A methodology for the selection of industrial robots in food handling

As the global population continues to rise and consumer demand for a wider variety of food products increases, food manufacturers are exploring various strategies, methods and tools to change and adapt. Furthermore, restriction in access to low-cost labour and introduction of more stringent legislation are forcing the food industry to update their production processes. Industrial robots, a pillar of Industry 4.0, promises many benefits to the food manufacturing industry, especially in responding to these new challenges. The integration of such automation into food manufacturing has been a slow process in comparison to other manufacturing sectors and has largely been limited to packaging and palletising. This research aims to improve the application of industrial robots within food manufacturing through definition of a methodology for the identification of a flexible automation solution for a specific production requirement. The paper explores the four steps within the Food Industrial Robot Methodology (FIRM), through which users define, classify and identify their foodstuff and automation solution. The application of FIRM is exemplified through an industrial case study to support food manufacturers investigating the potential benefits of utilising industrial robots within their production systems

Mapping customer needs to engineering characteristics: an aerospace perspective for conceptual design

Designing complex engineering systems, such as an aircraft or an aero-engine, is immensely challenging. Formal Systems Engineering (SE) practices are widely used in the aerospace industry throughout the overall design process to minimise the overall design effort, corrective re-work, and ultimately overall development and manufacturing costs. Incorporating the needs and requirements from customers and other stakeholders into the conceptual and early design process is vital for the success and viability of any development programme. This paper presents a formal methodology, the Value-Driven Design (VDD) methodology that has been developed for collaborative and iterative use in the Extended Enterprise (EE) within the aerospace industry, and that has been applied using the Concept Design Analysis (CODA) method to map captured Customer Needs (CNs) into Engineering Characteristics (ECs) and to model an overall ‘design merit’ metric to be used in design assessments, sensitivity analyses, and engineering design optimisation studies. Two different case studies with increasing complexity are presented to elucidate the application areas of the CODA method in the context of the VDD methodology for the EE within the aerospace secto

Case Study of Intralogistics in the Framework of Logistics 4.0

Industry 4.0 has led to changes that have reduced the labor force and created production environments where machines that bring together information technology and industry communicate with each other. Logistics 4.0, which emerged with Industry 4.0, paved the way for improvement in logistics processes. Using information technologies in logistics reduces the labor force costs of enterprises by leading all stages of activities to digitalization. It can be possible to increase customer satisfaction and product quality by reducing human failures with digitalization. This study was performed by planning intralogistics using Logistics 4.0 technological tools, and also the problem of a manufacturing company was elaborated as a case study. This study was carried out by quantitative data analysis in the case study and a large-scale production company in the automotive industry in Turkey providing the intralogistics of the materials from the supplier in the entrance warehouse with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technologies. This paper presents the research, development, and application of logistics 4.0 in the intralogistics process from the entrance warehouse to the production lines. The aim of the case study was provided to information about the technologies available within the scope of Logistics 4.0 and contribute to the literature and industry with solution suggestions depending on the result of the application study within the logistics operations. As a result, depending on the case study, it was determined that Logistics 4.0 improved intralogistics operations costs by 13.37%

Exploring the Application of Lean Best Practices in Remanufacturing: Empirical Insights into the Benefits and Barriers

Remanufacturing processes have been widely identified as being important elements of a sustainable economy. However, the commercial viability of this product recovery route is significantly influenced by several operational challenges that are different from those that occur in conventional manufacturing. One of the most widely used systematic process improvement methods in conventional manufacturing is lean production, which seeks to minimize all forms of waste throughout an operation. As the academic study of lean best practices in remanufacturing processes is relatively new, there is a lack of knowledge regarding implementation and impact. As such, this paper presents multiple case studies investigating the application of lean methods in industrial remanufacturing operations. These studies focus on the automotive industry, where both conventional and remanufacturing operations have been the leading adopters of lean thinking and practice. The results of the investigation identify specific lean methods that help manage the inherent complexity of the remanufacturing processes, and consequently improve the overall productivity of the process. Similarly, factors that limit the application of lean practices within remanufacturing are also identified and discussed. Matrices for opportunities and threats are developed to enable the simple adoption of these findings. Overall, the research provides a more holistic understanding of the application of lean within a remanufacturing environment, with benefits for both academia and industry

The application of concurrent engineering philosophy to the construction industry

The research explores the rationale of applying Concurrent Engineering (CE) philosophy to the construction industry. CE was considered based on its successful implementation in other industries. In the manufacturing industry it is used to overcome problems similar in nature to those of the construction industry, resulting from the practice of the traditional 'over the wall' processes in product design and manufacturing (construction). During the initial stage, the research evaluated current problems faced by the industry, such as the high degree of fragmentation of industry structure and work processes, adversarial elationships among project participants' lack of communication, etc., and its effort to achieve improvement. The research also investigated the theoretical background of CE philosophy, its application in other industries especially in manufacturing, the rationale for its application to construction, and current practices within the construction industry similar to those encompassed within the CE philosophy. CE consists of several basic principles, of which the teamwork was the main focus of this research and is used as the main strategy to achieve CE implementation for construction industry. By using both quantitative and qualitative evaluation, the research determined that there was no evidence to support that CE has been practised in construction as a complete process, as it has in other industries. The research also established a number of factors that support and inhibit collaborative teamwork in construction, and rank them according to their relative importance. The rankings indicate the priorities for the industry in order to achieve collaborative working, which is critical to CE implementation. The main output of the research was the establishment of 'guidelines' for implementing a Cross Functional Project Team (CFPT), i.e. the cross functional teamwork concept based on CE principles, forming the main strategy to implement CE in construction. The 'guidelines' were developed based on the consensus opinion of industry experts using the Delphi study technique. The findings from case studies were used to validate these 'guidelines'. The research also developed a tool known as the Matrix Measurement Guidelines - 'Toward CE in Construction' (MMG-TCEiC) to help the industry to map the process toward achieving a collaborative teamwork concept based on CE environments within construction projects

