The contribution of the new technologies to the 21st - Century Design

In the past the market economy was dominated by the local and regional design,characterized for strong links to the customs, traditions and natural resources from eachregion.As the consequence of the technological advances and the growing needs of consumption,at present, products are manufactured based on economical, functional and marketingcriterions, which means that their design is very offset from the regional and local signs.Between the challenges that characterize the actual economy, one highlights the existenceof more market niches, product variations and shorter life cycles. To survive in this economy,marked by the competition and the globalisation, one search to imply in product developingprocess, the design, engineering, marketing and production department, that composes aknown industrial methodology called concurrent or simultaneous engineering.In this article, one intends to exhibit the applications and advantages of the newtechnologies, like Rapid Prototyping (RP), that are valuable tools of the concurrentengineering and to analyse the specific implications in the design history and teaching.RP is a family of modern technologies that generate three-dimensional solid objects undercomputer control. Besides its designation be reported to the first major application that isindustrial prototyping, the RP equipments also allow the rapid tooling and the directmanufacture of small series or single products.Nowadays, the commercialisation of RP equipments, termed concept modellers or 3Dprintersis in great expansion. Although these machines use a very reduced class of cheapmaterials with poor mechanical characteristics, they allow the designers to verify and quicklytest the ideas that they are developing during the creative process. The designer can realize inplenitude the iterative process of creation without the traditional economical and materialslimitations, being enough to send the CAD file directly to the RP equipment placed in aoffice, like an usual inkjet printer. So it is possible to test new ideas with better accuracybefore its concretisation, avoiding misunderstandings and delays and inciting the positivecriticism through the involvement of the technical staff from all the related departments.Particularity, faced to the challenges due to the globalisation, the traditional and regionalindustries will find in these technologies the means that they need to ensure its own futuresurviving.This presentation is divided in the following sections:- Innovation loop in the past and in the present. The iterative process.- New technologies available to the design and the designers: Rapid Prototyping andInternet.- Design Pedagogy: new challenges in the formation of future generations of designers.- Conclusions and future trends

Technology networks for socially useful production

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Modelling for data management & exchange in Concurrent Engineering - A case study of civil aircraft assembly line

This research aims to improve the dataflow performance of the Concurrent Engineering (CE) practice in the detail design stage of the aircraft Assembly Line (AL) in the C919 aircraft project. As the final integrator of the aircraft, Shanghai Aircraft Manufacturing Company Ltd. (SAMC) is responsible for developing the AL with global suppliers. Although CE has been implemented in AL projects to shorten lead time, reduce development cost and improve design quality, the lack of experience and insufficient infrastructure may lead to many challenges in cooperation with distributed suppliers, especially regarding data management/exchange and workflow control. In this research, the particular CE environment and activities in SAMC AL projects were investigated. By assessing the CE performance and benchmarking, the improvement opportunities are identified, and then an activity-oriented workflow and dataflow model is established by decomposing the work process to detail levels. Based on this model, a Product Data Management (PDM) based support platform is proposed to facilitate data management/exchange in dynamic workflow to improve work efficiency and interoperability. This solution is mocked-up on the Siemens Teamcenter 8.1 PLM(Product Lifecycle Management) software and its feasibility is checked. The mock-up is evaluated by SAMC experts and suppliers. The feedback shows the acceptance of the model by experts and the urgency of improving data/work flow design before PLM implementing. The result of this research is useful for enterprises in similar environments transiting from pre-PLM to implementing PLM and who wanting to strengthen CE in the new product development

An Advanced Technological Lightweighted Solution for a Body in White

Funded by the EC FP7 Program, EVolution project is using the Pininfarina Nido concept car as a baseline for its activities, with the goal to demonstrate the sustainable production of a full electric 600 kg vehicle (FEV). The project has to be finalized by the end of 2016. The existing Body in White (BiW) has been completely reviewed through a design strategy aiming to reduce the number of parts and using innovative lightweight materials and technologies. The considered Al technologies applied on high performances Al alloys provide the opportunities to obtain components with complex geometries and low thickness, merging different parts into one unique element. Besides, it is possible to process a variable thickness element with a single operation. A “green sand mold” technique allows co-casted joints among elements produced with different Al manufacturing processes. The potential cost reduction and process simplification in terms of time and assembly are promising: current state-of-the-art, based on traditional moulds, does not allow these opportunities. The BiW has been hybridized in certain areas of the underbody with a composite material of the PA family, reinforced with GF. This material has been obtained improving existing ones and developing a production process suitable for scaling to commercial requirements, throughout an advanced sheet thermoforming and 3D-injection method (CaproCAST process). Novel polypropylene nanocomposites (PNC) based on silicate and glass fiber layers demonstrate improved toughness and stiffness and have been selected for crash cross beam and side door. Polyurethane foams based on recycled polymers are explored as sustainable energy-absorbing filling in cross beam sections. Structural epoxy adhesives have been considered to join the BiW parts and welding points are reduced in number: in certain areas spot-welds have been used only to tack the parts during polymerization. In addition to the previous results, current weight of the BiW is 115 kg versus 160 kg of the baseline car. An FE-analysis on the virtual full vehicle indicates a good structural behavior, considering EU standards of crash homologation and global static and dynamic performances. The developed architecture and the integration of lightweight materials will ensure that the EU maintains its competitiveness against the Asian and United States automobile industries. This topic is focused on the results obtained on the BiW in terms of design strategies, Al and composite materials innovative technologies and joining methods.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 314744

