Assembly Automation

Emerald Article: Direct input and output system: another secret underlying
Fanuc's unmanned factory
Yoshihiro Kusuda

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To cite this document: Yoshihiro Kusuda, (2008),"Direct input and output system: another secret underlying Fanuc's unmanned
factory", Assembly Automation, Vol. 28 Iss: 2 pp. 115 - 119
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 Feature

Direct input and output system: another secret

underlying Fanuc’s unmanned factory
Yoshihiro Kusuda
Associate Editor, Assembly Automation

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to describe the fundamental concept of Fanuc’s 720 h unattended continuous manufacturing system. It pays special
attention to the material-handling system, direct input-output system (DIO system) created by Tetsuro Mori, Seibu Electric, Japan, that is the integral
part of the unmanned factory besides intelligent robots. Also it refers to the origin of the term “mechatronics” – how Tetsuro Mori coined it.
Design/methodology/approach – Based on an interview with Tetsuro Mori, the report describes how he conceived the system and how Fanuc
employed the concept throughout its production facilities.
Findings – The DIO strategy not only will be beneficial for the big corporations like Fanuc, but also it will be useful for smaller enterprises.
Originality/value – Although many reports were published on Fanuc’s unattended manufacturing system they only talk about the intelligent robots and
apparently forget to mention the role of the unique concept of the material-handling system that made the unmanned operation possible. The report
elaborates the secret of the system. Also, probably, the report is the first one outside Japan that discloses how the term “mechatronics” was born.

Keywords Materials handling, Assembly, Robotics

Paper type Technical paper

Fanuc’s 720 h unattended manufacturing system
In order to respond to the boost of orders from all over the
world, Fanuc is now increasing its production capacity. The
company will construct a new plant for N/C equipments by
2008 in Oshino, Yamanashi that will produce 30,000 NCs
monthly (currently 17,000). The production capacity of
servo-motors is also increased to 150,000 units/month nearly
doubled from the current level. For industrial robots Fanuc
will invest several billions of yen in 2008 to increase its
monthly production capacity to 3,000 robots from the current
2,000 by adding assembling facilities in its main plant. For
wire EDMs, injection molding machines and CNC drilling
machines new production facilities are to be added in
compliance to the increased production.
For these new production lines Fanuc will employ Fanuc’s
renowned “720 hours unattended manufacturing system”
“Robot Cell” concept.
Fanuc unveiled the system at 36th International Symposium
of Robotics 2005 (Hariki et al., 2005). Figure 1 the system
comprises of four-six machining centers, a fixture palette
transfer machine, intelligent robots and an automatic
warehouse with a stacker crane that stores casting work-piece,
half-finished and finished parts and fixtures, all in one single
warehouse together regardless the nature. The warehouse
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Assembly Automation
28/2 (2008) 115– 119
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0144-5154]
[DOI 10.1108/01445150810863680]
automatically delivers work-pieces to the intelligent robot in
accordance with production schedule. The intelligent robot
grasps the work-pieces delivered from the automatic warehouse
by using its vision and force sensing capabilities and loads them
to the machining fixtures. The intelligent robot then loads the
work-pieces to the machining center for succeeding machining,
or delivers them back to the warehouse for temporal storage for
later machining. After finishing machining the intelligent robot
unloads the machined part, a robot takes care of deburring,
another robot cleans the machined part, and delivers them back
to the automatic warehouse. The system is capable of
continuous operation for 720 h a month, at 24 h a day, and 30
days a month without any human attendance and intervention.
Before the introduction of intelligent robots the work-piece was
mounted on the fixture by human workers. For example, in
order to realize unattended operation of a factory for, say 48 h
during week end, human workers had to finish the preparation
of all the fixture palettes with work-pieces in advance. And extra
storage space would be needed for fixture palettes required
during the unattended time spun. Therefore, long time
unattended factory operation is not achievable. Intelligent
robots eliminated this problem. Once operators stock work-
pieces and or parts in the warehouse, then the automatic
production starts. While the machining centers are machining
work-pieces, the intelligent robot is preparing another work-
piece positioned on a fixture as is required. Now the system can
operate continuously 720 h, ten times longer than in the past,
and the production cost is cut by 40 percent.
The intelligent robot is also used for assembling parts.
Three robots are working in coordination to assemble a small
robot. An intelligent robot takes out some 50 different kinds
of parts selectively from a box delivered from a warehouse in
which parts are piled up randomly. The robot can handle

115
 DIO system: another secret underlying Fanuc’s unmanned factory Assembly Automation
Yoshihiro Kusuda Volume 28 · Number 2 · 2008 · 115 –119

