Integrated Process Simulation and Die Design in Sheet Metal Forming

During the recent 10-15 years, Computer Aided Process Planning and Die Design evolved as one of the most important engineering tools in sheet metal forming, particularly in the automotive industry. This emerging role is strongly emphasized by the rapid development of Finite Element Modelling, as well. The purpose of this paper is to give a general overview about the recent achievements in this very important field of sheet metal forming and to introduce some special results in this development activity. Therefore, in this paper, an integrated process simulation and die design system developed at the University of Miskolc, Department of Mechanical Engineering will be analysed. The proposed integrated solutions have great practical importance to improve the global competitiveness of sheet metal forming in the very important segment of industry. The concept described in this paper may have specific value both for process planning and die design engineers

Energy efficiency in discrete-manufacturing systems: insights, trends, and control strategies

Since the depletion of fossil energy sources, rising energy prices, and governmental regulation restrictions, the current manufacturing industry is shifting towards more efficient and sustainable systems. This transformation has promoted the identification of energy saving opportunities and the development of new technologies and strategies oriented to improve the energy efficiency of such systems. This paper outlines and discusses most of the research reported during the last decade regarding energy efficiency in manufacturing systems, the current technologies and strategies to improve that efficiency, identifying and remarking those related to the design of management/control strategies. Based on this fact, this paper aims to provide a review of strategies for reducing energy consumption and optimizing the use of resources within a plant into the context of discrete manufacturing. The review performed concerning the current context of manufacturing systems, control systems implemented, and their transformation towards Industry 4.0 might be useful in both the academic and industrial dimension to identify trends and critical points and suggest further research lines.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming

The application of numerical modelling and simulation in manufacturing technologies is looking back over about a 20–30 years history. In recent years, the role of modelling and simulation in engineering and in manufacturing industry has been continuously increasing. It is well known that during manufacturing processes simultaneous the effect of many different parameters can be observed. This is the reason why in former years, detailed analysis of manufacturing processes could have been done only by time-consuming and expensive trial-and-error methods. Due to the recent developments in the methods of modelling and simulation, as well as in computational facilities, modelling and simulation has become an everyday tool in engineering practice. Besides the aforementioned facts, the emerging role of modelling and simulation can also be explained by the growing globalisation and competition of the world market requiring shorter lead times and more cost effective solutions. In spite the enormous development of hardware and software facilities, the exclusive use of numerical modelling still seems to be very time- and cost consuming, and there is still often a high scepticism about the results among industrialists. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to overview the present situation of numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming, mainly from the viewpoint of scientific research and industrial applications

Continuous maintenance and the future – Foundations and technological challenges

High value and long life products require continuous maintenance throughout their life cycle to achieve required performance with optimum through-life cost. This paper presents foundations and technologies required to offer the maintenance service. Component and system level degradation science, assessment and modelling along with life cycle ‘big data’ analytics are the two most important knowledge and skill base required for the continuous maintenance. Advanced computing and visualisation technologies will improve efficiency of the maintenance and reduce through-life cost of the product. Future of continuous maintenance within the Industry 4.0 context also identifies the role of IoT, standards and cyber security

Recent Achievements in Numerical Simulation in Sheet Metal Forming Processes

Purpose of this paper: During the recent 10-15 years, Computer Aided Process Planning and Die Design evolved as one of the most important engineering tools in sheet metal forming, particularly in the automotive industry. This emerging role is strongly emphasized by the rapid development of Finite Element Modelling, as well. The purpose of this paper is to give a general overview about the recent achievements in this very important field of sheet metal forming and to introduce some special results in this development activity. Design/methodology/approach: Concerning the CAE activities in sheet metal forming, there are two main approaches: one of them may be regarded as knowledge based process planning, whilst the other as simulation based process planning. The author attempts to integrate these two separate developments in knowledge and simulation based approach by linking commercial CAD and FEM systems. Findings: Applying the above approach a more powerful and efficient process planning and die design solution can be achieved radically reducing the time and cost of product development cycle and improving product quality. Research limitations: Due to the different modelling approaches in CAD and FEM systems, the biggest challenge is to enhance the robustness of data exchange capabilities between various systems to provide an even more streamlined information flow. Practical implications: The proposed integrated solutions have great practical importance to improve the global competitiveness of sheet metal forming in the very important segment of industry. Originality/value: The concept described in this paper may have specific value both for process planning and die design engineers

Aerospace management techniques: Commercial and governmental applications

A guidebook for managers and administrators is presented as a source of useful information on new management methods in business, industry, and government. The major topics discussed include: actual and potential applications of aerospace management techniques to commercial and governmental organizations; aerospace management techniques and their use within the aerospace sector; and the aerospace sector's application of innovative management techniques

Evaluation of methods for determining hardware projected life

An investigation of existing methods of predicting hardware life is summarized by reviewing programs having long life requirements, current research efforts on long life problems, and technical papers reporting work on life predicting techniques. The results indicate that there are no accurate quantitative means to predict hardware life for system level hardware. The effectiveness of test programs and the cause of hardware failures is considered

Intelligent systems in manufacturing: current developments and future prospects

Global competition and rapidly changing customer requirements are demanding increasing changes in manufacturing environments. Enterprises are required to constantly redesign their products and continuously reconfigure their manufacturing systems. Traditional approaches to manufacturing systems do not fully satisfy this new situation. Many authors have proposed that artificial intelligence will bring the flexibility and efficiency needed by manufacturing systems. This paper is a review of artificial intelligence techniques used in manufacturing systems. The paper first defines the components of a simplified intelligent manufacturing systems (IMS), the different Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to be considered and then shows how these AI techniques are used for the components of IMS