Design of an intelligent support system for fabric quality inspection

Efficient quality management in production process is the key factor for firm’s permanence and prosperity. The rapped globalization development and shortage of resources leading to enhance the efforts toward good raw material exploitation. The present work aims to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) that may provide and facilitate one of the most difficult multi-decision problems that quality managers, in textile manufacturing firm face. In addition, the DSS is developed for a textile manufacturer and it will automate a variety of tasks to improve rolls quality; control the defect distribution on rolls by inventing anew cutting scenarios with respect to inspection results, rolls length, and number of assemblies. The DSS tool, applied for more than 100 fabric lots, will be demonstrated through a short selection of practical case studies

The Integrated Realization of Materials, Products and Associated Manufacturing Processes

Problem: A materials design revolution is underway in the recent past where the focus is to design (not select) the material microstructure and processing paths to achieve multiple property or performance requirements that are often in conflict. The advancements in computer simulations have resulted in the speeding up of the process of discovering new materials and has paved way for rapid assessment of process-structure-property-performance relationships of materials, products, and processes. This has led to the simulation-based design of material microstructure (microstructure-mediated design) to satisfy multiple property or performance goals of the product/process/system thereby replacing the classical material design and selection approaches. The foundational premise for this dissertation is that systems-based materials design techniques offer the potential for tailoring materials, their processing paths and the end products that employ these materials in an integrated fashion for challenging applications to satisfy conflicting product and process level property and performance requirements. The primary goal in this dissertation is to establish some of the scientific foundations and tools that are needed for the integrated realization of materials, products and manufacturing processes using simulation models that are typically incomplete, inaccurate and not of equal fidelity by managing the uncertainty associated. Accordingly, the interest in this dissertation lies in establishing a systems-based design architecture that includes system-level synthesis methods and tools that are required for the integrated design of complex materials, products and associated manufacturing processes starting from the end requirements. Hence the primary research question: What are the theoretical, mathematical and computational foundations needed for establishing a comprehensive systems-based design architecture to realize the integrated design of the product, its environment, manufacturing processes and material as a system? Major challenges to be addressed here are: a) integration of models (material, process and product) to establish processing-structure-property-performance relationships, b) goal-oriented inverse design of material microstructures and processing paths to meet multiple conflicting performance/property requirements, c) robust concept exploration by managing uncertainty across process chains and d) systematic, domain-independent, modular, reconfigurable, reusable, computer interpretable, archivable, and multi-objective decision support in the early stages of design to different users. Approach: In order to address these challenges, the primary hypothesis in this dissertation is to establish the theoretical, mathematical and computational foundations for: 1) forward material, product and process workflows through systematic identification and integration of models to define the processing-structure-property-performance relationships; 2) a concept exploration framework supporting systematic formulation of design problems facilitating robust design exploration by bringing together robust design principles and multi-objective decision making protocols; 3) a generic, goal-oriented, inverse decision-based design method that uses 1) and 2) to facilitate the systems-based inverse design of material microstructures and processing paths to meet multiple product level performance/property requirements, thereby generating the problem-specific inverse decision workflow; and 4) integrating the workflows with a knowledge-based platform anchored in modeling decision-related knowledge facilitating capture, execution and reuse of the knowledge associated with 1), 2) and 3). This establishes a comprehensive systems-based design architecture to realize the integrated design of the product, its environment, manufacturing processes and material as a system. Validation: The systems-based design architecture for the integrated realization of materials, products and associated manufacturing processes is validated using the validation-square approach that consists of theoretical and empirical validation. Empirical validation of the design architecture is carried out using an industry driven problem namely the ‘Integrated Design of Steel (Material), Manufacturing Processes (Rolling and Cooling) and Hot Rolled Rods (Product) for Automotive Gears’. Specific sub-problems are formulated within this problem domain to address various research questions identified in this dissertation. Contributions: The contributions from the dissertation are categorized into new knowledge in four research domains: a) systematic model integration (vertical and horizontal) for integrated material and product workflows, b) goal-oriented, inverse decision support, c) robust concept exploration of process chains with multiple conflicting goals and d) knowledge-based decision support for rapid and robust design exploration in simulation-based integrated material, product and process design. The creation of new knowledge in this dissertation is associated with the development of a systems-based design architecture involving systematic function-based approach of formulating forward material workflows, a concept exploration framework for systematic design exploration, an inverse decision-based design method, and robust design metrics, all integrated with a knowledge-based platform for decision support. The theoretical, mathematical and computational foundations for the design architecture are proposed in this dissertation to facilitate rapid and robust exploration of the design and solution spaces to identify material microstructures and processing paths that satisfy conflicting property and performance for complex materials, products and processes by managing uncertainty

