A microfactory refers to a small dimension factory able to produce small dimension products. The term was proposed by the Mechanical Engineer Laboratory (MEL) of Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

in 1990. The microfactory main advantages are to save great amount of resources like space, energy, materials and time
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Due to its reduced dimensions, microfactories should be highly automated. It might contain automatic machine tools, assembly systems, quality inspection system, material feed system, waste elimination system, a system to evaluate tool deterioration and a system to replace tools .

External references

• Japanese microfactory project
• Microfactory picture
• MicroManufacturing Conference