8 research outputs found
Integration issues in the development of a modelling and simulation tool for low volume high-complexity electronics manufacture
In order to design and implement the information
systems and modules that could comprise an “industrial
strong” knowledge-based tool, links to shop floor systems
containing real-time production data and PCA customer
information (e.g. bill of materials (BOM), CAD
drawings) are required. Details of the issues of
implementing the tool in an industrial organisation and
the integration of various data sources (e.g. “in-house”
developed systems, enterprise resource planning systems,
ad-hoc developed databases, machine data and CAD data)
are presented in this paper. The application of the
CLOVES system in an industrial setup highlights the
difficulties in integrating information from design as
CAD data and shows how these setbacks could be
overcome if the electronics industry were to adopt a
common CAD assembly information exchange platform.
Hence, this paper concludes that existing automation tool
manufacturers should focus exclusively on developing
generic connections by adopting industry standards that
can facilitate the deployment of “plug and play” tools.
This standardisation could in turn help software
developers, to provide the electronics industry with more
integrated systems that communicate better among
loosely coupled information systems and avoid depending
on extensive time consuming manual data input
Complex low volume electronics simulation tool to improve yield and reliability
Assembly of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) in low volumes
and a high-mix requires a level of manual intervention during
product manufacture, which leads to poor first time yield and
increased production costs. Failures at the component-level
and failures that stem from non-component causes (i.e.
system-level), such as defects in design and manufacturing,
can account for this poor yield. These factors have not been
incorporated in prediction models due to the fact that systemfailure
causes are not driven by well-characterised
deterministic processes. A simulation and analysis support
tool being developed that is based on a suite of interacting
modular components with well defined functionalities and
interfaces is presented in this paper. The CLOVES (Complex
Low Volume Electronics Simulation) tool enables the
characterisation and dynamic simulation of complete design;
manufacturing and business processes (throughout the entire
product life cycle) in terms of their propensity to create
defects that could cause product failure. Details of this system
and how it is being developed to fulfill changing business
needs is presented in this paper. Using historical data and
knowledge of previous printed circuit assemblies (PCA)
design specifications and manufacturing experiences, defect
and yield results can be effectively stored and re-applied for
future problem solving. For example, past PCA design
specifications can be used at design stage to amend designs or
define process options to optimise the product yield and
service reliability
Combining business process and failure modelling to increase yield in electronics manufacturing
The prediction and capturing of defects in low-volume assembly of electronics is
a technical challenge that is a prerequisite for design for manufacturing (DfM) and business
process improvement (BPI) to increase first-time yields and reduce production costs. Failures
at the component-level (component defects) and system-level (such as defects in design and
manufacturing) have not been incorporated in combined prediction models. BPI efforts should
have predictive capability while supporting flexible production and changes in business models.
This research was aimed at the integration of enterprise modelling (EM) and failure models (FM)
to support business decision making by predicting system-level defects. An enhanced business
modelling approach which provides a set of accessible failure models at a given business process
level is presented in this article. This model-driven approach allows the evaluation of product
and process performance and hence feedback to design and manufacturing activities hence
improving first-time yield and product quality. A case in low-volume, high-complexity electronics
assembly industry shows how the approach leverages standard modelling techniques
and facilitates the understanding of the causes of poor manufacturing performance using a
set of surface mount technology (SMT) process failure models. A prototype application tool
was developed and tested in a collaborator site to evaluate the integration of business process
models with the execution entities, such as software tools, business database, and simulation
engines. The proposed concept was tested for the defect data collection and prediction in the
described case study
A Real-Time Service-Oriented Architecture for Industrial Automation
Industrial automation platforms are experiencing a paradigm shift. New technologies are making their way in the area, including embedded real-time systems, standard local area networks like Ethernet, Wi-Fi and ZigBee, IP-based communication protocols, standard service oriented architectures (SOAs) and Web services. An automation system will be composed of flexible autonomous components with plug & play functionality, self configuration and diagnostics, and autonomic local control that communicate through standard networking technologies. However, the introduction of these new technologies raises important problems that need to be properly solved, one of these being the need to support real-time and quality-of-service (QoS) for real-time applications. This paper describes a SOA enhanced with real-time capabilities for industrial automation. The proposed architecture allows for negotiation of the QoS requested by clients from Web services, and provides temporal encapsulation of individual activities. This way, it is possible to perform an a priori analysis of the temporal behavior of each service, and to avoid unwanted interference among them. After describing the architecture, experimental results gathered on a real implementation of the framework (which leverages a soft real-time scheduler for the Linux kernel) are presented, showing the effectiveness of the proposed solution. The experiments were performed on simple case studies designed in the context of industrial automation applications
Complex Low Volume Electronics Simulation Tool to Improve Yield and Reliability
Assembly of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) in low volumes
and a high-mix requires a level of manual intervention during
product manufacture, which leads to poor first time yield and
increased production costs. Failures at the component-level
and failures that stem from non-component causes (i.e.