Figure 1 Fanuc’s 720 h unattended manufacturing system

Machining center

Workpiece warehouse

Machining jig
pallet stocker Handling robot

Deburring robot
Pull bolt mounting/dismount

Cleaning robot Tilt indexing unit

Deburring and cleaning process Machining jig pallet carrier Workpiece mounting/dismount

relatively fragile plastics parts accurately in position by subtle
adjustment of applied force. The other two robots pick up
screws and drive them in tightly. In the past the operator had
to teach in the detailed program to grasp a part individually
from one to the other. The intelligent robot can perform a
certain task autonomously that was not pre-programmed.
At a glance over the unmanned system, it is the intelligent
robot cell that might easily catch the eyes of visitors. However,
the visitors should not overlook another secret that underlies
the unmanned production system. In this system no
conventional transportation facilities likes of folk-lifts and
automatic guided vehicles are to be seen. There is no
distinction between a material/parts warehouse, an
intermediate warehouse and finished products warehouse.
There is one warehouse for everything.
An automatic stacker crane inside the warehouse takes care
of all the required transportation tasks, from the storage to
machines, from machines to storage, from machines to
machines storage, etc. That is to say, the warehouse with the
automatic stocker crane plays the role of “material flow
conversion process” rather than mere material storage. It
really control the flow of materials – material/parts, half-
finished parts, finished products – in the production line.
This unique material handling system, called direct input
output system (DIO system), is a product of Seibu Electric
Co. Ltd (Koga, Fukuoka, Japan) www.seibudenki.co.jp/e-
index.html
corporate slogan “ Ultra precision and mechatromation”
under his leadership. Currently, the business scope of the
company encompasses material handling, electric actuators,
EDMs and precision lathes. The company has total sales of ¥17
billion in 2006 and 440 employees.
DIO system that signifies a production system, that utilizes
a stacker crane not as a mere storing and retrieval equipment
of a warehouse, but as a transportation equipment directly
connecting storage and production machines (Figures 2 and 3)
the features of the system is:
.
An automated warehouse with a stacker crane is installed
at the center of a factory floor.
.
Machines are arranged around the warehouse and inlet
and outlet holes corresponding to the machines are made
on the side of the ware house.
.
The warehouse stores everything related to the
production – materials, parts, half finished products,
finished goods, fixtures, etc.
.
A computer controls the material storage and material
flow of the DIO system. It commands the stacker crane to
take care of transportation from storage to machines, from
Figure 2 Direct input output system

Seibu’s DIO system

The DIO system that supports the 720 h unattended
manufacturing system was developed, manufactured and
delivered by Seibu Electric Co. Ltd of Japan. The company
was established in 1939 for manufacturing and sales of electric
equipments for coal mines and material handling machines.
The CEO, Tetsuro Mori (currently supreme advisor of Seibu),
transformed the company from a mediocre machine
manufacturer into a high-technology company with a

