Flexible manufacturing system

A flexible manufacturing system comprising:

• a machining device that has a machining position where a pallet is disposed during machining, and machines a workpiece that has not been machined and that is attached to the pallet disposed at the machining position;
• a pallet storage room that stores a plurality of the pallets;
• a pallet changer that is provided integrally with or adjacent to the machining device, has a standby position where the pallet to be moved to the machining position stands by, and exchanges the pallet at the machining position for the pallet at the standby position;
• a conveyor that is able to convey the pallet between the pallet storage room and the standby position of the pallet changer;
• and
• a controller that controls the machining device and the pallet changer, and controls the conveyor based on machining status information associated with each of the pallets stored in the pallet storage room, the machining status information including a machining-waiting state and a machining completion state, wherein
• after the pallet is conveyed to the standby position and before machining of the workpiece attached to the pallet is started, the controller determines whether machining of the workpiece with the machining device is possible,
• when it is determined that machining is possible, the controller starts machining with the machining device, and
• when it is determined that machining is impossible, the controller makes the conveyor convey the pallet from the standby position to the pallet storage room, and stores the machining status information on the conveyed pallet as the machining-waiting state, wherein:
• a plurality of the machining devices are provided;
• a plurality of the pallet changers are provided;
• wherein
• when it is determined that machining with a first machining device of the plurality of the machining devices is impossible, the controller determines whether there is a second machining device that is able to machine the workpiece to be machined, among the plurality of the machining devices, and
• when it is determined that there is the second machining device, the controller makes the conveyor convey the pallet from a first standby position of the pallet changer for the first machining device to a second standby position of the pallet changer for the second machining device, instead of conveying the pallet from the first standby position to the pallet storage room.