Micro-manufacturing : research, technology outcomes and development issues

Besides continuing effort in developing MEMS-based manufacturing techniques, latest effort in Micro-manufacturing is also in Non-MEMS-based manufacturing. Research and technological development (RTD) in this field is encouraged by the increased demand on micro-components as well as promised development in the scaling down of the traditional macro-manufacturing processes for micro-length-scale manufacturing. This paper highlights some EU funded research activities in micro/nano-manufacturing, and gives examples of the latest development in micro-manufacturing methods/techniques, process chains, hybrid-processes, manufacturing equipment and supporting technologies/device, etc., which is followed by a summary of the achievements of the EU MASMICRO project. Finally, concluding remarks are given, which raise several issues concerning further development in micro-manufacturing

A novel architecture for a reconfigurable micro machining cell

There is a growing demand for machine tools that are specifically designed for the manufacture of micro-scale components. Such machine tools are integrated into flexible micro-manufacturing systems. Design objectives for such tools include energy efficiency, small footprint and importantly flexibility, with the ability to easily reconfigure the manufacturing system in response to process requirements and product demands. Such systems find application in medical, photonics, automotive and electronic industries. In this paper, a new architecture for a reconfigurable micro manufacturing system is presented. The proposed architecture comprises a micro manufacturing cell with the key design feature being a hexagonal-base on which three tool heads can be attached to three of its sides. Each such machine-tool head, or processing module, is able to perform a different manufacturing process. These tool heads are interchangeable, enabling the cell to be configured to process a wide range of components with different materials, dimensions, tolerances and specification. Additional components of the cell include manipulation robots and an automated buffer unit. Such cells can be integrated into a manufacturing system via a modular conveyor belt to transfer parts from one cell to another and into assembly. A key consideration of the architecture is a control system that is also modular and reconfigurable; such that when new processing modules are introduced the control system is aware of the change and adjusts accordingly. Further to this coordination, issues between modules and machining cells are also considered. Other design considerations include work-piece holding and manipulation. This paper provides an overview of the architecture, the key design and implementation challenges as well as a high level operational performance assessment by means of a discrete event simulation model of the micro factory cell

TUT-microfactory – a small-size, modular and sustainable production system

Part of: Seliger, Günther (Ed.): Innovative solutions : proceedings / 11th Global Conference on Sustainable Manufacturing, Berlin, Germany, 23rd - 25th September, 2013. - Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2013. - ISBN 978-3-7983-2609-5 (online). - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-40276. - pp. 78-83.Micro and desktop factories are small size production systems suitable for fabricating and assembling small parts and products. The development originates in the early 1990’s Japan, where small machines were designed in order to save resources when producing small products. This paper introduces the modular TUTMicrofactory concept, developed at Tampere University of Technology during the past 15 years, and its applications. The sustainability of miniaturized production systems is discussed from three perspectives – environmental, economic and social. The main conclusion is that micro and desktop factories can remarkably enhance the sustainability of manufacturing from all these three perspectives

