The perfect part. The Holy Grail of manufacturing today is to produce parts with absolutely no quality defects, zero scrap rate, and no time required for changeover to new product builds when required. This basic driving force behind manufacturing has now transformed into the Industry 4.0 concept of the ultimate flexible manufacturing line. A supply model where the end customer places an order, the factory immediately begins the manufacturing process to fulfill that request, the end product then ships directly to that customer and, of course, is delivered via a large drone launched out the top of an Amazon electric van.
Seemingly farfetched, does this notion bring to mind a science fiction movie where robots are building more robots? In truth, smart manufacturing technology is developing extremely rapidly. At FANUC’s robotics factory in Japan, robots are actually assembling their own motors in a lights out facility. Raw material arrives at the receiving bay, and finished, assembled and boxed product ship out the same bay. While the robots are not fully assembling themselves, the level of sophistication and intelligence in the process is truly a major achievement.