Cost modelling of rapid manufacturing based mass customisation system for fabrication of custom foot orthoses

PhD ThesisSolid freeform fabrication (SFF) or Additive manufacturing (AM) techniques have emerged in recent years as advanced manufacturing techniques. These techniques have demonstrated advantages particularly in situations where the demands for unique geometrical structured customer-specific products are high and the time to market is very short. Applications of these techniques in the medical sector in combination with the latest medical digital imaging technologies are growing quickly. The techniques have inherent advantages of compatibility with the output information of medical digitising techniques. Foot orthoses are medical devices used as shoe inserts in the treatment of foot disorders, injuries and diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, congenital defects and other foot related injuries. Currently custom foot orthoses are fabricated through manufacturing techniques which involve costly and based on lengthy trial and error manufacturing process. These techniques have limitations in terms of fabricating required geometries and incorporating complex design features in the custom-made orthoses. The novelty of this research is to explore the commercial scale application of rapid manufacturing techniques and to assess a rapid manufacturing based design and fabrication system for production of custom foot orthoses. The developed system is aimed at delivering the custom made orthoses at mass scale with improved fit, consistency, accuracy and increased product quality. The traditional design and fabrication process for production of custom foot orthoses was investigated and modelled with IDEF0 modelling methodology. The developed IDEF0 model was re-modelled and then the rapid manufacturing approach was integrated in the design and fabrication process. The main functions of foot geometry capture, orthoses design and manufacture of orthoses were modelled and evaluated individually with respect to time and cost and quality of the final product. Different well-established rapid manufacturing techniques were integrated in the current design and fabrication process. The results showed that the techniques have significant impacts on the overall design and fabrication process in terms of increased process efficiency, low lead-time, increased productivity and improved quality of the final product. An orthosis model was fabricated on an experimental basis using different well established rapid manufacturing techniques. The techniques were separately investigated and analysed in terms of orthoses fabrication cost and build time. The cost and lead-time in different techniques were modelled, analysed and evaluated for evaluation of commercial scale applications. The analysis and evaluation of the cost and lead-time modelled for different rapid manufacturing techniques showed that selective laser sintering technique is the better option for integrating the technique in fabrication of custom foot orthoses and that it has the potential to compete with conventional techniques

A methodology for the design of quality assurance functional model and information system

In spite of all advances in computer, technologies, information processing, automation technologies, manufacturing processes, and the push for integration across all functional areas toward a totally integrated and automated manufacturing system, the suggestion is that quality assurance which covers all quality-based functions in the product-life cycle is often overlooked. In spite of the important role of quality information systems in achieving high quality processes little published research in this area is found in the literature. Study of the available relevant literature and the collection of data from manufacturing industries confirm that different manufacturing situations require different quality assurance systems, and this is evident from the proliferation of differing QA systems found in industry. There are however some common features both universal/or within different classes of industries. Accordingly an 'ISO-9000 based generic structural model incorporating these common quality based functions and their associated information requirements has been developed. This research further investigates and verifies those factors which may affect the design of a QAIS as a guide for designing Quality Assurance Information Systems for manufacturing business organisations. Realising that knowledge-based systems can provide a support environment for designing QAIS, this research also considers and, develops a KB Decision System for Designing Quality Information Systems (DSDQAIS). The DSDQAIS recommends the structure of a QAIS, in the form of an IDEFO model, appropriate to specific company profiles input by the user. Since the available software' applications and development tools which support the sub-systems run on a personal computer, the prototype of this system has also been developed and tested on PC. Recommendations for the further development of the system are given

Performance measurement and performance management of innovative products

Increasing interest is being shown in performance measurement, in both the academic literature and by practitioners. When implementing innovative products, organisations are facing issues of how to measure and manage the performance of the products concerned and how to do so in a worthwhile way. Reviewing existing literature suggests that there has been limited research on the value of performance measurement and management processes and indeed little conceptual distinction has been made between performance measurement and performance management. A conceptual framework is developed, structured around concepts from the existing literature showing two ways of distinguishing performance measurement and performance management. Performance management processes are shown as broader than performance measurement processes and the influences of the processes on performance are also displayed, another way of differentiating between the two concepts. The framework provides a structure for a pattern matching analysis using empirical data. Empirical data collection involved four case studies, each focusing on a medical device being implemented in the UK public healthcare sector. Forty-six semi-structured interviews explored performance measurement and performance management processes in the implementation of the innovative products, as well as exploring the influences of those processes on performance of the innovative products. The findings from the thesis highlight key performance measurement and performance management processes that occur in the implementation of innovative products, finding that the two can best be distinguished by their influence, or lack of influence, on performance. Performance reporting is also highlighted as a key concept. The findings indicate that performance measurement and reporting processes alone cannot be expected to have an influence on performance, however if performance management processes occur too then they can.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

On the management of collaborative innovation in networks

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo