Patent ID: 8086341

Claim:
A control system for a manufacturing chain having a plurality of modular manufacturing stations positioned in series, comprising: a memory having a plurality of unique operation patterns stored thereon, wherein each of the plurality of unique operation patterns corresponds to a sequence of movements that facilitate performance of a task at one of the plurality of modular manufacturing stations; at least one communications conduit for receiving a first position signal from a first position tracking device of each modular manufacturing station; a processor configured to independently transmit at least one operation signal corresponding to one of the unique operation patterns to an article transportation device of each modular manufacturing station via the communications conduit based, at least in part, on the first position signal from each modular manufacturing station, wherein the article transportation device of each modular manufacturing station includes an independent friction drive system and is configured to move a carrier according to one of the unique operation patterns during performance of the task responsive to the at least one operation signal; wherein a first operation signal transmitted to a first modular manufacturing station corresponds to a first unique operation pattern and a second operation signal transmitted to a second modular manufacturing station corresponds to a second unique operation pattern that is different than the first unique operation pattern; wherein the communications conduit further receives a second position signal from a second position tracking device of each modular manufacturing station; and wherein the processor is further configured to transmit an index signal to the article transportation device of each modular manufacturing station via the communications conduit based, at least in part, on the second position signal from each modular manufacturing station, wherein the article transportation device of each modular manufacturing station is configured to simultaneously transfer the carrier at each modular manufacturing station to a contiguous manufacturing station responsive to the index signal.