Cellular Manufacturing has been proven to be an economic, efficient and lean approach bringing flexibility into machining areas.
Corresponding solutions use several basic machines that are adapted to the machining task in a right-sized equipment approach. However, the
use of basic, low cost machinery providing just necessary functions results in a relatively high manual operation effort. The preferred approach
in order to reduce manual work in production is automation. Traditional automation of man-machine systems – especially in western countries
– tends to be comprehensive and thus often complex and expensive. A low cost, lean automation intelligently being adapted to the individual
task, as well as a decision method for choosing the tasks worth being automated, is required.