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 parameters as tool wear, product quality, and the conditions of machine operation. Assembly cells, much like the machining cells, will be equipped with multiple manipulators fashioned after present industrial robots, together with an automated transfer system for movement of assemblies (Nitzan and Rosen, 1976). One ultimate program goal, explicitly stated, was to design a system "capable of self-diagnosis and self-reproduction ... [and] capable of expansion" (Honda, 1974).

Following this initial study, MITI in 1977 initiated a 7-year national R&amp;D program at a funding level of 12 billion yen (about $57 million) to develop, establish, and promote technologies necessary for the design and operation of a "flexible manufacturing system complex," a prototype

Figure 5.42.—Computer-managed parts manufacturing.