Design Automation Case Study : Modular Locating Fixture

Design automation systems often mimic human designers and implement routine design activities. Beside this, the idea of such knowledge-based engineering is to support developers in the analysis and syntheses of complex engineering artifacts. An instance of this is product configuration. A central aspect of knowledge-based engineering is its ability to draw conclusions about the design context. For this inference, different reasoning techniques have been proposed. One uses constraint satisfaction problems as model-based approach. In the present contribution, the authors report about a case-study about the implementation of a constraint-based configuration system with onboard resources of a computer aided design system on the example of a locating fixture

Product lifecycle management with knowledge management as a strategic approach for innovative enterprise environment

Process planning knowledge (PPK) is one of the most important knowledge in production manufacturing enterprise. This paper analyzes the PPK and the concept of process planning information model (PPIM) implemented in production enterprise. In second part of the paper, there is done the basic information about PLM concept as a business strategy for product development where are included PPK and PPIM approaches, strategy which offer possibilities for innovation. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is the process of managing the whole life cycle of a product starting from generating an idea, concept description, business analyzes, product design, solution architecture and technical implementation, to the successful entrance to the market, service, maintenance and innovative product improvement

Interactive Geometric Configuration Using Sketch-Based CAD Models

Knowledge-based geometry models reduce variant design to the input of parameter values. Especially knowledge-based CAD models that incorporate geometrical data and implemented explicit knowledge offer additional possibilities. One is interactive drag-and-drop control of geometric features. This poses new requirements for the setup of CAD models as each geometric constraint, dimension and 3D feature contributes to the variability of the model. In this paper, the authors give methodological guidance to such modeling tasks by extending the CommonKADS approach with a correlation model for CAD model entities. The guidelines are visualized for the creation of an interactive, configurable steel construction model

Selecting the Size of the Universal Reducer, Taking into Account its Thermal Load Capacity

Universal helical gear motors are among mechanisms that operate with a very high efficiency (about 0.98 per gear pair) [1, 2] and thus their thermal power capacity has not received enough attention, even in the cases when they overheat (usually at higher ambient temperature and high power motors). Therefore, it is necessary to define the thermal capacity in the catalogues of the speed reducer with a solid input shaft, as it is done by worm and helical-worm gear units which operate with much lower efficiency. Some manufacturers [3] pay necessary attention to this factor and thus enable the proper selection of gear reducers; this means they have prepared certain procedures to be undertaken if such occasion occurs, in order to overcome possible problems that may arise due to overheating the gear reducer. With this approach in the universal gear unit selection, some positive benefits can be surely achieved in the market of gear reducers, and that should not be ignored

Application of Decentralized and Self-Regulating Knowledge Bases for Assembly Design Automation

During product development, changes to parts that are already built into assemblies usually lead to the need to check the function and consistency of the assembly. This procedure is very time-consuming and has to be performed again for each change. In this paper, an approach is presented in which the individual parts are represented as agents that adapt themselves to new conditions. The agents are combined in a multi-agent system (MAS) and interact via communication over messages. For this purpose, a methodical procedure for the development of the MAS and the implementation in a CAD development environment is presented. The validation of the MAS is carried out on the application example of a gearbox

Lean PLM - Information technology strategy for innovative and sustainable business environment

In today’s process manufacturing environment, innovation is viewed as critical to sustainable growth and business profitability. While innovation is regarded as the answer, the companies can effectively measure the return on R&D investment, have acceptable product success rates, achieve acceptable promotional effectiveness, or have visibility into their compliance risks or operational readiness for new product launches. Companies must have repeatable, compliant and responsive business processes, global ICT information infrastructure that provides a single source of the truth, alignment across departments and solutions that evolve without coding. With holistic strategy and supporting infrastructure, companies can consistently minimize the time to scale, improve product success rates and promotional effectiveness, and enjoy sustainable and profitable growth. The companies must first focus on the needs of their customer, continually minimize time to scale, eliminate waste, drive out costs and improve. These are core concepts of a Lean strategy. This paper will describe how Lean concept with PLM business strategy can leverage Lean with integrated compliance, continua

