Nonlinear Model Predictive Control for Industrial Manufacturing Processes with Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Manufacturing companies are faced with challenges to respond to volatile market demands quickly and flexibly while maintaining a cost-effective level of production. Instead of flexible working times, we adopt Reconfigurable Machine Tools (RMTs) to compensate for unpredictable events in case of bottleneck. To include these tools effectively on the operational layer, we propose a complementing feedback approach using model predictive control (MPC) together with genetic algorithm and branch and bound to achieve a better compliance with logistics objectives and a sustainable demand oriented capacity allocation. Further, the system stability is guaranteed by a trajectory-based unconstrained MPC scheme associated with the principle of flexible Lyapunov functions. The effectiveness and plug-and-play availability of the proposed method is demonstrated via a four-workstation job-shop system, which shows that the work in process can be practically asymptotically stabilized by usage of RMTs

Decentralized Robust Capacity Control of Job Shop Systems with Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Manufacturing companies are confronted with various challenges from the perspective of customers individual requirements concerning variations of types of products, quantities and delivery dates. This renders the manufacturing process to be more dynamic and complex, which may result in bottlenecks and unbalanced capacity distributions. To cope with these problems, capacity adjustment is an effective approach to balance capacity and load for short or medium term fluctuations on the operational layer. Particularly, new technologies and algorithms need to be developed for the implementation of capacity adjustment. Reconfigurable machine tools (RMTs) and operator-based robust right coprime factorization (RRCF) provide an opportunity for a new capacity control strategy. Therefore, the main purpose of the research is to develop an effective machinery-oriented capacity control strategy by incorporating RMTs and RRCF for a job shop system to deal with volatile customer demands

CHANGE-READY MPC SYSTEMS AND PROGRESSIVE MODELING: VISION, PRINCIPLES, AND APPLICATIONS

The last couple of decades have witnessed a level of fast-paced development of new ideas, products, manufacturing technologies, manufacturing practices, customer expectations, knowledge transition, and civilization movements, as it has never before. In today\u27s manufacturing world, change became an intrinsic characteristic that is addressed everywhere. How to deal with change, how to manage it, how to bind to it, how to steer it, and how to create a value out of it, were the key drivers that brought this research to existence. Change-Ready Manufacturing Planning and Control (CMPC) systems are presented as the first answer. CMPC characteristics, change drivers, and some principles of Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) are interwoven to present a blueprint of a new framework and mind-set in the manufacturing planning and control field, CMPC systems. In order to step further and make the internals of CMPC systems/components change-ready, an enabling modeling approach was needed. Progressive Modeling (PM), a forward-looking multi-disciplinary modeling approach, is developed in order to modernize the modeling process of today\u27s complex industrial problems and create pragmatic solutions for them. It is designed to be pragmatic, highly sophisticated, and revolves around many seminal principles that either innovated or imported from many disciplines: Systems Analysis and Design, Software Engineering, Advanced Optimization Algorisms, Business Concepts, Manufacturing Strategies, Operations Management, and others. Problems are systemized, analyzed, componentized; their logic and their solution approaches are redefined to make them progressive (ready to change, adapt, and develop further). Many innovations have been developed in order to enrich the modeling process and make it a well-assorted toolkit able to address today\u27s tougher, larger, and more complex industrial problems. PM brings so many novel gadgets in its toolbox: function templates, advanced notation, cascaded mathematical models, mathematical statements, society of decision structures, couplers--just to name a few. In this research, PM has been applied to three different applications: a couple of variants of Aggregate Production Planning (APP) Problem and the novel Reconfiguration and Operations Planning (ROP) problem. The latest is pioneering in both the Reconfigurable Manufacturing and the Operations Management fields. All the developed models, algorithms, and results reveal that the new analytical and computational power gained by PM development and demonstrate its ability to create a new generation of unmatched large scale and scope system problems and their integrated solutions. PM has the potential to be instrumental toolkit in the development of Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems. In terms of other potential applications domain, PM is about to spark a new paradigm in addressing large-scale system problems of many engineering and scientific fields in a highly pragmatic way without losing the scientific rigor

