Patent ID: 8788088

Claim:
A production system, comprising: an item feeding device having a plurality of transfer mechanisms provided alongside, the transfer mechanisms respectively transferring containers each storing an item to item feeding positions; a carrier device configured to hold and carry the container at the item feeding position and the item stored in the container; and a control device configured to control operations of the item feeding device and the carrier device, wherein the control device includes a portion making the item feeding device operate to select only one of the plurality of transfer mechanisms and to transfer the container of the selected transfer mechanism to the item feeding position; a portion making the carrier device operate to hold the item in the container transferred to the item feeding position and to carry the held item to a preliminary determined transfer position P 1 ; and a portion making the carrier device operate to hold the container transferred to the item feeding position, and to carry the container from the item feeding position of a first transfer mechanism to a preliminary determined transfer position P 2 along a path that extends over an item feeding position for a different one of the transfer mechanisms.