A vertical machining center is usable in combination with a horizontal machining center in a flexible manufacturing system with no incompatibility of their pallets. This should be attributable to the provision of a vertical pallet designed to clamp a horizontal pallet thereon. The vertical pallet includes, inter alia, a pallet base with a cylinder recess, a pallet saddle provided above the pallet base and removably holding the horizontal pallet therealong, the pallet saddle movable between an up position wherein the horizontal pallet remains unclamped and a down position wherein the horizontal pallet is clamped against the pallet base, and an actuator for causing the pallet saddle to move between the up position and the down position.
A flexible manufacturing system utilizing modular work stations configured to provide asynchronous operations on a plurality of work pieces mounted on fixtures or pallets that are transported through the system by means of a conveyor or rail arrangement. The pallets are diverted from the track on which they are transported linearly to a desired machining module adjacent to, but removed from, the track, such that the machining is performed in a chamber isolated from the track. Each machining module may be utilized in more than one location on the track and the modules may be interchanged depending on the desired operation sequence and the tools available in each of the machining station modules.
