自动化专业英语20-徐存善.pptVIP

Automation Automation Assembly line An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned logistics to create a finished product much faster than with handcrafting-type methods. The best known form of the assembly line, the moving assembly line, was realized into practice by Ford Motor Company between 1908 and 1915. Mass production via assembly lines is widely considered to be the catalyst which initiated the modern consumer culture by making possible low unit costs for manufactured goods. Consider the assembly of a car: assume that certain steps in the assembly line are to install the engine, install the hood, and install the wheels (in that order, with arbitrary interstitial steps). A car on the assembly line can have only one of the three steps done at once. After the car has its engine installed, it moves on to having its hood installed, leaving the engine installation facilities available for the next car. The first car then moves on to wheel installation, the second car to hood installation, and a third car begins to have its engine installed. If engine installation takes 20 minutes, hood installation takes 5 minutes, and wheel installation takes 10 minutes, then finishing all three cars when only one car can be operated at once would take 105 minutes2. On the other hand, using the assembly line, the total time to complete all three cars is 75 minutes. This is possible because there are 3 different installation stations, an engine station, a hood station and a wheels station. Because it takes 20 minutes to finish work on the engine while it takes only 15 minutes to complete the installation of both the hood and the wheels, the bottleneck is at the engine installation. Hence, additional cars will come off the assembly line at 20 minute increments. Assembly lines dont increase the speed of producing a single unit, but only increase rate when there