Improving product design with IPS-DFX methodology incorporated in PLM software

Rad predstavlja unapređenje proizvoda kroz aplikaciju alata za konstruiranje za izvrsnost (DFX) za montažu, proizvodnju i zaštitu životne sredine koji su ugrađeni u komercijalni softver Siemens Teamcenter za menadžment životnog ciklusa proizvoda (PLM). Kompleksna baza podataka, koja je srce svakog PLM softvera, dopušta lak pristup svim potrebnim podacima DFX analiza, od funkcionalnih zahtjeva, geometrijskih CAD modela, do podataka o tehnologiji i procesima vezanim za proizvodni sustav, a može se također uporabiti kao baza znanja (KDB) za objedinjavanje iskustava jedne kompanije. S druge strane, modul za upravljanje tokovima kompleksnih procesa, kao što su prijedlozi za izmjene u konstruiranju, evaluacija, verifikacija i modifikacija nove verzije proizvoda, dopušta olakšan paralelni rad svih učesnika u procesu s minimalnim preprekama. Uspješna implementacija istraživanja provedena je na modelu mehaničke vage za kupaonicu, kroz potreban broj iteracija.The paper presents improvement of a product through the application of Design for Excellence (DFX) tools for assembly, manufacturing and environmental protection that are incorporated into the commercial software Siemens Teamcenter for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Complex database, that is a heart of every PLM software, allows easy access to all necessary data for DFX analyses starting from functional requirements, geometric CAD models, technology and process data related to the production system, and can be also used as a Knowledge Database (KDB) for collecting company’s experience. On the other hand, a module for management of complex processes flows, such as proposals for design changes, evaluation, verification and modification of a new revision of the product, allows easy parallel work of all participants in the process with minimum drawbacks. Successful implementation of the research is done on the model of the mechanical bathroom scale, through the required number of iterations

Improving product design with IPS-DFX methodology incorporated in PLM software

Rad predstavlja unapređenje proizvoda kroz aplikaciju alata za konstruiranje za izvrsnost (DFX) za montažu, proizvodnju i zaštitu životne sredine koji su ugrađeni u komercijalni softver Siemens Teamcenter za menadžment životnog ciklusa proizvoda (PLM). Kompleksna baza podataka, koja je srce svakog PLM softvera, dopušta lak pristup svim potrebnim podacima DFX analiza, od funkcionalnih zahtjeva, geometrijskih CAD modela, do podataka o tehnologiji i procesima vezanim za proizvodni sustav, a može se također uporabiti kao baza znanja (KDB) za objedinjavanje iskustava jedne kompanije. S druge strane, modul za upravljanje tokovima kompleksnih procesa, kao što su prijedlozi za izmjene u konstruiranju, evaluacija, verifikacija i modifikacija nove verzije proizvoda, dopušta olakšan paralelni rad svih učesnika u procesu s minimalnim preprekama. Uspješna implementacija istraživanja provedena je na modelu mehaničke vage za kupaonicu, kroz potreban broj iteracija.The paper presents improvement of a product through the application of Design for Excellence (DFX) tools for assembly, manufacturing and environmental protection that are incorporated into the commercial software Siemens Teamcenter for Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). Complex database, that is a heart of every PLM software, allows easy access to all necessary data for DFX analyses starting from functional requirements, geometric CAD models, technology and process data related to the production system, and can be also used as a Knowledge Database (KDB) for collecting company’s experience. On the other hand, a module for management of complex processes flows, such as proposals for design changes, evaluation, verification and modification of a new revision of the product, allows easy parallel work of all participants in the process with minimum drawbacks. Successful implementation of the research is done on the model of the mechanical bathroom scale, through the required number of iterations