JPS6047059B2 - Production method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION J This invention relates to a method for producing a wide variety of unspecified types of workpieces using one automated production facility.

Conventionally, in casting and forging machines, metal processing machines, automatic assembly machines, etc., preparation work, especially change of setup for processing different workpieces, takes time, so it is necessary to shorten the time individually. Efforts are being made, but there is a common belief that setup changes take time, and it is not uncommon for setup changes to be carried out by concentrating workers and employing a man-force strategy, as in Kuroyama.

Additionally, a dedicated automated line is generally limited to only one type of workpiece, but if multiple types of workpieces need to be mass-produced to a certain extent, progress has been made in the direction of providing dedicated automated lines for each type of workpiece. ing.

Recently, efforts have been made to process similar workpieces by limiting the types on the same automated processing line and using shared equipment, but it takes at least several hours to change the setup. are doing.

In order to avoid this problem, attempts have been made to quickly replace the machining head, but the idea is fixed for a single machine, and it takes a considerable amount of time to replace the machining head.

In this invention, for an unspecified number of workpieces, each machine in an automated processing line is changed over according to the flow of the workpieces, and as soon as the processing of the current workpiece is completed, a new workpiece is flown through the entire line.

That is, the purpose is to provide a production method in which old and new workpieces flow together on a line. In this invention, a guide is provided directly or indirectly between the processing unit and the machine base parallel to the flow direction of the workpiece, and a pedestal having a guide similar to this guide is provided between adjacent machine bases so as to be freely attachable and detachable. The processing unit is mounted on the machine stand or another slide on the machine stand, and a moving device is provided to feed the workpiece from a direction perpendicular to the flow of the workpiece and to slide and fix the processing unit on the guide. The old workpiece is sent to the next process with a signal to exchange the old and new workpieces to the processing equipment in the configuration, and at the same time, during the machining takt time, the processing unit is sent in the opposite direction to the flow direction of the workpiece to exchange the old and new processing unit. This is to complete the setup change, so that the new workpiece will flow when the old workpiece finishes flowing. This production method will be explained below with reference to the drawings.

Figures 1 to 6 are symbolic representations of the layout of the processing line, with Figure 1 showing a state in which a certain workpiece is flowing and being processed, and Figures 2 to 5 showing the setup. The changes are shown in sequence, and Figure 6 shows the flow of the new work. Reference numerals 1 to 6 each represent a machine stand, and on both sides of the machine stand, processing units 1A to 6A for performing processing such as machining or assembly are provided. Processing units 1A to 6A each equipped with a device for processing a workpiece 7A are provided with a kite on the machine base so as to slide toward the workpiece 7A indicated by a circle, and are fixed on a slide sliding into the kite. However, a pair of guides 8 that fit into each other are provided between the slide and the processing units 1A to 6A in parallel to the flow direction of the workpiece 7A.

Although these guides 8 are shown as being on a plane in FIGS. 1 to 6, they do not necessarily have to be on a horizontal plane, but may be on a vertical or inclined plane. Also, the slide is work 7
Any form is sufficient as long as it is movable in order to perform processing toward A. Therefore, if the direction of machining applied to the workpiece is different for each machine with respect to the flow of the workpiece, then - Machine 1
Guide 8 is placed directly on the machine base without providing a slide for 6 to 6.
A corresponding guide is provided, and the machining unit, which is connected by a slide or tile or the like, is configured to engage with the guide so that the dedicated part of each machining unit for carrying the tool moves over the machining unit.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a state in which setup change preparation is complete, and machining units 1B to 6B are placed between each machine.

The processing units 1B to 6B are locked by fitting the guide portions onto the pedestals 11 to 16 (located below the processing units 1B to 6B, respectively in the figure) having the guides 9, respectively, in abutment with the guides 8. There is.

The pedestals 11 to 16 may also be used as standby stands for processing units.

That is, if it is considered to be next to the machine table in the flow direction of the workpiece, it is a standby table, and if it is considered to be in front of the machine table, it is a cradle. That is, although it has two functions as a standby stand and a cradle, they are the same. The pedestals 11 to 16 are positioned on the machine mounts 1 to 6, respectively, and can be freely attached and detached.

The guides 8 and 9 that the machine stands 1 to 6, the pedestals 11 to 16, and the processing units 1A to 6A and 1B to 6B have, respectively, are compatible with all the processing units of unspecified other workpieces and have a fixed size. I'll leave it as that.

A cradle 10 is placed in front of this line.