system-level), such as defects in design and manufacturing,
can account for this poor yield. These factors have not been
incorporated in prediction models due to the fact that systemfailure
causes are not driven by well-characterised
deterministic processes. A simulation and analysis support
tool being developed that is based on a suite of interacting
modular components with well defined functionalities and
interfaces is presented in this paper. The CLOVES (Complex
Low Volume Electronics Simulation) tool enables the
characterisation and dynamic simulation of complete design;
manufacturing and business processes (throughout the entire
product life cycle) in terms of their propensity to create
defects that could cause product failure. Details of this system
and how it is being developed to fulfill changing business
needs is presented in this paper. Using historical data and
knowledge of previous printed circuit assemblies (PCA)
design specifications and manufacturing experiences, defect
and yield results can be effectively stored and re-applied for
future problem solving. For example, past PCA design
specifications can be used at design stage to amend designs or
define process options to optimise the product yield and
service reliability
Towards a software framework for reconfigurable and adaptive fixturing systems
There is an ongoing trend towards advanced fixturing systems that can be automatically reconfigured for different workpieces and dynamically adapt the clamping forces during the manufacturing process. However, the increased utilisation of computer technology and sensor feedback currently requires a significant amount of programming effort during the development phase and deployment of such fixtures which impairs their successful industrial realisation.
This research addresses the issue by developing the core concepts of a novel software framework that facilitates the deployment and operation of reconfigurable and adaptive fixturing systems. This includes a new data model for the representation of the fixturing system, using object-oriented modelling techniques. Secondly, a generic methodology for the automatic reconfiguration of fixturing systems has been developed that can be applied to a plethora of different fixture layouts. Thirdly, a flexible communication infrastructure is proposed which supports the platform-independent communication between the various parts of the fixturing system through the adoption of a publish/subscribe approach. The integration of these core knowledge contributions into a software framework significantly reduces the programming effort by providing a ready-to-use infrastructure that can be configured according a given fixture layout.
In order to manage the complexity of the research, a structured research methodology has been followed. Based on an extensive literature review, a number of knowledge gaps have been identified which were the basis for the definition of clear research objectives. A use case analysis has been conducted to identify the requirements of the software framework and several potential middleware technologies have been assessed for the communication infrastructure. This was followed by the development of the three core knowledge contributions. Finally, the research results have been demonstrated and initially verified with a prototype of a reconfigurable fixturing system, indicating that the utilisation of the software framework can eliminate the need for programming, thereby drastically reducing deployment effort and lead time
Towards a software framework for reconfigurable and adaptive fixturing systems
There is an ongoing trend towards advanced fixturing systems that can be automatically reconfigured for different workpieces and dynamically adapt the clamping forces during the manufacturing process. However, the increased utilisation of computer technology and sensor feedback currently requires a significant amount of programming effort during the development phase and deployment of such fixtures which impairs their successful industrial realisation.
This research addresses the issue by developing the core concepts of a novel software framework that facilitates the deployment and operation of reconfigurable and adaptive fixturing systems. This includes a new data model for the representation of the fixturing system, using object-oriented modelling techniques. Secondly, a generic methodology for the automatic reconfiguration of fixturing systems has been developed that can be applied to a plethora of different fixture layouts. Thirdly, a flexible communication infrastructure is proposed which supports the platform-independent communication between the various parts of the fixturing system through the adoption of a publish/subscribe approach. The integration of these core knowledge contributions into a software framework significantly reduces the programming effort by providing a ready-to-use infrastructure that can be configured according a given fixture layout.
In order to manage the complexity of the research, a structured research methodology has been followed. Based on an extensive literature review, a number of knowledge gaps have been identified which were the basis for the definition of clear research objectives. A use case analysis has been conducted to identify the requirements of the software framework and several potential middleware technologies have been assessed for the communication infrastructure. This was followed by the development of the three core knowledge contributions. Finally, the research results have been demonstrated and initially verified with a prototype of a reconfigurable fixturing system, indicating that the utilisation of the software framework can eliminate the need for programming, thereby drastically reducing deployment effort and lead time