Developing a current capability design for a manufacture framework in the aerospace industry

During progressive product design and development in the aerospace industry, a lack of effective communication between the sequential functions of design, manufacturing and assembly causes delays and setbacks whereby production capabilities are unable to realise design intent in high-complexity product models. There is a need to formalise the progressive design and release of an engineering model to production functions during New Product Introduction (NPI) via defining key stages of definition maturity and information requirements through a structured process. This research develops a framework to facilitate optimal Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) based on current manufacturing capabilities within the aerospace industry, promoting effective knowledge management at all stages of design definition. The framework was developed through the accomplishment of a series of objectives: (1) Investigate optimal DfMA principles and process capability analysis through a comprehensive literature review, (2) capture the current practice of progressive drawing release in the aerospace and automotive sectors, (3) create a route map of the release process built around the optimal critical path, (4) define roles and procedures to follow at each stage and (5) validate the proposed process framework through expert opinion. These objectives were achieved through the adoption of a four-stage qualitative methodology. The framework promotes the understanding and identification of the major stages, activities, responsibilities and information requirements throughout a structured design release process where quantified manufacturing capability data is incorporated within early design definition activities. Adherence to the process route-map ensures that no engineering model is released that cannot be realised by manufacturing and assembly functions. This facilitates the efficient organisation of information on an optimal concurrent engineering platform, leading to a reduction in product development leadtimes and re-work through informed design.SAS Prize winne

Integrated product relationships management : a model to enable concurrent product design and assembly sequence planning

The paper describes a novel approach to product relationships management in the context of concurrent engineering and product lifecycle management (PLM). Current industrial practices in product data management and manufacturing process management systems require better efficiency, flexibility, and sensitivity in managing product information at various levels of abstraction throughout its lifecycle. The aim of the proposed work is to manage vital yet complex and inherent product relationship information to enable concurrent product design and assembly sequence planning. Indeed, the definition of the product with its assembly sequence requires the management and the understanding of the numerous product relationships, ensuring consistency between the product and its components. This main objective stresses the relational design paradigm by focusing on product relationships along its lifecycle. This paper gives the detailed description of the background and models which highlight the need for a more efficient PLM approach. The proposed theoretical approach is then described in detail. A separate paper will focus on the implementation of the proposed approach in a PLM-based application, and an in-depth case study to evaluate the implementation of the novel approach will also be given

Improving CE with PDM

The concept of Concurrent Engineering (CE) centers around the management of information so that the right information will be at the right place at the right time and in the right format. Product Data Management (PDM) aims to support a CE way of working in product development processes. In specific situations, however, it is hard to estimate the contribution of a particular PDM package to CE. This paper presents a method to assess the contribution to CE of a PDM package in a specific situation. The method uses the concept of information quality to identify the gap with CE information quality requirements. The contribution of PDM to bridge this gap is estimated. Decisions on improvement actions are supported to improve readiness for PDM as well as to improve CE. The method has been tested in a real-life situation

Methodological framework and design process for applying evolutionary simulation to musical interactions

This paper focuses on a methodological framework where the creative design process evolves through iterative cycles. The design process undertakes a complex network of tasks for integrating two domain models: dynamical simulation and musical interaction. The framework accounts for engi-neering technical and compositional affordances to accom-modate evolving behaviors to be expressed in real time per-formance interplay. This is illustrated with a case study of simulated swarms of heterogeneous agents. Highly integrat-ed parallel work streams are elucidated with sub-process elicitation in simulation, system integration and software engineering, composition, and performance. Framework formalization draws upon the established RAD model with significant modification to present the extended version that can be multi-threaded for concurrent creative processes. Two landmarks of 20th century music automation are drawn diachronically to frame the technical discussion in a social context of listening practice, developed by modeling crea-tive process and testing musical assumptions. Revisited cannon is redirected from bygone exemplars to ongoing practice, illuminating three baseline requirements for a methodological framework: interdisciplinary platform archi-tecture, complex systems model of music creation, and agile listening. Concluding theses on second order listening and interdisciplinary architecture summarize the proposed methodological framework addressing contextual listening and technical culture

Coordination approaches and systems - part I : a strategic perspective

This is the first part of a two-part paper presenting a fundamental review and summary of research of design coordination and cooperation technologies. The theme of this review is aimed at the research conducted within the decision management aspect of design coordination. The focus is therefore on the strategies involved in making decisions and how these strategies are used to satisfy design requirements. The paper reviews research within collaborative and coordinated design, project and workflow management, and, task and organization models. The research reviewed has attempted to identify fundamental coordination mechanisms from different domains, however it is concluded that domain independent mechanisms need to be augmented with domain specific mechanisms to facilitate coordination. Part II is a review of design coordination from an operational perspective