116
 DIO system: another secret underlying Fanuc’s unmanned factory
Yoshihiro Kusuda
Figure 3 DIO system at Seibu Electric
machines to storage, from a machine to another machine,
stock in storage, ship out, etc.
The DIO system provides following advantages to users:
.
simple and compact mechanical configuration. Neither
folk lifts nor AGVs are used;
. good space utilization;
.
easily adaptable to system change, modification and
expansion; and
.
easily up-gradable to highly automated system.
Seibu makes custom-made systems to meet the client’s
individual requirements, but also provides a series of
standardized DIO systems. A typical configuration is:
1 , 15 machining centers, up to maximum 11 ton
weighing work-piece, storage locations 2 £ 3 £ 20 minus
numbers of in- out stations. Smaller systems for one machine
is also available for job-shops (Figure 4). The DIO systems
have been delivered to a variety of production lines, such as
machining lines, assembling lines, press lines and smaller job
shops. One of the unusual applications is for a factory for
photograph film production where unmanned operation is an
absolute must since lighting is not available. Another is for a
pharmaceutical plant where transportation among sub-
production processes located on multiple floors. Seibu has
delivered more than several 100 systems. Major buyers of
Figure 4 DIO for small jobshop
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Assembly Automation
Volume 28 · Number 2 · 2008 · 115 –119
DIO system include prominent companies like Fanuc,
Yamazaki Mazak, Okuma, Yasda and NiigataMachineTechno.
Interview with Tetsuro Mori
Assembly Automation magazine made an interview with Tetsuro
Mori, the creator of DIO system and currently Supreme
Advisor of Seibu Electric in an attempt to learn how DIO
system was born (Figure 5). “When I joined Seibu Electric in
1981, it was the time everybody in the manufacturing
community was talking about the sate of the art production
system of USA, flexible manufacturing system (FMS), and
“factory for the future.” I myself visited many of those systems
to learn what was about. Among them, I was amazed at and
totally overwhelmed by the FMS of Fanuc. Many of most
advanced machines were scattered all over a vast factory floor,
automated guided vehicles are running between storages and
machines and a gigantic central computer controls the
production flow . . . It is a kind of a dream factory. However,
I got convinced that that is not the way for a smaller enterprise
like Seibu to go. The required investment is simply too big.
The space utilization is not good due to the utilization of
conveyor lines. Modification and or expansion of the system
would not be easy. I do not like a centralized data-processing
approach. Potential safety problem lurk in AGVs. The
maintenance would not be easy . . . We need a more practical
solution. Without it smaller corporation like Seibu would be
left behind the global competition. A lot of medium- and
small-sized manufacturing company has no propriety
products. Many are just dependent on bigger companies. In
the middle of the age of “uncertainty” no body can predict the
change of the demand of the market. A rigidly structured
system would become obsolete easily and had to get scrapped.
We must establish a flexible, cost-effective FMS for smaller
corporations. I kept contemplating and contemplating what a
practical solution would be.
I happened to be looking at a LSI chip packaged in a dual-
in-line package (Figure 6). It was when it occurred to me:
“That’s it!”
Unlike discrete electronic components such as resistors,
capacitors, etc. LSI has no external connections. Inside LSI-
Figure 5 Tetsuro Mori, creator of DIO system and “Mechatronics”
 DIO system: another secret underlying Fanuc’s unmanned factory
Yoshihiro Kusuda
Figure 6 Dual in line package
data bus plays the role of communication passage through
which all the data are going back and forth. Data exchange
with external devices is done through centipede-like input and
output pins.
Why not borrow the idea to production system. Generally, a
factory consumes expensive floor space for passages of
transportation vehicles, storage of material and half-finished
goods and so on that is not directly related to production
itself. Suppose that machine space occupies 20 percent of the
factory floor and the height of overhead crane is twice as high
as the machines, the space utilization factor will be 0.2 £ 0.5,
only 10 percent.
Seibu Electric had been marketing automatic warehouse
systems for material distribution for years. The warehouse
system using a stacker crane as transportation equipment,
proved to be of benefit to space saving and productive
material distribution.
It is taken for granted that material, half-finished product,
finished product, fixtures, etc. were arranged separately along
the flow of production, and conveyors and/or carts fed them
to a succeeding production process. What happens if we put
an automated warehouse just at the center of the plant that
has everything for production and delivers the goods to
surrounding machines, when the machine requires ?
The warehouse system uses a stacker crane as a
transportation equipment, to store goods with better space
utilization, and more productive material distribution. The
warehouse for the production line stores everything. Each
storage position has address assigned by a computer that
commands transportation of work-pieces from the storage to
machines, from machines to machines, and also fixtures from
storage to machines. Human workers for transportation are
no more necessary. The layout of a factory, once established,
will easily adapt to various production flow. And swarf
disposal can be performed by an additional conveyor
underneath the storage. Now over-head cranes, folk lifts and
swarf disposal carts are no more necessary Space utilization
and time utilization as well as human safety are all improved.
Production control is done by a PC dedicated to this system.
I named the system “Direct Input Output System” since it
directly stores parts in and retrieve them out. In 1982, Seibu
