Cloud manufacturing system for sheet metal processing

Cloud computing is changing the way industries and enterprises run their businesses. Cloud manufacturing is emerging as an approach to transform the traditional manufacturing business model, while helping the manufacturer to align production efficiency with its business strategy, and creating intelligent factory networks that enable collaboration across the whole enterprise. Many production planning and control (PPC) problems are essentially optimisation problems, where the objective is to develop a plan that meets the demand at minimum cost or maximum profit. Because the underlying optimisation problem will vary in the different business and operation phases, it is important to think about optimisation in a dynamic mechanism and in a number of interlinked sub-problems at the same time. Cloud manufacturing has the potential to offer decision support as a service and medium of communication in PPC. To solve these problems and produce collaboration across the supply chain, this paper provides an overview of the state of the art in cloud manufacturing and presents a model of cloud-based production planning and production system for sheet metal processing.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

A Monte-Carlo approach to tool selection for sheet metal punching and nibbling

Selecting the best set of tools to produce certain geometrical shapes/features in sheet metal punching is one of the problems that has a great effect on product development time, cost and achieved quality. The trend nowadays is, where at all possible, to limit design to the use of standard tools. Such an option makes the problem of selecting the appropriate set of tools even more complex, especially when considering that sheet metal features can have a wide range of complex shapes. Another dimension of complexity is limited tool rack capacity. Thus, an inappropriate tool selection strategy will lead to punching inefficiency and may require frequent stopping of the machine and replacing the required tools, which is a rather expensive and time consuming exercise. This work demonstrates that the problem of selecting the best set of tools is actually a process of searching an explosive decision tree. The difficulty in searching such types of decision trees is that intermediate decisions do not necessarily reflect the total cost implication of carrying out such a decision. A new approach to solve such a complex optimisation problem using the Monte Carlo Simulation Methods has been introduced in this thesis. The aim of the present work was to establish the use of Monte Carlo methods as an "assumptions or rule free" baseline or benchmark for the assessment of search strategies. A number of case studies are given, where the feasibility of Monte Carlo Simulation Methods as an efficient and viable method to optimise such a complex optimisation problem is demonstrated. The use of a Monte Carlo approach for selecting the best set of punching tools, showed an interesting point, that is, the effect of dominant "one-to-one" feature/tool matches on the efficiency of the search. This naturally led on to the need of a search methodology that will be more efficient than the application of the Monte Carlo method alone. This thesis presents some interesting speculations for a hybrid approach to tool selection to achieve a better solution than the use of the Monte Carlo method alone to achieve the optimum solution in a shorter time

Automation considerations for a manufacturing system

This thesis examines the present manufacturing system of Apollo Valve Company, a solenoid control valves manufacturing. After analyzing the present system, the automation considerations and proposed new system were recommended. Chapter 1 presenti the background material of automation and manufacturing system. The development of the automated factory is also included. The plant layout, organization, and departments functions of the present system are briefly described in the Chapter 2. Analysis of the present manufacturing system by the production volume, by plant layout, and by the manufacturing operations, is discussed in Chapter 3. Proposed automation considerations and improvements, such as group technology (GT), computer-aided process planning (CAPP), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), automatic assembly and testing, packing, and flexible manufacturing system (FMS), are presented in the Chapter 4. The last chapter, the conclusions are discussed and the new manufacturing system is recommended

Designing for rapid manufacture

Thesis (M. Tech.) -- Central University of Technology, Free State, 2008As the tendency to use sol id freeform fabrication (SFF) technology for the manufacture of end use parts grew, so too did the need for a set of general guidelines that would aid designers with designs aimed specifically for rapid manufacture. Unfortunately, the revolutionary additive nature of SFF technology left certain fundamental principles of conventional design for manufacture and assembly outdated. This implied that whole chapters of theoretical work that had previously been done in this field had to be revised before it could be applied to rapid manufacturing. Furthermore, this additive nature of SFF technology seeded a series of new possibilities and new advantages that could be exploited in the manufacturing domain, and as a result drove design for rapid manufacturing principles even further apart from conventional design for manufacture and assembly philosophy. In this study the impact that rapid manufacture had on the conventional product development process and conventional design for manufacture and assembly guidelines were investigated. This investigation brought to light the inherent strengths and weaknesses of SFF, as well as the design for manufacture and assembly guidelines that became invalid, and consequently lead directly to the characterization of a set of design for rapid manufacture guidelines

Managers’ cognitions on performance of the firm

Yrityksen menestys on johtamistieteen perimmäinen kiinnostuksen kohde. Yrityksen ylimmän johdon käsitykset menestymiseen johtavista tekijöistä määrittävät toimintaa yrityksessä. Tässä tutkimuksessa on pyritty monimenetelmäisen tutkimusmetodologian kautta ymmärtämään ylimmän johdon yrityksen menestymiseen liittyviä käsityksiä. Tutkimuksessa on keskitytty erityisesti pk-yritysten toimitusjohtajien käsityksiin yrityksen menestymisestä. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin liiketaloudellisesta kirjallisuudesta löytyviä yrityksen menestymistä kuvaavia malleja. Tutkimuksessa syvennyttiin johdon käsityksiin erityisesti johtajuuskognitioita käsittelevän tutkimuskirjallisuuden kautta. Johtajuuskognitioita tarkasteltiin sisällönanalyysin, kognitiivisten karttojen menetelmän sekä retorisen diskurssianalyysin keinoin. Yrityksen menestymistä käsittelevä kirjallisuus ja erityisesti menestymistä käsittelevät ideaalimallit esittävät menestyksen syntyvän monen keskenään harmoniassa olevan elementin yhteistoiminnasta. Tutkimustulokset tässä tutkimuksessa osoittivat, että johtajuuskognitiot ovat erilaisia toimitusjohtajien välillä samallakin toimialalla 22 toimitusjohtajan ryhmässä. Tulosten valossa voi todeta, että toimitusjohtajan käsitys yrityksen menestymisestä on rajallinen. Käsityksissä vaihtelivat menestystekijöiden painotukset ja niiden väliset yhteydet. Yrityksen menestymistä ei ole aikaisemmin juurikaan tutkittu toimitusjohtajan ajattelun näkökulmasta. Toimitusjohtajan äänen esiin nostaminen tuo yrityksen menestymisen tarkasteluun käytännön näkökulman. Kolmen tutkimusmenetelmän hyödyntäminen paljasti esiin erilaisten menetelmien erilaiset hyödyt ilmiöiden ymmärtämisessä.Firm performance has long fascinated management researchers. The managers at the upper echelon of the firm are in a position to influence the action the firm takes. This study focuses on the Managing Directors (MDs) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The focus in this study is on the MDs’ cognitions related to firm performance. Multiple methods are used to explore the MDs’ cognitions related to firm performance. The study first explores the performance models found in the academic business literature. The managerial cognition research stream offers a theoretical background to understand the MDs’ thinking. Content ana-lysis, cognitive mapping, and the analysis of rhetoric are used to understand the MDs’ cognitions related to firm performance. The performance literature presents ideal performance models which consist of harmonious elements. The results in this study indicate that the MD’s cognitions on firm performance are different. MDs’ personal and cultural history moulds managerial cognitions. The results suggest, that the MD’s cognition on firm performance produced by his/her personal and cultural history, is always partial, revealing some aspect of reality. Firm performance is rarely studied from the perspective of the MD. The MD’s view on firm performance gives room for the practitioner voice. Multiple perspectives on qualitative material encompassing three different research methods provide a different kind of knowledge related to firm performance, and highlight the different opportunities offered by these methods.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

Multi-criteria risk assessment approach for components risk ranking - The case study of an offshore wave energy converter