A processing unit transport device fixed to each of the machine stands 1 to 6 is provided, and each set of processing units 1A and 1B1 to 6A and 6B is moved in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the workpiece by half the distance between the machine stands. The data is sent to a distance of 1 pitch, which is a distance of 1. The workpiece 7A can be transferred by a normal pallet in one pitch such that it is stopped on each machine stand or between each machine stand, but it can also be directly mounted or conveyed by a conveyor belt.

It is precisely positioned and fixed on each machine via a pallet. FIG. 1 shows a state in which a workpiece 7A is being processed.

The workpiece 7A is processed by each processing unit 1A to 6A, and when the processing is completed, the workpiece 7A is processed by the pallet and the space between each machine is 2.
It is fed by 1/1 pitch, fed twice, and processed by the next process machine.

Preparations for setup changes are made without stopping the processing line.

Processing unit 1B that should process workpiece 7B that should be fed next
The tools 6B to 6B are set at different locations, engaged with the pedestals 11 to 16, and then transported and positioned between the machining unit currently being processed and the machining unit for the next process. The guides 9 and 9 collide with the guide 8 into which the processing unit of the adjacent process is inserted and fixed, and these guides form a straight line. Therefore, the guides 8 and 9 are arranged alternately in a straight line in the direction of the processing line with their ends abutting each other.

Further, a cradle 10 is attached to the positioning machine pedestal 1 on the material input side of the guide 8 into which the machining unit 1A of the first process machine is fitted, with its guide 9 butted against the guide 8. The preparation for setup change is now complete.

There is no problem in processing the workpiece 7A in this state. When a new workpiece 7B to be machined is put into the line as shown in Fig. 2, when the workpiece 7A on the machine stand 1 finishes machining, each workpiece 7A on the line is fed one pitch and the workpiece 7B is placed on the machine stand 1 and fixed, but a detector is provided on the workpiece transport device in front of the machine stand 1 to identify the workpiece 7B as the workpiece 7B moves.

In response to this identification signal, the processing unit transport device releases the fixation of the processing unit 1A via the control device, and at the same time, the processing units 1A and 1B are combined as a pair and engaged with the transport device in the opposite direction to the flow of the workpiece. At the same time, the machining unit 1A moves on the guide to the first pedestal 10 in the machining line, and the machining unit 1B moves on the guide to the machine stand 1 and is fixed thereon.

Therefore, the pedestal 11 between the processing units 1B and 2A is only a pedestal without any processing unit.

This is shown in FIG.

The workpiece 7B is processed on the machine stand 1 and sent twice, and then comes on the machine stand 2.

When the workpiece 7B is confirmed by the detection mechanism of the workpiece 7B during the second feeding, the processing unit conveyance device fixed to the machine base 2 is operated via the control device to perform processing in the same way as the processing units 1A and 1B. Units 2A and 2B are sent in the opposite direction to the work flow, and unit 2B is fixed on machine stand 2 to complete the exchange.

In this way, as the first workpiece 7B flows, processing units 3A, 3B14A, 4B15A, 5B16A, and 6
B and B are sequentially exchanged on the machine.

During this time, the workpiece 7B flows following the workpiece 7A. The state after the setup change is completed is as shown in FIG. Next, together with each pedestal, processing units 1A to 6A and pedestal 16
When each is removed and stored in a separate location, the result will be as shown in Figure 6.

As explained above, when using this production method, there is no need to prepare a dedicated line for each work, so the equipment cost is low, and the line is less likely to stop, so work inventory can be reduced, and normal Since the preparations are made only by the maintenance personnel, there is no need to create plans that require complicated manipulation with a large number of personnel during setup changes, or to work over holidays.
``Simply by introducing a new workpiece into the processing line, setup changes are made along with the flow of the workpiece, which has the effect of greatly reducing manpower and improving the operating rate.

Furthermore, since the machining unit is preset at a separate location, there is no tool setting on the machine, and tool setting is extremely efficient. In the above explanation, it seems that the machine including machine stands 1 to 6 is fixed, but any machine including machine stands 1 to 6 can be replaced, and the machine itself has a hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical control device, etc. as a unit. It is being done.

Of course, machines that perform special processing may be used in a fixed manner. Note that the case where the workpiece flows in a square shape is also a combination of the above methods in which the workpiece flows in a straight line, and a drawing corresponding to FIG. It is shown in FIG. 7 using the same symbols as in FIG. 2.