Micro and Desktop Factory Roadmap

Terms desktop and microfactory both refer to production equipment that is miniaturized down to the level where it can placed on desktop and manually moved without any lifting aids. In this context, micro does not necessarily refer to the size of parts produced or their features, or the actual size or resolution of the equipment. Instead, micro refers to a general objective of downscaling production equipment to the same scale with the products they are manufacturing. Academic research literature speculates with several advantages and benefits of using miniaturized production equipment. These range from reduced use of energy and other resources (such as raw material) to better operator ergonomics and from greater equipment flexibility and reconfigurability to ubiquitous manufacturing (manufacturing on-the-spot, i.e. manufacturing the end product where it is used). Academic research has also generated several pieces of equipment and application demonstrations, and many of those are described in this document. Despite of nearly two decades of academic research, wider industrial breakthrough has not yet taken place and, in fact, many of the speculated advantages have not been proven or are not (yet) practical. However, there are successful industrial examples including miniaturized machining units; robotic, assembly and process cells; as well as other pieces of desktop scale equipment. These are also presented in this document. Looking at and analysing the current state of micro and desktop production related academic and commercial research and development, there are notable gaps that should be addressed. Many of these are general to several fields, such as understanding the actual needs of industry, whereas some are specific to miniaturised production field. One such example is the size of the equipment: research equipment is often “too small” to be commercially viable alternative. However, it is important to seek the limits of miniaturisation and even though research results might not be directly adaptable to industrial use, companies get ideas and solution models from research. The field of desktop production is new and the future development directions are not clear. In general, there seems to be two main development directions for micro and desktop factory equipment: 1) Small size equipment assisting human operators at the corner of desk 2) Small size equipment forming fully automatic production lines (including line components, modules, and cells) These, and other aspects including visions of potential application areas and business models for system providers, are discussed in detail in this roadmap. To meet the visions presented, some actions are needed. Therefore, this document gives guidelines for various industrial user groups (end users of miniaturized production equipment, system providers/integrators and component providers) as well as academia for forming their strategies in order to exploit the benefits of miniaturized production. To summarise, the basic guidelines for different actors are: • Everyone: Push the desktop ideology and awareness of the technology and its possibilities. Market and be present at events where potential new fields get together. Tell what is available and what is needed. • Equipment end users: Specify and determine what is needed. Be brave to try out new ways of doing things. Think what is really needed – do not over specify. • System providers / integrators: Organize own operations and product portfolios so that supplying equipment fulfilling the end user specifications can be done profitably. • Component providers: Design and supply components which are cost-efficient and easy to integrate to and to take into use in desktop scale equipment. • Academia: Look further into future, support industrial sector in their shorter term development work and act as a facilitator for cooperation between different actors

Liiketoimintamallit ja sovellukset mikro- ja desktoptehtaille

The terms microfactory and desktop factory originates from Japan in the 1990’s. Small machines were developed to produce small parts and save resources. In the late 1990’s, the research spread around the world, and multiple miniaturized concepts were introduced. However, the level of commercialization remains low. More empirical evidence and business aspect is needed. This thesis discusses how the systems can be used and how the providers benefit of it, now and in the future. The research includes 18 semi-structured interviews in Europe. The interviewees are both from academic and industry, including equipment and component providers, and users and potential users. According to the interviews, research and the industry have different viewpoints to the miniaturization. Within the academics, miniaturization links to a general philosophy to match the products in size. In the industry, the small size is only a secondary sales argument. The main factors preventing breakthrough are the lack of small subsystems, the lack of examples and production engineers’ attitudes. It appears that the technology is in the beginning of the S-curve, and it has systematic development as well as slow technology diffusion. More cooperation and a large scale demonstration are needed. In the literature, there are multiple applications. The MEMS industry is stated as one promising industry. The research aims usually for high level of automation. Based on interviews, the systems are used as a semi-automatic tool for component manufacturing and assembly. In the future, educational and laboratory use as well as prototyping are promising. Local cleanrooms interest but questions arise. In addition, retail level personalization, home fabrication and the MEMS industry include problems. For providers, the technology offers two promising customer segments (Lean manufacturers and fully loaded factories), few additional segments (e.g. educational, laboratories and offices) and it eases some alternative charging models (e.g. leasing, and capacity sales)

International Workshop on MicroFactories (IWMF 2012): 17th-20th June 2012 Tampere Hall Tampere, Finland

This Workshop provides a forum for researchers and practitioners in industry working on the diverse issues of micro and desktop factories, as well as technologies and processes applicable for micro and desktop factories. Micro and desktop factories decrease the need of factory floor space, and reduce energy consumption and improve material and resource utilization thus strongly supporting the new sustainable manufacturing paradigm. They can be seen also as a proper solution to point-of-need manufacturing of customized and personalized products near the point of need

