A Layered Software Architecture for the Management of a Manufacturing Company

In this paper we describe a layered software architecture in the management of a manufactur-ing company that intensively uses computer technology. Application tools, new and legacy, after the updating, operate in a context of an open web oriented architecture. The software architecture enables the integration and interoperability among all tools that support business processes. Manufacturing Executive System and Text Mining tools are excellent interfaces, the former both for internal production and management processes and the latter for external processes coming from the market. In this way, it is possible to implement, a computer integrated factory, flexible and agile, that immediately responds to customer requirements.ICT, Service Oriented Architecture, Web Services, Computer-Integrated Factory, Application Software

Analysis of the Status Quo of Intelligent Manufacturing Research Based on CiteSpace

Intelligent manufacturing is a human-machine integrated intelligent system composed of intelligent machines and human experts. Using CiteSpace as a tool, the paper analyzes and visualizes the intelligent manufacturing related literatures collected by Web of Science, summarizes the research status of intelligent manufacturing in recent years, and elaborates on the research hotspots in this field in recent years; The Advanced Manufacturing Partner Program strategy, Germany proposed the Industry 4.0 plan, the European Union promulgated the Digital European Industrial Plan and the China Made 2025 issued by China, summed up the problems faced by the intelligent manufacturing industry at this stage and made corresponding suggestions

A Feasibility Study For The Implementation Of Non Site Based Hands On Curriculum For Engineering Technology Education

This paper discusses the development of an intelligent architecture for web-based programming & control of an automated manufacturing cell. The cell consists of a three-axis TERCO CNC milling machine, an IBM SCARA robot and a raw material feed station. The cell components are integrated using a data acquisition system (DAS), programmed using Visual Basic and controlled through the web. A dedicated web page provides the users the opportunity to learn CNC programming and its control from remote sites. When the user submits a CNC program, the server in the lab takes control and executes various routines to complete the machining of the part automatically. The remote user can witness the operation of the cell through a real video feedback on the web page. Details pertaining to the development, integration and remote operation of the automated manufacturing cell is presented in this paper. The feasibility of providing non-site based hands-on engineering and technology education is also explored through this project

A hyperconnected manufacturing collaboration system using the semantic web and Hadoop ecosystem system

With the explosive growth of digital data communications in synergistic operating networks and cloud computing service, hyperconnected manufacturing collaboration systems face the challenges of extracting, processing, and analyzing data from multiple distributed web sources. Although semantic web technologies provide the solution to web data interoperability by storing the semantic web standard in relational databases for processing and analyzing of web-accessible heterogeneous digital data, web data storage and retrieval via the predefined schema of relational / SQL databases has become increasingly inefficient with the advent of big data. In response to this problem, the Hadoop Ecosystem System is being adopted to reduce the complexity of moving data to and from the big data cloud platform. This paper proposes a novel approach in a set of the Hadoop tools for information integration and interoperability across hyperconnected manufacturing collaboration systems. In the Hadoop approach, data is “Extracted” from the web sources, “Loaded” into a set of the NoSQL Hadoop Database (HBase) tables, and then “Transformed” and integrated into the desired format model with Hive's schema-on-read. A case study was conducted to illustrate that the Hadoop Extract-Load-Transform (ELT) approach for the syntax and semantics web data integration could be adopted across the global smartphone value chain

Automation and computer integrated manufacturing in food processing industry: an appraisal

This study is concerned with a research programme on automation and computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) in food processing industry, culminating in an implementation framework detailing the extent of automation and application of computer based technologies in Irish food processing industries. This work involved with designing of a postal survey questionnaire and mailing it to 221 manufacturing companies, and designing a web-based survey and emailing it to 31 manufacturing companies in the Republic of Ireland. Questions were designed to capture information about the level of automation, envisaged level of automation, motivation and obstacles to implement computer-based technology, and the extent of implementation of CIM environments at plants. The key findings point to the existence of a linear relationship between practice and performance. From the perspective of competitive advantage, the traditional postal survey gives a higher response rate than web-based survey, but on the other hand the web based survey takes shorter response time and cost s less than a traditional postal survey. The results of this study show variable levels of automation. A large number of the manufacturing plants are applying automation, and are trying to increase the automation level m their plants. This work has demonstrated that the manufacturers have the desire to adopt CIM systems at different levels, despite the cost obstacle of implementing them

Design of a web-based integrated material handling system for manufacturing applications

