Process capability modelling: a review report of feature representation methodologies

Approximately 150 technical papers on the features methodology have been carefully studied and some selected papers have been commented upon. The abstracts of the comments are documented and attached to this report. The methodologies reviewed are mainly divided into two approaches, ie. feature recognition and design by features. Papers which deal with some specific topics such as feature taxonomies, dimensions and tolerances, feature concepts, etc. are also included in the document

The foundation of capability modelling: A study of the impact and utilisation of human resources

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research aims at finding a foundation for assessment of capabilities and applying the concept in a human resource selection. The research identifies a common ground for assessing individuals’ applied capability in a given job based on literature review of various disciplines in engineering, human sciences and economics. A set of criteria is found to be common and appropriate to be used as the basis of this assessment. Applied Capability is then described in this research as the impact of the person in fulfilling job requirements and also their level of usage from their resources with regards to the identified criteria. In other words how their available resources (abilities, skills, value sets, personal attributes and previous performance records) can be used in completing a job. Translation of the person’s resources and task requirements using the proposed criteria is done through a novel algorithm and two prevalent statistical inference techniques (OLS regression and Fuzzy) are used to estimate quantitative levels of impact and utilisation. A survey on post graduate students is conducted to estimate their applied capabilities in a given job. Moreover, expert academics are surveyed on their views on key applied capability assessment criteria, and how different levels of match between job requirement and person’s resources in those criteria might affect the impact levels. The results from both surveys were mathematically modelled and the predictive ability of the conceptual and mathematical developments were compared and further contrasted with the observed data. The models were tested for robustness using experimental data and the results for both estimation methods in both surveys are close to one another with the regression models being closer to observations. It is believed that this research has provided sound conceptual and mathematical platforms which can satisfactorily predict individuals’ applied capability in a given job. This research has contributed to the current knowledge and practice by a) providing a comparison of capability definitions and uses in different disciplines, b) defining criteria for applied capability assessment, c) developing an algorithm to capture applied capabilities, d) quantification of an existing parallel model and finally e) estimating impact and utilisation indices using mathematical methods

Global manufacturing capability modelling and evaluation.

Desires to gain access to new markets, minimise production cost, take advantage of regional investment incentives and enhance technological development have prompted many companies to study the feasibility of globalising their manufacturing activities. They need evaluation tools which will provide structured and systematic methodologies to study and facilitate global manufacturing decisions. Past work by numerous academics and researchers in comparing the manufacturing competitiveness between different nations provide valuable insight into the advantages and disadvantages of locating manufacturing facilities in different countries. In an operational point of view, however, companies require more specific information about a changing industry and its sub-industries with the view of evaluating their capabilities within the context of global socio-economic and technological trends.This thesis proposes a conceptual model that will assist companies to measure, compare and project their manufacturing performances when supplying to a particular market using products manufactured in different locations. This Manufacturing Capabilities Model is conceptually represented by a cuboid, the three axis of which relates to manufacturing process, performance and potential respectively. Manufacturing processes and performance measures are organised in a hierarchical matrix under major stages of the production process and four main performance criteria of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. The relative importance of these four performance criteria to a company varies according to the structure of the industry in a particular region. Potential represents the changes in performance in response to changes in the business environment. The validity of the model is demonstrated based on its implementation on the steel industry.The Manufacturing Capabilities Model adopts Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique to evaluate global manufacturing competitiveness. This model enables a company to compare the competitiveness of different production route configurations encompassing different plants in different countries. It analyses the multiple-attribute problems by decomposing them to hierarchies. It provides pairwise comparison of criteria and generates an integrated overall score based on which alternative decisions can be ranked and compared.Software built on Expert Choice, a software package based on AHP, facilitates the implementation of the model in the steel industry. User interface is provided by Microsoft Excel with Visual Basic for Applications. Several options are available for the users to analyse performance results.The model validation is supported by a comprehensive questionnaire which facilitates data collection in the steel industry. Two industrial case studies based on the Chinese steel industry are used to validate the overall modelling methodology

Evaluation of four artificial lighting simulation tools with virtual building reference

There are number of software environments available to conduct lighting simulation to support researchers and designers. This paper compares and analyses performance of four lighting simulation programs, they are, AGI32, DIALux, RADIANCE and RELux. Along with the evaluation of modelling ability and output features, two significant aspects of lighting calculation focussed in this study are accuracy in calculating illumination level and luminaire number for interior spaces. Illumination level calculation is validated by Commission International de Eclairage (CIE) recommended methodology known as CIE test cases. Another virtual space is used to evaluate luminaire number calculation capability. Modelling and simulation were conducted by all four packages. Validation was done by comparing simulation results with analytical and manual method calculation

Feature-based representation for assembly modelling

The aim of building an assembly model is to describe the component geometry and to define the relationships between parts of the final assembly. This requires a representation of features which include all the information needed to assemble the products and a data structure which stores information on how all the components and features are connected in an assembly. This paper outlines the development of an assembly model based on an established feature representation and a hierarchical assembly structure. Information needed to establish assembly relationships among features are included in the form of mating conditions such as "against", "fits" and the mating of two faces. The model is embedded in an object-oriented solid modeller kernel. The aim is to achieve an efficient assembly model that can be used to generate feasible sets of assembly plans

Diseño para la brecha: El espacio entre la OPV y la Fragata

One of the enduring struggles for the warship designer has been the design of the affordable warship; a ship that offers useful military capability at a fixed and ideally lower price than a pure frigate or destroyer type. BMT has been investigating this design space, through the creation of a patrol ship design called the “Venator 110”, using a variety of tools to measure performance rapidly. A capability modelling tool has been developed to rapidly compare how different designs achieve military roles and how modular systems may be used to enhance a platform. Investigations have also focused on exploring methods of achieving pragmatic enhancements to survivability. These draw on the company’s experience in developing naval and auxiliary ships which use a mix of naval and commercial equipment and practises to “tailor” survivability. Finally, design solutions that offer maximum flexibility have been incorporated within the design to explore their practicality.Una de las luchas duraderas para el dise.ador de buques de Guerra ha sido el dise.o asequible de una embarcación de estas características; un buque que ofrezca capacidad militar útil en un ajustado e idealmente más bajo precio que una fragata o una fragata tipo destructor. BMT ha estado investigando este espacio de diseño, a través de la creación del diseño de un patrullero llamado “Venator 110”, usando una variedad de herramientas para medir desempeño rápidamente. Una herramienta de modelado de capacidades ha sido desarrollada para comparar rápidamente c.mo diferentes diseños logran los roles militares y cómo los sistemas modulares pueden ser usados para mejorar una plataforma. También las investigaciones han sido enfocadas en la exploración de métodos de mejora para la supervivencia. Estos se basan en la experiencia de la compañía en el desarrollo de embarcaciones navales y auxiliares, las cuales usan una mezcla de equipos navales y comerciales, y prácticas para “ajustar” la supervivencia. Finalmente, las soluciones de dise.o que ofrecen una m.xima flexibilidad han sido incorporadas dentro del diseñoo para explorar su practicidad

A METHOD FOR CONTEXT MODELLING IN CAPABILITY MANAGEMENT

Enterprises exist in the context of their dynamically changing environment, which has a strong impact on service design and delivery. Within areas such as ambient intelligence or robotics, most relevant context has a physical nature. However, the context of an enterprise requires a different conceptual-ization of context awareness. Beyond physical context, enterprises need to be aware of their market, legal and social context. Moreover, in order to monitor context and configure services systematically, we need a context modelling method that is integrated within enterprise modelling and supports in-formation and communication technology (ICT) engineering and runtime. The work in this paper has been performed as part of developing Capability Driven Development (CDD), a new paradigm for ICT design where services are customised on the basis of the essential business capabilities and deliv-ery is adjusted according to the current context. The contributions of the paper are (i) the investiga-tion of industrial needs for context modelling, (ii) eCoM, a context modelling method for enterprise ICT addressing such needs, iii) application of the method in an industrial use case and (iv) the evolu-tion of eCoM based on various evaluation cycles by means of Framework for Evaluation in Design Science Research (FEDS)