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MACHINE CENTER. A group of similar machines which can all be considered together for purposes of loading. (See WORK CENTER.)

MACHINED SURFACE. A group of faces on a part that can be machined by a single process.

MACHINE TOOL. A powered machine used to shape a part, typically by the action of a tool moving in relation to the work-piece.

MACHINING CENTER. A numerically controlled machine tool, such as a milling machine, capable of performing a variety of operations such as milling, drilling, tapping, reaming, and boring. Usually also included are arrangements for storing 10 to 100 tools and mechanisms for automatic tool change.

MACHINING PROCESS. Any particular machining operation viewed as an indivisible activity for planning purposes.

MAINTENANCE. Any activity intended to eliminate faults or to keep hardware or programs in satisfactory working condition, including tests, measurements, replacements, adjustments, and repairs.

MANIPULATOR. A mechanism typically consisting of a series of segments, jointed or sliding relative to one another, for the purpose of grasping and moving objects, usually in several degrees of freedom. It may be remotely controlled by a computer or by a human.

MANUFACTURING. A series of interrelated activities and operations involving the design, materials selection, planning, production, quality assurance, management, and marketing of discrete consumer and durable goods.

MANUFACTURING AUTOMATION PROTOCOL (MAP). A communication standard specifically tailored for the needs of automation and communication in manufacturing.

MANUFACTURING PLANNING. The function of setting the limits or levels of manufacturing operations in the future, consideration being given to sales forecasts and the requirements and availability of personnel, machines, materials, and finances.

MANUFACTURING SYSTEM. A complex arrangement of machines, transportation elements, tooling, people, storage buffers, and other items that are used together for manufacturing; coordinated to facilitate the flow of materials and information to coordinate inputs, processes and outputs, and characterized by measurable parameters.

MASS PRODUCTION. A manufacturing system where the industry sales volume is established and production rates are independent of individual orders.

MASTER-SLAVE MANIPULATOR. A class of teleoperator having geometrically isomorphic master and slave arms. The master is held and positioned by a person; the slave duplicates the motions, sometimes with a change of scale in displacement or force.

MATERIAL CONTROL. The function of maintaining and accounting for a constantly available supply of raw materials, purchased parts and supplies that are required for the production of products.

MATERIAL HANDLING. The processes and systems th transfer and manage the transfer of goods from one place to another.

MATERIALS PLANNING. The planning of requirements fo components based upon requirements for higher level assemblies.

MATHEMATICAL MODEL. A symbolic representation of, process, device, or concept.

MATRIX-ARRAY CAMERA. A television camera (usually solid-state) with an aspect ration of n:m, where neither n nor m is 1.

MEAN TIME BETWEEN FAILURE  (MTBF). (1) The average time that a device will operate before failure. (2) The mean of the failure time distribution.

MEAN TIME TO REPAIR  (MTTR). The average time the device is expected to be out of service after failure.

MECHANIZATION. A well-developed production system basis which traditionally does not involve a computer or adaptive controls, although sensors, electronic and electric controls are common, and performs automatic work-piece handling and tooling.

MICROCOMPUTER. A computer that is constructed using a single microprocessor CPU as the basic element.

MICROPROCESSOR. A basic element of a central processing unit that is a single integrated circuit. A microprocessor has a limited instruction set which is usually expanded by microprogramming. A microprocessor requires additional circuits to become a suitable cen tral processing unit.

MODEL. An approximate representation of a process o system that attempts to relate (usually mathematically some or all of the variables in the system in such a wa that an increased understanding of the system is attained.

MOVE TIME. The actual time that a job spends in transit from one operation to another in the shop.

MULTIPLEXING. The time-shared scanning of a number of data lines into a single channel. Only one data line is enabled at any instant.


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