In this research, a Web-based system called DESIGNER for the design of integrated material handling systems is developed. DESIGNER models the material handling system design processes including the material handling equipment (MHE) selection and employs information on the most common MHE types used in material movement, storage, and positioning.;The system designs the material handling system for an application through three phases. In Phase I, the procedure identifies the most appropriate MHE type among the alternatives that are suitable for the application. Knowledge-based rules are employed to identify alternative handling equipment for each material flow link. To select the final suitable MHE type for each material flow link, not only does the system consider the economic aspect of the equipment but also their applicability, adaptability and integratability, maintenance and safety, and other factors that a user may deem worthy of consideration. To compare the aggregate effect of the multiple design attributes considered for the alternatives, fuzzy evaluation matrices and normalized evaluation values are employed. To reduce the overall system cost, in Phase II, the system checks for excess capacity for each type of equipment recommended. It also checks if operating systems for automatic equipment suggested can be combined to reduce the total number of the operating systems. Any excess capacity identified is eliminated whenever it is considered possible without introducing design infeasibility. Excess capacity is eliminated by assigning a unit of each equipment to multiple flow links and thereby reducing the total number of units of the equipment that is recommended. This reduction in equipment capacity does not apply to conveyors and storage devices because of their immobile feature. The reduction process is applicable to mobile equipment that enjoy flexible routing. In Phase III, the set of material handling equipment selected is adjusted to satisfy budget constraints if the total cost of the initial set of the selected equipment exceeds the budget.;After identifying the most appropriate MHE, the modules for economic analysis, performance measure analysis, AS/RS design analysis, and system integration analysis for automatic MHE are invoked. The results of the analyses provide system users with useful data for the material handling system design and decision on investment in MHE. An example application is given to demonstrate the use of DESIGNER

Advances on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Manufacturing III

This open access book gathers contributions presented at the International Joint Conference on Mechanics, Design Engineering and Advanced Manufacturing (JCM 2020), held as a web conference on June 2–4, 2020. It reports on cutting-edge topics in product design and manufacturing, such as industrial methods for integrated product and process design; innovative design; and computer-aided design. Further topics covered include virtual simulation and reverse engineering; additive manufacturing; product manufacturing; engineering methods in medicine and education; representation techniques; and nautical, aeronautics and aerospace design and modeling. The book is organized into four main parts, reflecting the focus and primary themes of the conference. The contributions presented here not only provide researchers, engineers and experts in a range of industrial engineering subfields with extensive information to support their daily work; they are also intended to stimulate new research directions, advanced applications of the methods discussed and future interdisciplinary collaborations

A review of data visualization: opportunities in manufacturing sequence management.

Data visualization now benefits from developments in technologies that offer innovative ways of presenting complex data. Potentially these have widespread application in communicating the complex information domains typical of manufacturing sequence management environments for global enterprises. In this paper the authors review the visualization functionalities, techniques and applications reported in literature, map these to manufacturing sequence information presentation requirements and identify the opportunities available and likely development paths. Current leading-edge practice in dynamic updating and communication with suppliers is not being exploited in manufacturing sequence management; it could provide significant benefits to manufacturing business. In the context of global manufacturing operations and broad-based user communities with differing needs served by common data sets, tool functionality is generally ahead of user application

Linking design and manufacturing domains via web-based and enterprise integration technologies

The manufacturing industry faces many challenges such as reducing time-to-market and cutting costs. In order to meet these increasing demands, effective methods are need to support the early product development stages by bridging the gap of communicating early design ideas and the evaluation of manufacturing performance. This paper introduces methods of linking design and manufacturing domains using disparate technologies. The combined technologies include knowledge management supporting for product lifecycle management (PLM) systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, aggregate process planning systems, workflow management and data exchange formats. A case study has been used to demonstrate the use of these technologies, illustrated by adding manufacturing knowledge to generate alternative early process plan which are in turn used by an ERP system to obtain and optimise a rough-cut capacity plan

SMEs: ERP or virtual collaboration teams

Small firms are indeed the engines of global economic growth. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play an important role to promote economic development. SMEs in the beginning of implementing new technologies always face capital shortage and need technological assistance. Available ERP systems do not fulfil the specific requirements of Small firms. SMEs has scarce resources and manpower therefore many SMEs don?t have the possessions to buy and operate an ERP System. On the other hand competition and competitiveness of SMEs have to be strengthened. This paper briefly reviews the existing perspectives on virtual teams and their effect on SMEs management. It also discusses the main characteristics of virtual teams and clarifies the differences aspects of virtual team application in SMEs. After outlining some of the main advantages and pitfall of such teams, it concentrates on comparing of ERP and virtual collaborative teams in SMEs. Finally, it provides evidence for the need of ?Software as a Service (SaaS)? where an application is hosted as a service provided to customers across the web for SMEs as an alternative of ERP. It has been widely argued that ERP disadvantage in SMEs such as administrative expenditure and cost, isolated structure, severe lack of software flexibility, insufficient support of SMEs business and high operating cost, lead SMEs to use virtual collaborative team which is net work base solution