Using protocol analysis to explore the creative requirements engineering process

Protocol analysis is an empirical method applied by researchers in cognitive psychology and behavioural analysis. Protocol analysis can be used to collect, document and analyse thought processes by an individual problem solver. In general, research subjects are asked to think aloud when performing a given task. Their verbal reports are transcribed and represent a sequence of their thoughts and cognitive activities. These verbal reports are analysed to identify relevant segments of cognitive behaviours by the research subjects. The analysis results may be cross-examined (or validated through retrospective interviews with the research subjects). This paper offers a critical analysis of this research method, its approaches to data collection and analysis, strengths and limitations, and discusses its use in information systems research. The aim is to explore the use of protocol analysis in studying the creative requirements engineering process.<br /

An assembly oriented design framework for product structure engineering and assembly sequence planning

The paper describes a novel framework for an assembly-oriented design (AOD) approach as a new functional product lifecycle management (PLM) strategy, by considering product design and assembly sequence planning phases concurrently. Integration issues of product life cycle into the product development process have received much attention over the last two decades, especially at the detailed design stage. The main objective of the research is to define assembly sequence into preliminary design stages by introducing and applying assembly process knowledge in order to provide an assembly context knowledge to support life-oriented product development process, particularly for product structuring. The proposed framework highlights a novel algorithm based on a mathematical model integrating boundary conditions related to DFA rules, engineering decisions for assembly sequence and the product structure definition. This framework has been implemented in a new system called PEGASUS considered as an AOD module for a PLM system. A case study of applying the framework to a catalytic-converter and diesel particulate filter sub-system, belonging to an exhaust system from an industrial automotive supplier, is introduced to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed AOD methodology

Planning and implementation of effective collaboration in construction projects

The 21st century is now seen as the time for the construction industry to embrace new ways of working if it is to continue to be competitive and meet the needs of its ever demanding clients. Collaborative working is considered by many to be essential if design and construction teams are to consider the whole lifecycle of the construction product. Much of the recent work on collaborative working has focused on the delivery of technological solutions with a focus on web (extranets), CAD (visualisation), and knowledge management technologies. However, it is now recognised that good collaboration does not result from the implementation of information technology solutions alone. The organisational and people issues, which are not readily solved by pure technical systems, need to be resolved. However, approaches that exclusively focus on organisational and people issues will not reap the benefits derived from the use of technology, especially in the context of distributed teams which are the norm in construction. Work currently being undertaken at Loughborough University aims to bring together the benefits enabled by the technology, with the organisational, and its people issues to provide a framework enabling high level strategic decisions to be made to implement effective collaboration. This paper reports on the initial stages of the project: the background to the project, the methodology used, and findings from the literature survey and the requirements capture survey conducted as part of the project

Kevoree Modeling Framework (KMF): Efficient modeling techniques for runtime use

The creation of Domain Specific Languages(DSL) counts as one of the main goals in the field of Model-Driven Software Engineering (MDSE). The main purpose of these DSLs is to facilitate the manipulation of domain specific concepts, by providing developers with specific tools for their domain of expertise. A natural approach to create DSLs is to reuse existing modeling standards and tools. In this area, the Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) has rapidly become the defacto standard in the MDSE for building Domain Specific Languages (DSL) and tools based on generative techniques. However, the use of EMF generated tools in domains like Internet of Things (IoT), Cloud Computing or Models@Runtime reaches several limitations. In this paper, we identify several properties the generated tools must comply with to be usable in other domains than desktop-based software systems. We then challenge EMF on these properties and describe our approach to overcome the limitations. Our approach, implemented in the Kevoree Modeling Framework (KMF), is finally evaluated according to the identified properties and compared to EMF.Comment: ISBN 978-2-87971-131-7; N&deg; TR-SnT-2014-11 (2014

A military effectiveness analysis and decision making framework for naval ship design and acquisition

Thesis (S.M. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering; and, S.M. in Ocean Systems Management)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Ocean Engineering, 2003.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-100).This research develops a new framework for performing military effectiveness analyses and design tradeoff decisions. It provides an extensive survey of literature for effectiveness analysis and multi-criteria decision making to develop a single consistent philosophy for such analyses. This philosophy is applied to a requirements and effectiveness analysis case study of a conventional submarine that is performed using Response Surface Methods to facilitate design space visualization and decision maker interaction. Measures of Merit are developed and applied to the case study. The resulting requirements space and methods to visualize and explore it in a decision making context are presented and discussed Lastly, a framework is proposed that would facilitate the concurrent consideration of requirements and effectiveness analyses with design and technology forecasting to create a Unified Tradeoff Environment that would provide decision makers with pertinent information to facilitate better informed requirements derivation and design selection.by John C. Hootman.S.M.in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering; and, S.M.in Ocean Systems Managemen