constructed the first DIO system in its own factory. It was a
big success. It eliminated variety of issues described before.
The DIO system is no more regarded as a mere “storage” but
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Assembly Automation
Volume 28 · Number 2 · 2008 · 115 –119
as, a “material flow conversion process” in a production line.
Since, then I kept appealing the DIO concept to the world.
One day I happened to have an opportunity to make a
presentation on DIO system to Dr Seiuemon Inaba (then
CEO, Fanuc). Dr Inaba immediately recognized what DIO
system is all about and decided to switch Fanuc’s FMS to
DIO-based system. Not only for the coming new projects,
Hayato plant and Tsukuba Plant, DIO systems were
employed to refurbish the existing FMSs at the main plant
of headquarters, the EDM plant (the current laser plant), the
injection molding machine plant, the robotics plant. I cannot
keep myself from admiring Dr Inaba’s insight. He dictated to
combine the DIO system with Fanuc’s intelligent robots to
automate loading and unloading of work pieces to and from
fixtures so that 720 h unattended continuous operation of
manufacturing became possible. I believe this is a revolution
of manufacturing. I feel compelled to say it is a great honor
for me that the DIO system can contribute to the realization
of the unmanned system. Yamazaki Mazak has been
employing DIO system for its world-wide strategy. However,
with the planned expansion Fanuc will be the biggest user of
DIO system” (Figure 7).
How “mechatronics” was born
Tetsuro Mori is known as the creator of the word
“mechatronics”. AA learned how “mechatronics” was born.
Mori joined Yaskawa Electric in 1946, and since then played a
visionary role in the process where the company was
transformed from a mere industrial motor manufacturer
into a mechatronics-robotics company now. (Yaskawa
Electric’s major business now is Motoman robots and
motion controls.) His original background is welding and
production engineering. In 1963, he developed a metal pipe
cutting/joining machine “Pipemat.” The machine joins two
metal pipes with different diameters at an arbitrary joining
angle automatically. The trajectory of the joint is a
complicatedly formed 3D curve. From given diameters of
each pipe and joining angle, an analog computer calculate the
3D joining trajectory and commands DC servo-motors to
drive a pipe cutter and then a welder accordingly. This
machine might be called the origin of Yaskawa’s Motoman
robot business. He also created electrically driven actuators,
Figure 7 An unmanned factory
 DIO system: another secret underlying Fanuc’s unmanned factory
Yoshihiro Kusuda
Motofinger, Moptohand and Motoarm by employing
Yasakawa’s expertise in servo control technology. To
promote electric motion control he applied them to
Cartecian coordinate robots for sale. As he was convinced
that the day would come when the fusion of electronics and
mechanics establishes a new industry and technology he
coined the word “mechatronics” in 1969. The
“mechatronics” was registered as a registered trade name of
Yaskawa Electric Corp in 1972[1]. At first, the concept of
mechatronics seemed a little ahead of the time, but around
1980s some people began to use “mechatronics” and it
gradually began to get popularity, and nowadays everybody
uses it to represent the new emerging technology and
business. Being aware that “mechatronics” is now a favorite
word even in the general public, Yaskawa Electric waived the
extension of the trade name right so that everybody can use it
freely now.
Closing words
In 1971 Mori, then the Executive Vice-President of Yasakawa,
established a new division “Automation Equipments
Division” for mechatronics products for automation and he
himself assumed the Division Manager to materialize the
concept into business.
Mori contributed to the birth of the robotic industry. In
1974, ASEA of Sweden unveiled IRB6, the world-first,
electrically driven, micro-processor controlled, vertically
articulated robot. The new robot caught Mori’s eye while
the robot community in other world did not give much credit
to the new type robot. Impressed with innovative idea, he
ordered Yakawa R/D people to develop a robot that is based
on the principle, but should achieve increased performance
than IRB6. Yaskawa came up with Motoman L-10, the
Japan’s first, electrically driven, micro-processor controlled,
vertically articulated robot. Mori, out of his welding
background, foresaw that automobile industry would use
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119
Assembly Automation
Volume 28 · Number 2 · 2008 · 115 –119
more and more lighter structure composed of arc welded
metal sheets in order to reduce the fuel consumption. L-10
was specifically designed to arc welding application and
marketed to arc-welding users. Immediately after the sale of
L-10 started in 1978, it became a big hit. 1,000 L-10 was sold
in a year. That was the beginning of Yasakawa’s Motoman
business.
Up to the time Japanese robot manufacturers had been
using hydraulic/pneumatic drive, primitive coordinate system
such as Cartecian cylindrical-polar coordinate and simpler
electronics. Shocked with the success of the new robot, they
got in the band wagon, switching to the new technology,
electric servo-motor driven, micro-processor controlled,
articulated coordinated robots. Of Japanese robot industry,
1980 was the break out year. The Japan Robot Association
named the year 1980 as Robot Year One.
After his stint at Yasakwa Mori assumed the presidency of
YE data, the first floppy disk drive manufacturer in Japan, and
that of Seibu Electric. Throughout his career Mori devoted
his life into the mechatronics industry. His name is to be
remembered not only as the creator of the term “
mechateonics” but also as one of the pioneers of
mechatronics industry.
Note
1 Trade mark registered, Japan 946594.
Reference
Hariki, K. et al. (2005), “Long-time unattended
manufacturing system with intelligent robot”, Symposium
Digest 36th International Symposium on Robotics, p. 138.
Corresponding author
Yoshihiro Kusuda can be contacted at: kusuda_itnl@ybb.ne.jp