Page 118 - Modular design for machine tools

80 Modular Design Guide and Machine Tools Description

Importantly, the machining complex is, in part, an extension of com-
pact FMC, which is capable of turning, milling, grinding, gear cut-
ting, and so on and has substantially greater flexibility in the
machining method apparently showing no need to use modular
design. In general, this interpretation is acceptable; however, often
the manufacturer needs to use modular design to respond promptly
and appropriately to the manufacturing requirements of the user,
although there are some crucial problems in designing the module
under the complex loading.
3. Variant 3: different- kind generating type. In the past, the different-
kind generating type was applied to the large-size machine tool; how-
ever, nowadays this type is no longer popular, because a new trend
is to integrate multifarious machining and/or processing functions
within a machine itself. As a result, the renowned kind of this vari-
ant is that of the machining complex or processing complex. In short,
a factory may consist of a machining or processing complex only
instead of a group of machines having different machining and/or pro-
cessing functions or even the conventional MC and TC, simultane-
ously rendering the modular design useless. At present, the concept
and methodology of this type are somewhat applicable to the design
of the processing complex.

2.3.2 Modular design in the very near future—
a symptom of upheaval of new concepts
It appears that modular design is now approaching its fourth develop-
ing phase, in which the driving force is, in wider scope, the growing
importance of localized globalization in manufacturing. Obviously, the
production system can be run by the operator of multiple nationalities,
and thus the “ease of use” facet in the modular design under sustain-
able growth should be emphasized. In fact, there have been a handful
of innovative proposals to enhance the compatibility of modular design
with the production environment under localized globalization. It is
thus vital to describe in detail the concept so far proposed and recently
seen in the design guides.
Remanufacturing- oriented type. With the growing importance of world-
wide environmental problems, the disposability of the production facil-
ity becomes a crucial subject more than ever before, and modular design
is obviously required to enhance reasonable disposability. As can be read-
ily seen, disposability is one of the core branches within remanufactur-
ing. At burning issue is thus how to enhance the remanufacturability of
the machine tool, where remanufacturability can be defined as a synergy
of reduction, reuse, and recycling. Within a remanufacturability context,