrication status is very important to a world-class manufacturer because fluctuations in fabrication processes can directly affect other operations, as most operations are interknitted in someway. Traditionally, computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) techniques have been applied; however, the complicated hardware/software integrations and signal conditioning requirements digest a significant amount of resources. The objective of this research is to develop a new methodology, which needs little configurations, by making use of simple counting devices attached at transition points along a fabrication line to count the number of entities that have passed. With the help of the formulated mathematical model, both the quantitative and the qualitative matters in a manufacturing system can be monitored. A problematic location can then be identified accordingly.