Optimization of Automotive Glass Production through Business Process Reengineering Approach

AbstractIn today's ever-changing world, the only thing that doesn’t change is ‘change’ itself. In a world increasingly driven by the three Cs: Customer, Competition and Change, companies are on the lookout for new solutions for their business problems. To increase product yields and to ensure consistent product quality, key issues of industrial fermentations, process optimization and scale up are aimed at maintaining optimum and homogenous reaction conditions minimizing costs. The aim of our paper is to propose a methodological approach based on Business Process Reengineering in order to optimize the re-engineering production processes improving the management costs and considering the determination of process areas, the general layout, the selection and organization of the production equipment, the definition of the times of the realization process and the measure of the “ability” of the process

Implementing smart specialisation - thematic platform on industrial modernisation

This paper offers an overview of policy and economic reasons behind the launch of the new Smart Specialisation Platform for Industrial Modernisation. It is argued that modernisation of the European Industry depends upon multiple innovations across many industrial areas linked to emerging value chains. Some European regions have access to leading R&D and upstream innovation facilities; others have industrial skills needed in downstream testing and industrial upscaling. This paper looks at how the new Industrial Modernisation Platform can help European regions to create and/or join transnational networks of knowledge and expertise, and drive the development of transnational and macro-regional value chains. Cooperation and outward-looking disposition promote an understanding of the competitive position of the country/region with regard to others, and with respect to global value chains. The paper summarises the progress made since the formal launch of the new platform in June 2016 and offers an overview of the existing partnerships that are currently supported by the platform.JRC.B.3-Territorial Developmen

The emergence of openness in open source projects : the case of openEHR

The meaning of openness in open source is both intrinsically unstable and dynamic, and tends to fluctuate with time and context. We draw on a very particular open-source project primarily concerned with building rigorous clinical concepts to be used in electronic health records called openEHR. openEHR explains how openness is a concept that is purposely engaged with, and how, in this process of engagement, the very meaning of open matures and evolves within the project. Drawing on rich longitudinal data related to openEHR we theorise the evolving nature of openness and how this idea emerges through two intertwined processes of maturation and metamorphosis. While metamorphosis allows us to trace and interrogate the mutational evolution in openness, maturation analyses the small, careful changes crafted to build a very particular understanding of openness. Metamorphosis is less managed and controlled, whereas maturation is representative of highly precise work carried out in controlled form. Both processes work together in open-source projects and reinforce each other. Our study reveals that openness emerges and evolves in open-source projects where it can be understood to mean rigour; ability to participate; open implementation; and an open process. Our work contributes to a deepening in the theorisation of what it means to be an open-source project. The multiple and co-existing meanings of ‘open’ imply that open-source projects evolve in nonlinear ways where each critical meaning of openness causes a reflective questioning by the community of its continued status and existence

A Systems Approach Towards Reliability-Centred Maintenance (RCM) of Wind Turbines

AbstractWind turbines are a proven source of clean energy with wind power energy harvesting technologies supplying about 3% of global electricity consumption. However there is an increasing demand on maintenance and operational improvements since turbines have been plagued with downtime problems of major components e.g. gearboxes and generators, especially with offshore turbines which are difficult to access. Reliability Centric Maintenance (RCM) is a way of capturing the potential causes of downtime and poor performance by preventing failures and having a proactive approach to operations and maintenance (O&M). However, for a large fleet of turbines, adopting the RCM approach becomes difficult due to the complexities that arise as a result of the interactions between individual elements that make up the system in the product lifecycle. This paper discusses how a systems thinking approach can be used to identify the relevant aspects and possible interactions between the RCM approach and wind turbine gearboxes and also how the gaps that exist within the system can be closed so as to add value to business. The outcome of the paper is a proposal for applying a systems approach to wind turbine gearbox operation and maintenance, optimising the asset value adding contribution at minimal total cost to the operator