Manufacturing process and apparatus having an interchangeable machine tool head with integrated control

A manufacturing system comprising:

• a gantry apparatus having functional elements enabling multiple movement pathways of the gantry apparatus comprising at least three linear axes by means of either two horizontal and one vertical axes of movement, or two vertical and one horizontal axes, and;
• a moveable ram device positioned on one of the three axes of the gantry apparatus;
• a plurality of manufacturing heads, each manufacturing head having a different characteristic, the plurality of manufacturing heads includes at least one fiber tow head configured to lay fiber tows and at least one fiber tape head configured to lay fiber tape, each manufacturing head having an internal controller, the internal controller of each manufacturing head having a dedicated computer numeric controlled software program designed for the particular manufacturing head;
• an internal position controller for the gantry apparatus bearing a computer numeric control software oriented processor for determining the range, frequency and depth of movement of the moveable ram device, as directed by the internal controller of any one of the plurality of manufacturing heads attached to the moveable ram device;
• and
• wherein the internal controller of each manufacturing head is capable of operating independently from the other internal controllers of the other manufacturing heads and is self contained within its corresponding manufacturing head.