A knowledge based approach to integration of products, processes and reconfigurable automation resources

The success of next generation automotive companies will depend upon their ability to adapt to ever changing market trends thus becoming highly responsive. In the automotive sector, the assembly line design and reconfiguration is an especially critical and extremely complex job. The current research addresses some of the aspects of this activity under the umbrella of a larger ongoing research project called Business Driven Automation (BDA) project. The BDA project aims to carry out complete virtual 3D modeling-based verifications of the assembly line for new or revised products in contrast to the prevalent practice of manual evaluation of effects of product change on physical resources. [Continues.

Advances on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Manufacturing III

This open access book gathers contributions presented at the International Joint Conference on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (JCM 2020), held as a web conference on June 2–4, 2020. It reports on cutting-edge topics in product design and manufacturing, such as industrial methods for integrated product and process design; innovative design; and computer-aided design. Further topics covered include virtual simulation and reverse engineering; additive manufacturing; product manufacturing; engineering methods in medicine and education; representation techniques; and nautical, aeronautics and aerospace design and modeling. The book is organized into four main parts, reflecting the focus and primary themes of the conference. The contributions presented here not only provide researchers, engineers and experts in a range of industrial engineering subfields with extensive information to support their daily work; they are also intended to stimulate new research directions, advanced applications of the methods discussed and future interdisciplinary collaborations

Advances on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Manufacturing III

This open access book gathers contributions presented at the International Joint Conference on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (JCM 2020), held as a web conference on June 2–4, 2020. It reports on cutting-edge topics in product design and manufacturing, such as industrial methods for integrated product and process design; innovative design; and computer-aided design. Further topics covered include virtual simulation and reverse engineering; additive manufacturing; product manufacturing; engineering methods in medicine and education; representation techniques; and nautical, aeronautics and aerospace design and modeling. The book is organized into four main parts, reflecting the focus and primary themes of the conference. The contributions presented here not only provide researchers, engineers and experts in a range of industrial engineering subfields with extensive information to support their daily work; they are also intended to stimulate new research directions, advanced applications of the methods discussed and future interdisciplinary collaborations

The effects of a peer-mediated synthetic phonics intervention with children from a rural Indian town

PhD ThesisIt’s a truism that children living in rural areas of India suffer from a lack of quality reading instruction and guidance. Singular rote pedagogies hinder children’s progress and potential for higher study. In light of this, research continues to find benefits in synthetic phonic and peer learning methods, offering a potential avenue for accelerating early reading achievement. This study investigated the effects of a peer-mediated synthetic phonics programme operating in a rural Northern Indian town. Following a sociocultural peer cooperative approach to reading instruction, children from a low-cost private school (N = 44) were recruited as Monitors and trained in a peer/synthetic method ahead of a four-month intervention. Given localised problems associated with education access and quality, children from a range of mainstream education providers (N = 701) were recruited as Learners and randomised into control and intervention groups. An embedded mix methods research design was incorporated into a three-phase research plan. Using an experimental random controlled trial (RCT) design, quantitative collections involved pre/post testing on all children’s phonological awareness, spelling, reading skills and reading attitudes. Qualitative collections during phase two developed pre-test findings by exploring Monitors’ reading attitudes ahead of the intervention. The main findings suggest children receiving peer-mediated synthetic phonic instructions are able to improve their English phonemic awareness, spelling, and reading skills. It demonstrates capacity for accelerating reading achievement over a short intervention period, potential for further study in this area and pedagogical reform. In addition to this, factors associated with peer reading opportunities, location and pedagogical structure improved reading attitudes. Attitudes to reading is an underdeveloped area in Indian education policy, it is not referred to in any policy documents or curricula. The significance of peer reading promotion in academic and recreational settings is crucial to accelerating reading achievement. Taken as a whole, this research has major implications for international development programmes looking to target progression in early reading achievement and the promotion of positive attitudes in reading activities