In the figure, each machine is adapted to be placed on the scaler as a single-headed machine with a processing unit on only one side. Furthermore, if the corner cradle is made to turn at right angles, only one corner cradle is required. Next, examples of the above method will be described. FIG. 8 is a plan view of the machine including machines 1 and 2, FIG. 9 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 10 is a view between the machines seen from the same direction as FIG. 9.

Since the machines including machine bases 1 and 2 are made identical except for the respective multi-axis heads that match the workpieces, the following will be described about the machine containing machine base 1.

These common parts are also common to each machine including machines 1 to 6.

The machine base 1 has a guide surface on its upper surface parallel to the plane of the paper, and a slide 21 slides into this guide surface so that it can be moved left and right as shown in FIG.

The slide 21 is at the retracted end in the figure. A feed unit 22 is built into the machine base 1, and although the output end of the feed unit 22 is not shown, it is configured to engage with the lower end surface of the slide 21 and drive the slide 21. A power unit 23 is fixed to the upper surface of the slide 21. The power unit 23 is shown enlarged in FIGS. 11 to 13.
on the front of the power unit 23. 9, two rectangular guides 24 are installed in the power unit 23 so as to be removable and retractable, and a processing head 25 having a rectangular groove that engages with the guides 24 is attached. In addition, processing head 25A is used for machine base 1. Machining is performed for machine base 2.
It is indicated by the symbol 25A. An enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view of the processing head 25 is shown in FIG. An L-shaped pallet mounting jig 26 is fixed in the center of the machine base 1 when viewed from the direction of flow of the workpiece, and rectangular guides are provided at the top and bottom of the orthogonal sides of the pallet mounting jig 26, and plate-shaped A pallet 27 is fitted and fixed during processing.

Between the machine bases 1 and 2, there is a groove having the same width as the pallet mounting jig 26 and the same square guide groove as the pallet mounting jig 26, and the other shapes are similar to those of the pallet mounting jig 26. A pallet feed stand 28 having the same shape as the main body is installed with square guide grooves aligned.

When the machine base 2 is removed together with the devices attached thereto, the devices between the machines can be seen as shown in FIG.

Guide 2 similar to the front guide 24 of the power unit 23
9 is fixed to the front part, and is fitted into the guide provided between the machine bases 1 and 2 on the edge of both machine bases, and the front end is brought into contact with the stopper 30 provided on the machine base 1, so that the cradle 31 is fixed and can be freely attached and removed. Alternatively, although not shown, the pedestal 31 is allowed to move slightly on a guide at the edge of the machine so that the guides 24 and 29 abut against each other and self-center when the processing head moves. pedestal 31
A machining head 32 suitable for a new work to be machined is movably locked on the guide 29 of the machine. The guide 24 of the power unit 23 is located on the workpiece input side of the machine 1.
A pedestal 33 is provided which guides and supports a pedestal 31, which is the same as the pedestal, by aligning the guide with the pedestal.

The stand 33 is provided with a guide 34 into which the pedestal 31 is fitted and a stopper 35 for positioning. A cooling water unit 36 that integrates a cooling water tank and a pump is located between the machines and is fixed to the machine 1. There is also another pallet feed stand 28 on the stand 33 with a pallet mounting jig 26 in between.
is fixed. A head transport device 37 is fixed on the power unit 23 to move the processing heads 25 and 32 in a horizontal direction parallel to the front surface of the power unit.

Furthermore, a pallet conveying device 3 is mounted on the upper part of the pallet mounting jig 26.
8 is fixed. Details of the head transport device 37 are shown in FIGS. 15 to 17. FIG. 11 is a side view showing a partial cross section taken along the line A-A in FIG. 12, and the machine including the machine stand 1 can be seen from the front.

FIG. 12 is a front view of the power unit 23, and shows the first
FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 12. One end of four long screws 42 is screwed and fixed onto the main body 41 of the power unit 23, and the bolt hole of a motor base 43 having a bolt hole is inserted at the position of the long screw 42, and the motor base 43 is held and adjusted. Possibly nuts 44 and 45 are screwed on.

