§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many flexible manufacturing systems there are in the United Kingdom; and how this compares with the figures for (a) Japan, (b) West Germany, (c) France, (d) the United States of America and (e) East European countries.
§ Mr. MacGregorThere are no fully fledged flexible manufacturing systems in the United Kingdom, although one is currently being installed. No readily available 593W official figures are published on flexible manufacturing system populations either in the United Kingdom or overseas but rough estimates suggest that there are over 40 in the world of which Japan has half, the United States about 10, the German Federal Republic 8 and the German Democratic Republic 4.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Industry how many companies have installed flexible manufacturing systems under the automated small batch production project; how many applications he has received; what plans he has to promote this project; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorOne company is in the process of installing a flexible manufacturing system under the Department of Industry's automated small batch production programme. Two other applications for smaller FMS systems have also been approved under the programme and several others are at the preliminary discussions stage. The Department will continue to encourage companies to put forward projects for support.