Experts’ judgement is employed in offshore risk assessment because reliable failure data for quantitative risk analysis are scarce. The challenges with this practice lies with knowledge-based uncertainties which renders risk expression and estimation, hence components’ risk-based prioritisation, subjective to the assessor – even for the same case study. In this paper, a new risk assessment framework is developed to improve the fidelity and consistency of prioritisation of components of complex offshore engineering systems based on expert judgement. Unlike other frameworks, such as the Failure Mode and Effect Criticality Analysis, it introduces two additional dimensions: variables and parameters, to allow more effective scoring. These additional dimensions provide the much needed and uniform information that will assist experts with the estimation of probability of occurrence, severity of consequence and safeguards, herein referred to as 3-D methodology. In so doing, it achieves a more systematic approach to risk description and estimation compared to the conventional Risk Priority Number (RPN) of FMECA. Finally, the framework is demonstrated on a real case study of a wave energy converter (WEC) and conclusions of the assessment proved well in comparison and prioritisation

A Framework and Process Library for Human-Robot Collaboration in Creative Design and Fabrication

In the last two decades, the increasing affordability of industrial robots, along with the growing maturity of computational design software, has led architects to integrate robots into their design process. Robots have exceptional capabilities that enable the fabrication of geometrically complicated components and assembly of complex structures. However, the robot control and motion programming tools currently being adopted by designers were all initially intended for engineering-based manufacturing industries. When using computer-controlled tools, designers cannot adapt their designs to the production process in real time. Current industrial robot control systems force the designer to envision and embed all of the required machining data in the digital model before the fabrication process begins. This requirement makes the process of design to fabrication a unidirectional workflow. In pursuit of a solution, a growing body of research is exploring various human-robot collaboration methods for architectural practices. However, many of these studies are project- based, targeting the ad hoc needs of a particular robotic application or fabrication process. Consequently, this dissertation investigates a generalizable framework for human-robot collaboration that is rooted in the principles of distributed cognition. As an essential part of the research argument, the role of the tools of production in the formation of a designer's cognitive system is considered. This framework, defined for a bi-directional design and fabrication workflow, relies on and integrates material and fabrication feedback into the design process. The framework has three main components: interactive design, adaptive control, and a design and fabrication library. While different aspects of these components have been studied to various extents by other researchers, this dissertation is the first to define them in an integrated manner. Next, the requirements for each of these elements are introduced and discussed in detail. This dissertation focuses in more detail on the library component of the framework because compared to the first two components, it is the least investigated solution to date. A structure for the library is proposed so that the tacit knowledge of makers could be structured, captured, and reused. At its core, the library is a process-centric database where each process is supported by a set of tools, instructions, materials, and geometries required for the transformation of a part into its final form. Finally, this study demonstrates the generalizability of the library concept through a series of experiments developed for different material systems and with various robotic operations.Ph.D

POTENTIAL OF KANBAN IN THE MANUFACTURING PROCESSES OF CUSTOMIZED PRODUCTS

The thesis is researching the advantages and disadvantages a Kanban system implementation might cause to the material management processes of a manufacturing facility and define the theoretical and/or practical reasons behind these results. On an empirical level the research question is analyzed by participating to a Kanban implementation project at the ABB, Motors and Generator’s business unit in Vaasa. Another research problem is to define the possibilities of improving the Kanban system with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Since the company utilizes an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, its functionalities are also considered during the whole study. Research strategy is to collect the data by utilizing academic articles, publications, case studies and material obtained during the employment at the case company and the Kanban implementation project. Research methods are a combination between structural, qualitative, and quantitative approaches. The key findings of the study are concluding that all the resources were complimenting the Kanban system as a part of operations and inventory reduction, and RFID technology enables the enhancement of the Kanban system currently being implemented. The company’s ERP system is able to perform automatic Kanban calculations in order to define parameters for improved production control. These calculations can also be done without the system and appropriate mathematical formulas are introduced and utilized. The Kanban system is not a magical solution for all the problems related to manufacturing customized products, but with a pull system and the Lean concept, it offers a significant improvement for the production operations and inventory management.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

Project for the analysis of technology transfer Quarterly report, 13 Jul. - 12 Oct. 1968

Statistical characteristics of transfer data bank users, and outline of technology transfer and utilization instruction cours