An electric motor 46 is fixed to the motor base 43, a V-pulley 47 is keyed to the shaft end of the electric motor, and an input shaft 50 is connected to the main body 41 with a bolt 49 parallel to the axis of the electric motor 46.
A belt 52 is wound around the V-pulley 51 which protrudes from the bracket 48 and which is fixed to the shaft end. On the side of the main body 41 opposite to the side on which the input shaft 50 is located, an output shaft 53 of a spline shaft projects into a recessed portion of the main body 41 . Although not shown, a power transmission mechanism is incorporated between the input shaft 50 and the output shaft 53. A claw clutch 54 is slidably fitted into the output shaft 53, and a retaining ring 55 is fitted into the shaft end groove.
is inserted to prevent the claw clutch 54 from disengaging. A spring 56 is fitted between the boss of the pawl clutch 54 and the stepped portion of the output shaft 53 to repel the pawl clutch 54 and push it toward the shaft end. Two square guides 2 are horizontally parallel to the front surface of the main body 41.
4 is fixed to the tip of two round rods 58 which are placed equidistant from the center of the output shaft 53 and are slid into bushes 57 which are press-fitted into holes drilled in the main body 41. These round bars 5
Reference numeral 8 indicates the main body 4 by an actuator (not shown) inside the main body 1.
The guides 24 and 29 can be moved in and out of the guide 1, and the guides 24 and 29 are in the same position at the most protruding position of the round bar 58. A positioning pin 59 is driven into the front surface of the main body 41, as shown in FIG. 1st
FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal section of the processing head 25.

A groove 62 that matches the outer square shape of the two square guides 24 is cut on the back surface of the main body 61 of the processing head 25, so that the guide can be slid into the groove 62. The end faces of the protruding portion constituting this groove 62 are finished to be exactly vertical both at the top and bottom, and the inner surface of the protruding portion is finished vertically in both the upper and lower sides. A bushing 63 is fitted into the pin 59 so that the bushing 63 fits precisely into the pin 59. At the center of the back surface of the main body 61, a shafted clutch 64 that engages with the pawl clutch 54 is supported by two bearings 65. The above points are common to all types of processing heads. A pin 68 that is fixed to an eccentric plate 67, which is an eccentric driving element, is slid into the opposite end of the shaft-equipped clutch 64 through a bush 66 that is press-fitted into a hole drilled at an eccentric position. On the front of the main body 61 are processing tables 73 and 74 that support various main shafts 69 with a metal 70 and thrust bearings 71 and 72.
are also fixed. A pin 6 is attached to one end of the eccentric plate 67.
One end of a crank 75 having the same eccentricity as that of the shaft clutch 64 is pivotally supported via a needle roller bearing 76 of the thrust bearing, and the other end of the crank is fitted with a bracket that is fitted into and fixed to the processing table 73. It is supported by a bearing 78 mounted on a shaft 77 . A crank 79 is fixed to the end of the main shaft 69, and a pin portion having the same eccentricity as the eccentricity of the pin 68 and the clutch with shaft 64 slides into the bush 80.
is press-fitted into the hole of the eccentric plate 67. FIG. 15 is a front view of the head conveyance device, FIG. 16 is a side view, and FIG. 17 is a view taken along the line C--C in FIG. 15.

At both ends of the upper surface directly above the square groove 62 of the main body 61 of each processing head, there are metal fittings 83 which can serve as non-return cam plates, positioned by pins 81 and 84 and fixed by bolts 82 and 85, as shown in FIG. and 86. L-shaped brackets are fixed to both sides of the main body 41 with bolts 92. As shown in FIG. 15, a round bar 93 forming two horizontally parallel slideways is located near the lower surface of the tip of this bracket 91, and its both ends are fitted into the holes of the bracket, and retaining rings 93 are inserted into the grooves at both ends. It is inset and fixed. Round bar 9
3 is a slide guide 95 using them as a guideway.
is slipping in.

Notches 96 and 97 towards the lower end of slide guide 95
are located close to each other with their vertical surfaces facing the vertical surfaces of the metal fitting 86 and the metal fitting 83B fixed to the main body 61 of the waiting processing head. The notches 96 and 97 have a locking pin 98 between them and the hole into which they are inserted, and are fitted into one of the locking grooves to prevent rotation, and a spring fixed to the bottom of the hole at the rear end and the top surface of the slide guide 95. It is constantly pushed out by a resilient spring 100 that comes into contact with the seat 99.A cable clamp 101 is fixed to the upper surface of the slide guide 95, and the cables 103 and 104 of the cable cylinder 102 whose piston rod is a flexible cable are fixed to the upper surface of the slide guide 95. One end of each cable 103 and 104 is fixed.The other ends of the cables 103 and 104 are fixed to both ends of the piston (not shown).This cable cylinder 102 winds guide wheels 105 and 106 which are pivotally supported near both ends. Hang cables 103 and 104
The cylinder lids 107 of the type that meet each other are attached to the brackets 9, respectively.
It is fixed at 1. This embodiment configured as described above has the following effects.

