Microfactories; new applications of micromachine technology to the manufacture of small products

Abstract

Concepts of microfactories consisting of microdevices made by micromachine technologies are discussed. A microfactory is a small production system whose size is very small with respect to the dimensions of the small products. Typical examples of microfactories are classified according to production types. Microfactory systems have a great possibility to innovate the production systems of small products by making the best use of the inherent properties of the systems such as miniaturized facilities, mobility and flexibility. The microfactory saves energy, manufacturing space and mineral resources with decreasing size of the factory facilities.

Miniature Modular Manufacturing Systems and Efficiency Analysis of the Systems

“…In 1999, AIST developed the first prototype of a microfactory that consists of miniature machine tools and miniature manipulators. (Fig.1) The microfactory was able to perform a series of fabrication and assembly within a small desktop [2,3]. The result of the test production led us to conclude that the microfactory had considerable capability of micro mechanical fabrication.…”

“…d) Increase of speed and positioning accuracy due to decrease of inertial forces. These features can be implemented to systemize various type of future manufacturing systems, which were extracted from an investigation [2]. Those are on-site manufacturing, mobile manufacturing, manufacturing under extreme condition, and so forth.…”

Designing energy-efficient serial production lines: The unpaced synchronous line-balancing problem

“…As noted by Despeisse, Oates, and Ball (2013), "for some manufacturing industries (e.g., manufacture of motor vehicles, electrical machinery, radios, medical equipment), building related energy (i.e., space heating and lighting) contributes to approximately 40-60 percent of the overall energy consumed." Kawahara et al (1997) have indicated that a reduction in the size of production systems has a considerable impact on the consumption of environmental energy, "owing to the decrease of spaces for illumination and air-conditioning, and the number of the operators." Specifically, they noted when the production equipment is reduced by 50 percent, the total energy saving in typical factories could be reduced from 18 percent (household electric appliance manufacturing) to as much as 71 percent (watch manufacturing).…”

Open Production: Chances for Social Sustainability in Manufacturing

“…In fact, micro-factories are a technological enabler of the paradigm-shift. They enable anyone to manufacture almost anything as they represent small production systems [2]. Until now, micro-factories and their chances for social sustainability is a rarely considered topic [3,4].…”