Flexible manufacturing of robotic cross-laminated timber panel machining operations

Off-site construction addresses housing challenges, but issues like inventory imbalances and fluctuating demand necessitate solutions like flexible manufacturing systems (FMS). The just-in-time (JIT) methodology enhances FMS by ensuring real-time material alignment, reducing variability in supply and demand. This paper presents a conceptual and experimental methodology for robotic machining of cross-laminated timber panels within FMS, integrating JIT principles from lean manufacturing. This method inputs the tool path and the system’s independent variable, time, as a user-defined target time for production. Based on this, dependent variables such as robot speed, acceleration, operation sequences, robot selection, and tool changes adapt to meet demand fluctuations. The algorithm is tested in a virtual simulation with realistic features and a real-world robotic environment, analyzing predicted vs. actual machining times. The results highlight the method’s effectiveness, achieving 86% accuracy in virtual simulation (realistic environment) and 91% on a physical robot (singular environment) between predicted and actual machining times, confirming its reliability for precise robotic machining. This demonstrates the algorithm’s accuracy in managing manufacturing demand fluctuations, thereby preventing delays, overproduction, or slack.