A case will be described in which a new work to be flown is loaded onto a pallet 27 and sent to the feed table 28 in front of the machine 1.

After the processing of the current workpiece being processed by the device on the machine stand 1 is completed, the pallet on each machine stand and between the previous processes is sent by the pallet conveying device 38. At this time, each pallet 27 is checked before proceeding, and the pallet holding the newly loaded workpiece is either equipped with a confirmation device to confirm that it is a new workpiece, or it is checked visually and manually. When a signal is issued, the round bar 5 is first activated via the control device.
8 is pushed out and engaged with the square guide 24 and the square groove 62
At the same time, the main bodies 41 and 61 are separated. Accordingly pin 59
is pulled out from the bush 63, and the engaged pawl clutch 54 and shaft clutch 64 are separated and become free. When the extrusion of the round bar 58 is confirmed by a confirmation device (not shown), pressure fluid is introduced into the cable cylinder 102 from the cylinder lid 107 on the left end in FIG. 15, and is discharged from the cylinder lid 107 on the right side. The cable 10 thus visible in the figure
3 is a cable clamp 10 that is pulled to the left and fixed.
1 to pull the slide guide 95 to the left on the round bar 93. The notches 96 and 97 of the slide guide 95 press the vertical surfaces of the metal fittings 86 and 83B, respectively, and simultaneously move the adjacent machining head 25A and machining head 32 through them to the left in FIG. 15 and to the left in FIG. Then move upward as indicated by the arrow. Processing head 32 located between machine stand 1 and machine stand 2
is on the pedestal 31, but the square guide 2 is lower than the square guide 29.
Slide and move to 4, machine. The processing head 25A on the machine stand 1 is completely inserted into the rectangular guide 29 of the pedestal 31 in front of the machine stand 1. Thus, when the cable cylinder 102 moves through its full stroke, the respective machining heads 25A and 32 are exchanged in front of the power unit 23, and the machining head 25A is housed in the pedestal 31 in front of the machine base 1. When the stroke end of the cable cylinder 102 is confirmed, the round bar 58 is retracted into the main body 41 and the machining head 32 fitted into the rectangular guide 24 is moved.
is guided by the bush 63 to the tip of the pin 59, and as a result of slight positioning movement, the bodies 61 and 41 are fixed in contact with each other at an accurate position. At this time, if the peaks and valleys of the claw clutch 54 and shaft clutch 64 do not match, the peaks press against each other, but the claw clutch 54 is pushed onto the splined output shaft 53 against the spring 56. Become. At the beginning of the rotation of the output shaft 53, the pawls of these clutches are pressed against the spring 56.
Since the clutch 54 is constantly pushing out the pawl clutch 54, it is always engaged. Next, the cable cylinder 102 is reversely energized and the cable 104 is pulled to the cable clamp 101.
The slide guide 95 moves from the left end to the right end in FIG. At this time, since the processing head 32 has already been drawn to the power unit 23, the notches 96 and 97 can return to their original positions without interfering with the metal fittings J83B and 86B (the metal fittings 86 of the processing head 32, not shown). become. When the workpiece leaves the machine base 2 and the machining head 25B newly moves onto the pedestal 31 between the machine bases 1 and 2, the notch 97 is inserted into the machining head 25B.
It engages with the cam surface of the metal fitting 83 of B, is pushed in against the spring 100, climbs over the metal fitting and protrudes again, and becomes shaped like the metal fitting 83B and notch 97 in FIG. 15. In this way, the replacement of the machining head is completed. 18 and 18 show other embodiments, in which FIG. 18 is a plan view and FIG. 19 is a front view of a machine constituting the method.

A feeding device is provided on the machine stand 111 so that a slide 112 slides into a guide on the machine stand 111 and is sent from both sides toward a pallet 114 which is engaged and fixed to a workpiece mounting jig 113. A head mount 115 is fixed to the slide 112 so as to be slidable on a guide 116 provided parallel to the flow of the workpiece. Waiting tables 119, 12 provided with guides 117, 118 that align with the guide 116 and form a straight line.
0 are arranged on both sides of the machine stand 111. Waiting table 118
Alternatively, if the machine having the machine stand 111 is a machine for the first process, it will be used exclusively as a cradle. The head mount 115 has a machining unit 12 that integrates a machining head and a power unit.
1 is installed. When the machines constructed in this manner are arranged adjacent to each other in a straight line, there is an advantage that a conventional type of so-called power unit can be used as a machining unit for carrying out the method shown in FIGS. 1 to 6. According to the previous embodiment, in addition to having the effects of the invention described above, for various types of unspecified workpieces, it is only necessary to replace the machining head or other machining head accordingly, and the power unit, feed unit, and slide unit do not change. Therefore, it is extremely economical and the equipment cost is low.

