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

Synchronous communication in PLM environments using annotated CAD models

The connection of resources, data, and knowledge through communication technology plays a vital role in current collaborative design methodologies and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, as these elements act as channels for information and meaning. Despite significant advances in the area of PLM, most communication tools are used as separate services that are disconnected from existing development environments. Consequently, during a communication session, the specific elements being discussed are usually not linked to the context of the discussion, which may result in important information getting lost or becoming difficult to access. In this paper, we present a method to add synchronous communication functionality to a PLM system based on annotated information embedded in the CAD model. 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An annotation based approach to support design communication

The aim of this paper is to propose an approach based on the concept of annotation for supporting design communication. In this paper, we describe a co-operative design case study where we analyse some annotation practices, mainly focused on design minutes recorded during project reviews. We point out specific requirements concerning annotation needs. Based on these requirements, we propose an annotation model, inspired from the Speech Act Theory (SAT) to support communication in a 3D digital environment. We define two types of annotations in the engineering design context, locutionary and illocutionary annotations. The annotations we describe in this paper are materialised by a set of digital artefacts, which have a semantic dimension allowing express/record elements of technical justifications, traces of contradictory debates, etc. In this paper, we first clarify the semantic annotation concept, and we define general properties of annotations in the engineering design context, and the role of annotations in different design project situations. After the description of the case study, where we observe and analyse annotations usage during the design reviews and minute making, the last section is dedicated to present our approach. We then describe the SAT concept, and define the concept of annotation acts. We conclude with a description of basic annotation functionalities that are actually implemented in a software, based on our approach

Integrated Project Support Study Group : findings

The challenges of the LHC project have lead CERN to produce a comprehensive set of project management tools covering engineering data management, project scheduling and costing, event management and document management. Each of these tools represents a significant and world-recognised advance in their respective domains. Reviewing the offering on the eve of LHC commissioning one can identify three major challenges: 1. How to integrate the tools to provide a uniform and integrated full-product lifecycle solution 2. How to evolve the functionality in certain areas to address weaknesses identified with our experience in constructing the LHC and integrate emerging industry best practices 3. How to coherently package the offering not just for future projects in CERN, but moreover in the context of providing a centre of excellence for worldwide collaboration in future HEP projects

Enabling the human in the loop: Linked data and knowledge in industrial cyber-physical systems

Industrial Cyber-Physical Systems have benefitted substantially from the introduction of a range of technology enablers. These include web-based and semantic computing, ubiquitous sensing, internet of things (IoT) with multi-connectivity, advanced computing architectures and digital platforms, coupled with edge or cloud side data management and analytics, and have contributed to shaping up enhanced or new data value chains in manufacturing. While parts of such data flows are increasingly automated, there is now a greater demand for more effectively integrating, rather than eliminating, human cognitive capabilities in the loop of production related processes. Human integration in Cyber-Physical environments can already be digitally supported in various ways. However, incorporating human skills and tangible knowledge requires approaches and technological solutions that facilitate the engagement of personnel within technical systems in ways that take advantage or amplify their cognitive capabilities to achieve more effective sociotechnical systems. After analysing related research, this paper introduces a novel viewpoint for enabling human in the loop engagement linked to cognitive capabilities and highlighting the role of context information management in industrial systems. Furthermore, it presents examples of technology enablers for placing the human in the loop at selected application cases relevant to production environments. Such placement benefits from the joint management of linked maintenance data and knowledge, expands the power of machine learning for asset awareness with embedded event detection, and facilitates IoT-driven analytics for product lifecycle management

Improving design coordination in computer supported environments in SMEs : implementation of a tool for capturing and analysing collaboration between actors

To remain competitive in a context of multi-partner projects companies are increasingly concerned with the coordination of design projects. Information systems such as PLM or CSCW are implemented to support the coordination of product information flows. Project managers are nevertheless finding it increasingly difficult to manage projects effectively. The impact of collaboration aspects on the design process is especially difficult for them to evaluate. Indeed, failing to integrate collaboration aspects into coordination can account for a great deal of design mistakes and finding a solution could lead to improved design coordination. The main obj ective of this researchi s then to help project managersi mprove coordination in design processes through a detailed analysis of collaboration between actors. A model of coordination and an associated model of collaboration have been devised together with a tool ('CoCa') to be used by researchers, consultants or project managers in the analysis of collaboration. This analysis can lead to the understanding of collaboration aspects and identification of the problems caused. Consequently, guidelines can be defined to prevent the re-emergence of the identified design problems in new projects. These guidelines are recommendations to introduce collaborative aspects, flexibility in the design process and elements for decision making when defining future design situations. Finally, a study of a specific application implementing PLM tools demonstrates that they are not able to manage firstly design projects and human resources whilst taking into account collaborative aspects or, secondly, the necessary synchronisation between human design activities and document workflow tasks. It is thus evident that these two factors are needed in PLM tools in order to apply the proposed model of coordination. An industrial partnership with an SME led to the study of its information system, an experiment with the CoCa tool, practical design process improvements, and implementation of a PLM prototype.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo