On Safety of Workers in FMS Environments

Abstract

In today’s manufacturing systems, a high degree of automation, high reliability in operations, and low maintainability contribute significantly to an increase in productivity. Trends in manufacturing are now moving toward computer-integrated systems which use computers to plan the production schedules and control the operations of machines. Among those, several manufacturing industries have found flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) to be most promising. This is due to the fact that an FMS is able to automate most of the manufacturing processes, including the handling, storing, and retrieving of materials between workstations and storage areas. Several functions which used to be performed by human workers are now handled by machines as one result of these trends. However, while jobs are preferably assigned to machines where applicable, a number of workers are still found on the factory floor and they perform certain important functions such as installing and programming the machines, monitoring their operations, maintaining them, and repairing the malfunctioning equipment. Such preference in job assignments is also believed to reduce human errors which sometimes lead to injury-causing accidents. Here a question is raised whether the safety of workers in the automated systems is more than that in the traditional ones.