Exploratory study on a universal workshop

The flexibility of the industrial workshop in performing a variety of fabrication jobs is considered. The relatively large amount of production time which is lost due to too much (production line) or too little (single jobber) machine specificity is cited. A best possible compromise between productivity and job flexibility is sought. An automated universal workshop is proposed. The individual fabrication units are described, taking machine tool manufacture as an example. The control system and materials handling system are depicted. Generalization to most mechanical construction tasks is regarded as feasible.