Critical Components Evaluation in Manufacturing-To-Order Processes

In this paper we address the evaluation of the criticality of important components in Manufacturing-To-Order and Assembly-To-Order processes, where the management of the inventory is a critical problem, especially very expensive ones. In these situations, if an item is purchased only when needed for a specific order, the delivery time could cause the delay of the entire production process. In addition, these manufacturing environments are often affected by uncertainty, caused by the execution of several activities by human operators, and by the intrinsic complexity of the process (especially in assembly processes). In this background, we provide a method to evaluate the criticality level of each important component in an assembly process exploiting the AoA project network formalization. In particular we put the focus on the coordination between the scheduled arrive of an element from the supplier, and the actual needed of the component in the assembly process. To this aim we develop a method taking into consideration two different criticality indexes. The approach is validate in a real manufacturing case

Co-Definition of Product Structure and Production Network for Frugal Innovation Perspectives: Towards a Modular-based Approach

Frugal innovation theory is proposed to help companies rethinking their current product design and production strategies facing competitive challenges. Co-evolution of product and production systems is required to reach frugality goals. The success of the co-evolution strategy should be based on robust models ensuring the global consistency of the whole development process. Modular-based models are a good solution for such problematics since they provide a common semantic for the representation of the physical product structure as well as the organizational structure of the production system through the definition of interfaces between elements and the hierarchical decomposition of a system into different elements. This paper proposes a conceptual modular-based approach dealing with the selection of product modules influencing the selection of suppliers and the allocation of orders in a global production network. The indirect linking of the customer to production is also discussed in terms of the timewise restrictions in selecting product modules offering the customer a maximum degree of flexibility in product specification

Zero-point fixture systems as a reconfiguration enabler in flexible manufacturing systems

ABSTRACT: Today's manufacturing systems need to be able to quickly adapt to customer demands, ranging from high volumes of mass production to high volumes of mass customization. Flexible Manufacturing Systems provide a high degree of flexibility to cope with these challenges. They consist of machine tools capable of executing a wide range of machining operations while the use of pallets to reference and block the parts allows the decoupling of the setup operations from the machining centers activity. This paper presents an ontology-based framework to support the design and management of flexible manufacturing systems, aimed at integrating the various involved activities including the pallet configuration and process planning, the management policies for short-term production planning and the pallet checking to verify the correct configuration of the physical pallet

An integrated framework for design, management and operation of reconfigurable assembly systems

Abstract Manufacturing has to cope with the continuously increasing variety of products, change of volumes and shortening product life cycles. These trends also affect the automotive sector: the frequent introduction of new models, materials and assembly technologies put the suppliers of make-to-order parts under pressure. In this context, the design of assembly systems and their management are of paramount importance for the companies’ competitiveness. In this paper, we propose an approach for the design and reconfiguration of modular assembly systems through the integration of different computational tools addressing the design of the system, the optimization of the layout, the planning of reconfiguration actions as well as production planning. Integrating these computational tools and iterating through the resulting workflow and feedback allow to consider the outcomes and dependencies of alternative decision sequences holistically with the objective of an effective and efficient approach to production system design and management. The viability of the approach is demonstrated through the application to an automotive case study

Sustainable Innovation in a Multi-University Master Course

Mobility, multi-locality, and transnational migration are current social developments among the population of the European Union. These social developments in society and companies, linked to the challenges of sustainability, lead to new requirements for working in the European Union. Teaching and learning in higher education needs to adapt to these requirements. As a result, new and innovative teaching and learning practices in higher education should provide competencies for transnational teamwork in the curriculum of tomorrow's engineers in order to ensure their competitiveness in the job market and advantage in their future careers. Thirteen European students from four countries participated in a new project-based course, called the "European Engineering Team". Students focused on the development of two innovative and sustainable products. The goal of this paper is to present the thermal pallet cover, which is the result of the first one-year transnational and sustainability-oriented project. This paper also aims to present the process of performing the project. It provides the overview and discussion of engineering and management tasks that students completed in the transnational environment, working remotely at their own campuses between scheduled transnational meetings. The work contributes to project-oriented learning that may constitute a basis for teaching holistic engineering courses at mechanical and industrial engineering departments

Design and management of reconfigurable assembly lines in the automotive industry

Automotive suppliers are facing the challenge of continuously adapting their production targets to variable demand requirements due to the frequent introduction of new model variants, materials and assembly technologies. In this context, the profitable management of the product, process and system co-evolution is of paramount importance for the company competitiveness. In this paper, a methodology for the design and reconfiguration management of modular assembly systems is proposed. It addresses the selection of the technological modules, their integration in the assembly cell, and the reconfiguration policies to handle volume and lot size variability. The results are demonstrated in a real automotive case study. (C) 2016 CIRP