Also, since only the processing head is supported, the pedestal can be small.
Furthermore, since there is no control device on the processing head side, there is no need for one-touch switching hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, or other joints.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figures 1 to 6 are diagrams symbolically showing each state of the layout of the processing line, Figure 7 is another application example equivalent to Figure 2, and Figures 8 and below are drawings of embodiments. hand,
Fig. 8 is a plan view of the machine, Fig. 9 is a front view thereof, Fig. 10 is a front view between the machines, Fig. 11 is a side view showing a cross section taken along line A-A in Fig. 12, Fig. 12 is a front view of the power unit,
13 is a sectional view taken along the line B-B in FIG. 12, FIG. 14 is a longitudinal sectional view of the processing head, FIG. 15 is a partially sectional front view of the conveyance device, FIG. 16 is a side view thereof, and FIG. The figures are a view taken along the line C--C in FIG. 15, and FIGS. 18 and 19 are drawings of other embodiments of the machine, with FIG. 18 being a plan view and FIG. 19 being a front view. 1 to 6... Machine base, 1A to 6A, 1B to 6
B... Processing unit, 7A, 7B...
Work, 8, 9... Guide, 10 to 16...
...cradle, 21...slide, 22...
Feed unit, 23・Power unit, 24...
Square guide, 25, 25A, 25B... processing head, 29... square guide, 30... stopper, 31... pedestal, 32... processing head ,
33...stand, 35...stopper, 37...head transport device, 41...power unit main body, 5
4...Claw clutch, 58...Round bar, 59
... Zen, 61 ... Processing head body, 62.
... Square groove, 63 ... Bush, 64 ...
・Clutch with shaft, 83, 83B, 86...metal fittings,
93...Round bar, 95...Slide guide, 96,97...Notch, 102...Cable cylinder, 103,104...Cable,
107... Ulinder lid, 111... Machine base, 11
2... Slide, 115... Head mounting base, 116, 117, 118... Guide, 119
,120...Waiting stand.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. Production processes such as machining, inspection, cleaning, and assembling are comprised of a plurality of processing stations that are included as appropriate, and a workpiece is processed at each station and transported in one direction. In the processing line, standby stands are placed adjacent to each other between the machines that make up each station, a stand is placed in front of the machine for the first process, and a standby stand is also placed on the workpiece unloading side for the last process. While continuing,
A new machining unit for each station is placed in advance on the machining unit standby table adjacent to the workpiece unloading side of the current machining unit at each station, and when changing setups (workpiece changes), each station is sequentially moved from the first station to the final station. Immediately after finishing machining the current workpiece at each station, the current machining unit is unlocked from the machine base, and both this and the new machining unit on the standby stand are simultaneously moved in parallel in the direction opposite to the flow direction of the workpiece. The processing unit is carried out onto the standby stand adjacent to the work loading side, and the processing unit on the opposite side is carried out onto the pedestal, and the new processing unit is locked onto the machine stand.
By repeating the setup change operation that immediately starts machining a new workpiece, following the last one of the current workpieces and preceding the first one of the new workpieces, the gap between the current and new workpieces can be minimized. Finally, a shared production method for unspecified and various types of workpieces, which is characterized by completing setup changes without stopping the operation of the processing line. 2. The machining unit is divided into a machining head and a power unit, and there is a guide between the machining head and the power unit that engages and slides in parallel to the flow of the workpiece, and a guide that automatically engages and disengages to transmit power from the power unit to the machining head. A shaft joint is provided to perform this, and the power unit is fixed to a slide that moves on the machine table toward the workpiece, and only the machining head, which is a part dedicated to the workpiece, is moved in parallel in a straight line in the opposite direction to the flow direction of the workpiece. A production method according to claim 1. 3. A patent in which the machining head and power unit are integrated, and a guide is provided between the slide that moves toward the workpiece on the machine table in parallel with the flow of the workpiece and engages with the slide to replace the machining unit. The production method according to claim 1. 4. The production method according to claim 1, wherein each machine is arranged on a squarer and the processing units are exchanged for the lines on the sides forming each squarer.