A Framework for Extended Reality System Development in Manufacturing

This paper presents a framework for developing extended reality (XR) systems within manufacturing context. The aim of this study is to develop a systematic framework to improve the usability and user acceptance of future XR systems. So that manufacturing industry can move from the “wow effect” of XR demonstrators into the stage whereas XR systems can be successfully integrated and improve the conventional work routines. It is essential to ensure the usability and user acceptance of XR systems for the wider adoption in manufacturing. The proposed framework was developed through six case studies that covered different XR system developments for different application areas of manufacturing. The framework consists of five iterative phases: (1) requirements analysis, (2) solution selection, (3) data preparation, (4) system implementation and (5) system evaluation. It is validated through one empirical case and seven identified previous studies, which partly aligned with the proposed framework. The proposed framework provides a clear guideline on the steps needed to integrate XR in manufacturing and it extends the XR usage with increased usability and user acceptance. Furthermore, it strengthens the importance of user-centered approach for XR system development in manufacturing

The digital impact on the supply chain: The servitization of agri-food industry

For decades, many firms have been deeply transformed due to the creation and integration of digital technologies in different processes or instances, conceptualized as digitalization. In the specific case of manufacturing industry, this trend has been described as Industry 4.0. Simultaneously, manufacturing firms tend to adapt their business model by including more service offerings to gain competitiveness, described theoretically as servitization. Research on those topics has already provided many case studies for the manufacturing industry. Within this industry, the agri-food sector, though, is sidelined. Nowadays, there is no paper dealing with servitization of agri-food and we face a lack of global overview regarding the digital revolution. However, significant implications are affecting agri-food towards being more agile and fast to increase and diversify offerings in order to answer specific customers’ needs. Therefore, the supply chain is deeply changing and faces more complexity. Not only a better economic performance is expected based on capture and advanced analysis of data, but also more sustainability and interconnectivity through corporate social responsibility (CSR) or creating shared value (CSV) to avoid waste and redundant operations. The following thesis aims to provide a theoretical contribution about the impact of digital technologies in the supply chain as imperative enablers of the servitization of agri-food sector. The first section will introduce the subject and the research gap. The second section is dedicated to a state of research of servitization, digitalization and their mutual influences for the manufacturing industry. The third section is a methodology that aims to analyze the main issues to be taken into account. The fourth section is a dynamic description to show that the application of digital tools in the supply chain contribute directly to the servitization of agri-food firms

A Generic model for the design and analysis of production systems

This dissertation studies the process of operations systems design within the context of the manufacturing organization. Using the DRAMA (Design Routine for Adopting Modular Assembly) model as developed by a team from the IDOM Research Unit at Aston University as a starting point, the research employed empirically based fieldwork and a survey to investigate the process of production systems design and implementation within four UK manufacturing industries: electronics assembly, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and carpet manufacturing. The intention was to validate the basic DRAMA model as a framework for research enquiry within the electronics industry, where the initial IDOM work was conducted, and then to test its generic applicability, further developing the model where appropriate, within the other industries selected. The thesis contains a review of production systems design theory and practice prior to presenting thirteen industrial case studies of production systems design from the four industry sectors. The results and analysis of the postal survey into production systems design are then presented. The strategic decisions of manufacturing and their relationship to production systems design, and the detailed process of production systems design and operation are then discussed. These analyses are used to develop the generic model of production systems design entitled DRAMA II (Decision Rules for Analysing Manufacturing Activities). The model contains three main constituent parts: the basic DRAMA model, the extended DRAMA II model showing the imperatives and relationships within the design process, and a benchmark generic approach for the design and analysis of each component in the design process. DRAMA II is primarily intended for use by researchers as an analytical framework of enquiry, but is also seen as having application for manufacturing practitioners

Case study on technological applications for production planning and control in the context of industry 4.0

In the course of the fourth industrial revolution, a rapid technological change proceeds in the manufacturing industry. Numerous new technologies enable multiple opportunities for industrial applications. In order to keep pace with this development, companies are forced to cope with a high amount of new technologies and arising application trends. For a successful positioning, knowledge of the industrial relevance of possible applications and the technologies associated with their implementation is required in particular. In this context, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT and the Centre of Excellence in Production Informatics and Control (EPIC CoE) conducted a two-stage case study to identify and evaluate promising industry 4.0 based application fields, such as self-optimizing production scheduling. The case study is proceeded as part of the European Union's Horizon 2020 research project under grant No. 739592. Within the first stage of this project a systematic screening for industrial application fields was conducted. Several potential application fields were identified and their advantages and disadvantages outlined. Furthermore, the application fields were evaluated according to their potential industrial impact and maturity level. In the second stage, technologies for the implementation of the most promising application fields were identified. At this, technologies were investigated and evaluated according to their readiness level for the identified application fields. In this paper, the methodology as well as the results of the first stage of the study are presented

Digital twin based what-if simulation for energy management

The manufacturing sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the industrial world, being the energy consumption by the shop-floor equipment, e.g., robots, machines and AGVs (Autonomous Guided Vehicles), a major issue. The combination of energy-efficient technologies with intelligent and digital technologies can reduce energy consumption. The application of the digital twin concept in the energy efficiency field is a promising research topic, taking advantage of the Industry 4.0 technological developments. This paper presents a digital twin architecture for energy optimisation in manufacturing systems, particularly based on a what-if simulation model. The applicability of the proposed what-if simulation model within the digital twin is presented to promote the efficient energy management of AGVs in a battery pack assembly line case study.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio