Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Vol-2, Issue-3 , 2016 ISSN : 2454-1362 , http://www.onlinejournal.in Imperial Journal of Interdisciplinary Research (IJIR) Page 176 Performance Evaluation of Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) in Manufacturing Industries Rohit Pandey 1 , Nishant Sharma 2 & Arvind Singh Tomar 3 1,2&3 Assistant Professor, Mechanical & Automation Engineering Deptt. Amity University, Gwalior (M.P.)-474005, India Abstract: - A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) incorporates numerically-controlled machine tools, robots, automated material handling systems, and automated inspection and self diagnostic facilities into a single production system whose integration is under the control of a hierarchical information system network. On one hand, the benefits of implementing FMS result in production maximization and prevent stations from being idle. Present era demands an efficient modelling of any manufacturing system that can enable it to cope with the unforeseen situations on the shop floor. One of the complex issues of these manufacturing systems that affect the performance of the manufacturing system is the scheduling of the part types. In this paper, authors have made an attempt to overcome the impact of uncertainties such as machine breakdowns, deadlocks. FMS offers lower carryover effects when stations interrupt, and also lowers the cost of maintaining spare part inventories due to the fact that similar equipment can share components. The goal of this paper is to Performance Evaluation of FMS in Manufacturing Industries. Keywords: - flexible manufacturing system (FMS), Flexibility, Manufacturing. I. INTRODUCTION FMS is actually an automated set of numerically controlled machine tools and material handling systems, capable of performing a wide range manufacturing operations with quick tooling and instruction changeovers. FMS differs from the conventional systems in terms of flexibility in the flow of materials from one tool to another and performing the operations as per the required sequence. Each part can follow a variable route through the system. In a nut shell, flexibility in material handling, in combination with multipurpose tools, makes it possible for a flexible manufacturing system to process a great diversity of parts. A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) is essentially a computer-controlled production system, which brings together different standalone machines and control equipment capable of processing a variety of part types or jobs. FMS ensures quality product at lowest cost while maintaining small lead-time. So, firms adopt FMS as a means of meeting burgeoning requirements of customized production. Main purpose of FMS is to achieve efficiency of well-balanced transfer line while retaining the flexibility of the job shop (Stecke, 1983, 1985). A flexible manufacturing system (FMS) has four or more processing workstations connected mechanically by a common part handling system and electronically by a distributed computer system. It covers a wide spectrum of manufacturing activities such as machining, sheet metal working, welding, fabricating, scheduling and assembly. There are some scenarios in scheduling of parts in FMS where adequate slack is provided in the system to negate the undesirable impact of interruptions and need not requires any rescheduling. The slack time is defined as the difference between the cycle time and the elapsed/processing time. However, there are a number of situations where the slack in the system affects the performance of the system and require corrective measures. In this regard, the authors have developed extrapolative schedules, which efficiently take care of the disruptions on the shop floor and retain the high performance value of the system. II. LITERATURE REVIEW [1] Hitomi et al. (1989) discussed the design and schedule problem of flexible manufacturing cell with automatic setup equipment. An Optimal queuing network model with general service time and limited local buffers have been studied. [2] Yao and Buzzacott (1985), they also evaluated the performance of the FMS. Choi et al. (1988) evaluated the traditional work scheduling rules in FMS with a physical simulator.