An automated production line is a production organization form that uses an automated machine system to realize the product manufacturing process, evolving from continuous production lines.
Its characteristics include the automatic transfer of workpieces and the completion of processing, loading, unloading, and inspection by machine tools. Workers are responsible for adjustment and supervision, and the equipment operates at a uniform pace to achieve highly continuous production.
The control system has a "pre-stop" function, stopping the machine after one work cycle is completed and all moving parts return to their original positions. Auxiliary equipment includes cleaning machines, automatic workpiece inspection devices, automatic tool changers, automatic chip removal systems, and centralized cooling systems.
Development focuses on improving productivity and flexibility, with adjustable automated lines becoming a key research and development area. For example, there are integrated applications in fields such as the industrial production of edible fungi.
In the medical manufacturing field, automated production lines are also used in the processing of products such as dental crowns.
In the machinery manufacturing industry, there are automated lines for casting, forging, stamping, heat treatment, welding, machining, and mechanical assembly, as well as integrated automated lines that include blank manufacturing, processing, assembly, inspection, and packaging. The development of automated machining lines has been rapid, encompassing types such as automated lines for combination machine tools, automated lines for rotating bodies, and automated lines for rotors.
Complete equipment systems have been formed in non-cutting fields, such as high-speed forging hydraulic presses and multi-cylinder thin-plate forming hydraulic presses. The development of technologies such as CNC machine tools, industrial robots, and computers, as well as the application of group technology, are driving the evolution of automated lines towards multi-variety, small-batch production automation.