Modeling of system knowledge for efficient agile manufacturing : tool evaluation, selection and implementation scenario in SMEs

In the manufacturing world, knowledge is fundamental in order to achieve effective and efficient real time decision making. In order to make manufacturing system knowledge available to the decision maker it has to be first captured and then modelled. Therefore tools that provide a suitable means for capturing and representation of manufacturing system knowledge are required in several types of industrial sectors and types of company’s (large, SME). A literature review about best practice for capturing requirements for simulation development and system knowledge modeling has been conducted. The aim of this study was to select the best tool for manufacturing system knowledge modelling in an open-source environment. In order to select this tool, different criteria were selected, based on which several tools were analyzed and rated. An exemplary use case was then developed using the selected tool, Systems Modeling Language (SysML). Therefore, the best practice has been studied, evaluated, selected and then applied to two industrial use cases by the use of a selected opens source tool.peer-reviewe

A Knowledge-based Decision Support System for RP&M Process Selection

Due to the large variety of RP&M material/machines and the. strengths/weaknesses associated with different RP&M processes, the decision·to select a suitableRP&M system becomes increasingly difficult. This paper presents a knowledge-based approach for the selection ofsuitable RP&M material/machine to meet specific. requirements ofRP&Mapplications. The system receives input data on the CAD modelandthe user's specifications,andgenerates outputs that provide the most appropriate combination ofRP&Mmaterial/machine.·Optimal orientations, together with estimated manufacturing time and cost, are considered and given in the final outcome to help the user make the choice.Mechanical Engineerin

Web-based CBR (case-based reasoning) as a tool with the application to tooling selection

Over the past few years, manufacturing companies have had to deal with an increasing demand for feature-rich products at low costs. The pressures exerted on their existing manufacturing processes have lead manufacturers to investigate internet-based solutions, in order to cope with growing competition. The decentralisation phenomenon also came up as a reason to implement networked-application, which has been the starting point for internet/intranet–based systems. Today, the availability of powerful and low cost 3D tools, database backend systems, along with web-based technologies, provides interesting opportunities to the manufacturing community, with solutions directly implementable at the core of their businesses and organisations. In this paper a web-based engineering approach is presented to developing a design support system using case-based reasoning (CBR) technology for helping in the decision-making process when choosing cutting tools. The system aims to provide on-line intelligent support for determining the most suitable configuration for turning operations, based on initial parameters and requirements for the cutting operation. The system also features a user-driven 3D turning simulator which allows testing the chosen insert for several turning operations. The system aims to be a useful e-manufacturing tool being able to quickly and responsively provide tooling data in a highly interactive way

Application of context knowledge in supporting conceptual design decision making

Conceptual design is the most important phase of the product life cycle as the decisions taken at conceptual design stage affect the downstream phases (manufacture, assembly, use, maintenance, and disposal) in terms of cost, quality and function performed by the product. This research takes a holistic view by incorporating the knowledge related to the whole context (from the viewpoint of product, user, product's life cycle and environment in which the product operates) of a design problem for the consideration of the designer to make an informed decision making at the conceptual design stage. The design context knowledge comprising knowledge from these different viewpoints is formalised and a new model and corresponding computational framework is proposed to support conceptual design decision making using this formalised context knowledge. Using a case study, this paper shows the proof of the concept by selecting one concept among different design alternatives using design context knowledge thereby proactively supporting conceptual design decision making for an informed and effective decision making

Implementing ERP systems - organisational implications

Success of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems depend on rigorous and disciplined approach to planning and implementation. This article presents a selection and implementation methodology that has been applied to three similar companies and highlights a wide variation in outcome. The underlying reasons for the variations in success can be specifically attributed to organisational personalities and culture. Analysis of these case studies provides key lessons and concludes by summarising these lessons in a cause and effect diagram

Supply chain decision making supported by an Open books policy

Based on a study of a buyer–seller relationship in the automotive industry, this article identifies 17 different decision-making processes where openly sharing cost data—a so-called open books policy—plays an important supporting role. These processes relate to supplier selection, various activities that occur prior to production, and the full-speed production stage of the exchange process. Overall, open books plays the greatest role in the pre-production stage, although it is found to support decision-making relating to supplier selection and decision-making during full-speed production to a greater extent than the literature recognizes