Desktop microfactory

Micro technology is continuously progressing towards smaller, smarter and reliable forms. Consequently, demand for such miniature and complex systems is arising rapidly in various fields such as industry, medicine, aerospace and automotive. Such fast development of micro technology is achieved thanks to improvements in micromanufacturing tools and techniques. Miniaturization of the machinery and manufacturing equipment is emerging to be an attractive idea that would eventually solve many of the issues existing in conventional micro-manufacturing. This work presents a modular and reconfigurable desktop microfactory for high precision assembly and machining of micro mechanical parts as proof of concept inspired by the downsizing trend of the production tools. The system is constructed based on primary functional and performance requirements such as miniature size, operation with sub-millimeter precision, modular and reconfigurable structure, parallel processing capability, ease of transportation and integration. Proposed miniature factory consists of downsized functional modules such as two parallel kinematic robots for manipulation and assembly, galvanometric laser beam scanning system for micromachining, high precision piezoelectric positioning stage, camera system for detection and inspection, and a rotational conveyor system. Each of the listed modules is designed and tested for fine precision tasks separately and results are presented. Design comprises development of mechanics, electronics and controller for the modules individually. Once stand-alone operation of each unit is achieved further assembly to a single microfactory system is considered. The overall mechanical structure of the proposed microfactory facilitates parallel processing, flexible rearrangement of the layout, and ease of assembling and disassembling capabilities. These important steps are taken to investigate possibilities of a microfactory concept for production of microsystems in near future

A review on micro-manufacturing, microforming and their key issues

Micro-manufacturing has received good attention globally in terms of its manufacturing methods/processes. One of the most popular micro-manufacturing processes is micro-forming. Many efforts have been focused on micro-forming, mainly on the micro-stamping process due to the process itself contributing numerous products, especially in its conventional macro-process. Most every-day products are made by this process. Although there were efforts made to realize micro-forming for industrial application, the technology itself was seen as being insufficiently mature. Much development work needed to be done, specifically to develop a fully-automated high-volume production micro-forming machine, which is reliable and at all times ready for operation in terms of it processes, tooling, and material-handling to ensure the successful production of micro-products. The paper addresses key issues encountered by researchers worldwide on both micro-manufacturing, specifically micro-forming

Design and construction of a novel reconfigurable micro manufacturing cell

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Demands for producing small components are increasing. Such components are usually produced using large-size conventional machining tools. This results in the inadequate usage of resources, including energy, space and time. In the 1990s, the concept of a microfactory was introduced in order to achieve better usage of these resources by scaling down the size of the machine tool itself. Several industries can benefit from implementing such a concept, such as the medical, automotive and electronics industries. A novel architecture for a reconfigurable micro-manufacturing cell (RMC) is presented in this research, aiming at delivering certain manufacturing strategies such as point of use (POU) and cellular manufacturing (CM) as well as several capabilities, including modularity, reconfigurability, mobility and upgradability. Unlike conventional machine tools, the proposed design is capable of providing several machining processes within a small footprint (500 mm2), yet processing parts within a volume up to 100 mm3. In addition, it delivers a rapid structure and process reconfiguration while achieving a micromachining level of accuracy. The approach followed in developing the system is highly iterative with several feedback loops. It was deemed necessary to adopt such an approach to ensure that not only was the design relevant, but also that it progresses the state-of-the-art and takes into account the many considerations in machine design. Following this approach, several design iterations have been developed before reaching a final design that is capable of delivering the required manufacturing qualities and operational performance. A prototype has been built based on the specifications of the selected design iteration, followed by providing a detailed material and components selection process and assembly method before running a performance assessment analysis of the prototype. At this stage, a correlation between the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) model and prototype has been considered, aiming at studying the level of performance of the RMC when optimising the design in the future. Then, based on the data collected during each stage of the design process, an optimisation process was suggested to improve the overall performance of the system, using computer aided design and modelling (CAD/CAM) tools to generate, analyse and optimise the design