ABSTRACT

Figure t t.2 Lathe with automatic part handling robot (Courtesy of Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc.).

An attractive feature of cells, from a labor expense standpoint, is that one person can usually operate more than one machine. However, this mode of operation means that the individual machines must be capable of performing tasks that were previously accomplished by the person who was running the machine. One example of this type of requirement is a relatively simple housekeeping task. In many cases, it is necessary to have an automatic mechanism to discard the chips that are generated during the machining operations. If this waste material is not controlled it will accumulate and cause serious problems. If these accumulated chips are not kept away from the moving parts of the machine it is likely that some mechanism will become jammed which will bring production on that machine to a rapid halt.