Road vehicle state estimation using low-cost GPS/INS

Due to noise and bias in the Inertial Navigation System (INS), vehicle dynamics measurements using the INS are inaccurate. Although alternative methods involving the integration of INS with accurate Global Positioning System (GPS) exist and are accurate, this kind of system is far too expensive to become value-adding to production vehicles. This thesis therefore considers two aspects: 1) the possibility of estimating vehicle dynamics using low-cost INS and GPS, and 2) the importance of vehicle dynamics in terms of handling in the eyes of customers upon vehicle purchase. The former aspect is considered from an engineering perspective and the latter is studied in a marketing context. From an engineering point of view, knowledge of vehicle dynamics not only improves existing safety control systems, such the Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) and Electronic Stabilising Program (ESP), but also allows the development of new systems. Based on modelling and simulation in MATLAB/Simulink, low-cost GPS and in-car INS (such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and wheel speed sensors) measurements are fused using Kalman Filters (KFs) to estimate the vehicle dynamics. These estimations are then compared with the simulation results from IPG Car- Maker. For most simulations, the speed of the vehicle is kept between 15 to 55kph. It is found that while triple KF designs are able to estimate the tyre radius, the longitudinal velocity and the heading angle accurately, an integrated KF design with known vehicle parameters is also able to estimate the lateral velocity precisely. Apart from studying and comparing different KF designs with restricted sensors quality, the effects and benefits of different sensor qualities in dynamic estimations are also studied via the variation of sensor sampling rates and accuracies. This investigation produces a design procedure and estimation error analyses (theoretical and graphical) which may help future engineers in designing their KFs. From a marketing perspective, it is important to understand customers’ purchase reasons in order to allocate resources more efficiently and effectively. As GPS/INS KF designs are able to enhance vehicle handling, it is vital to understand the relative importance of vehicle handling as a consumer purchase choice criterion. Based on two surveys, namely the New Vehicle Experience Survey in the US (NVES US) and the New Car Buyer Survey in the UK (NCBS UK), analyses are performed in a computer program called the Predictive Analytics SoftWare (PASW), which is formerly known as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The number of purchase reasons are first reduced with factor analysis, the latent factors produced are then used in the SPSS Two Step Cluster analysis for customer segmentation. With the customer segments and the latent factors defined, a discriminant analysis is carried out to determine customer type in the automobile sector, in particular for Jaguar Cars. It is found that customers in general take vehicle handling for granted and often underrate its importance in their purchase. New vehicle handling-aided systems therefore need to be marketed in terms of the value they add to other benefits such as reliability and performance in order to increase sales and stakeholder value

Customer Service Retention – A Behavioural Perspective of the UK Mobile Market

Abstract Customer retention is essential for firms in the service sector and will subsequently receive a great deal of attention in the coming years. A large majority of firms are losing their current customers at a significant rate. UK operators lose over a third of their subscribers every year in spite of incurring large customer acquisition and retention expenditures. A study of customer retention from a variety of angles, including economic, behavioural and psychological perspectives, was rigorously carried out. It has been found that a majority of scholars explain customer retention from a behavioural perspective by using unrelated or indirect factors such as trust and commitment, price terms, and loyalty terms. It has also been noted that previous studies lack a clear theoretical background and a solid empirical proof to support their findings of customer operant retention behaviour. This study approaches the customer retention problem in the mobile phone sector from a behavioural perspective, applying the Behavioural Perspective Model as the main analytical framework. The model includes a set of pre-behaviour and post-behaviour factors to study consumer choice and explains its relevant drivers in a viable and comprehensive way, grounded in radical behaviourism. Many data collection methods were used to collect data from the study sample, including mobile contracts content analysis techniques, customer focus groups, and, principally, a customer survey supported by interviews with a number of managers. The data were analysed using different regression measurements to test the study model, and the propositions were constructed and tested quantitatively and discussed qualitatively. Analysis revealed that a customer will buy a mobile telecommunication package and engage in a long-term relationship with a supplier whom he or she believes will honour the relationship’s functional and emotional benefits; the consumer will be expecting to obtain such benefits when he/she buys, consumes, and has a positive experience of both the purchased object and the seller