Deriving a systematic approach to changeable manufacturing system design

It has long been argued that Factories are long life and complex products. The complexity of designing factories, and their underlying manufacturing systems, is further amplified when dealing with continuously changing customer demands. At the same time, due to research fragmentation, little if any scientific explanations are available supporting and exploiting the paradigm that "factories are products". In order to address this weakness, this paper presents research results arising from a comparative analysis of systematic "product design" and "manufacturing system design" approaches. The contribution emerging from this research is an integrated systematic design approach to changeable manufacturing systems, based on scientific concepts founded upon product design theories, and is explained through a case study in the paper. This research is part of collaboration between the CERU University of Malta and IAO Fraunhofer aimed at developing a digital decision support tool for planning changeable manufacturing systems.peer-reviewe

THE PRODUCTIVITY OF SOME WHEAT VARIETIES IN THE SOIL AND CLIME CONDITIONS FROM SOUTH-WESTERN ZONE OF MEHEDINTI COUNTY

The researches aimed the comparative study of some winter wheat varieties in conventional cropping system in the conditions of reddish preluvosoil from Vanju Mare, on a 400 ha surface for a better knowing of their features in order to recommend them for cropping. During two years (2016 – 2017) there have been cropped the following wheat crop kinds: Glossa – romanian variety and two austrian varieties: Balaton and Astardo.Regarding the yield obtained by Glossa variety, it recorded an average of 6.100 kg/ha and Balaton and Astardo varieties, an average yield of 7200 kg/ha. The high yield recorded by austrian varieties is due to the fact that they belong to Premium group, very productive, very tolerant to drought and with high ecological plasticity, with good winter resistance, high tillering capacity, highly receptive to fertilizers and superior as quality. The biologic potential is very high, reaching 11.000 kg/ha. The protein content of the wheat grain depends on the following factors: the variety, the cropping technology (irrigation, fertilization) and the soil and clime conditions. Good protein content determines a good baking quality. Among the technological factors, the fertilization is the most important that increases the protein content of the wheat kernels. The wet gluten content and the falling index are favorably influenced by the nitrogen fertilizer applying. There is recommended the cropping of wheat varieties that have a high production capacity, with a good resistance to the main risk factors of the clime, with tolerance to the main foliar diseases, with superior quality indicators from different maturity classes

A case for assisting ‘product family’ manufacturing system designers

Manufacturing system design is a complex and demanding activity and the system designer has to take many factors into consideration during the development process including the demand and technological requirements of the products or product families. Central to this activity is the synthesis decision making process, during which the designer defines the elements that will make up the manufacturing system. This research identifies in the decision making process a critical activity and contributes a phenomena that can be used by a framework to support designers to address complex issues such as changeability and the evolution of products over the manufacturing system life-cycle.This research work was partially funded through an ERDF Project (Project No. ERDF083). The first and second authors would therefore like to thank the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) who is administering this project.peer-reviewe