Olfactory-based augmented reality support for industrial maintenance

Augmented reality (AR) applications have opened innovative ways for performance improvement in the IoT industry. It can enhance user perception of the real-world by providing valuable information about an industrial environment and provide visual virtual information onto a head-mounted device (HMD). Such information is important for maintainers to quickly detect abnormalities, reduces nugatory routines and facilitate preventive maintenance.Since odors are made up of volatile compounds at low concentration, they can be used for olfactory-based identification.The prototype comprises of three modules: an electronic nose, a database and an AR application integrated with Microsoft HoloLens. After diagnosing an odor, the results are then sent wirelessly through a local network to the HMD worn by the user. To validate the technology, four odors have been used, including engine oil, sun lotion, medical alcohol and perfume, to record behaviors and demonstrate the repeatability of the process. The presented technology incorporates sampling methods, cleaning processes and statistical analysis that can be further scrutinized to allow correct smell identification

Identifying information asymmetry challenges in the defence sector

Nowadays austerity policy and reduced funding promote the Defence Sector (DS) interested in improving interactions across the supply network to achieve more outcomes with less expense. The quality of the information link plays a key role in the supply chain. The information is often lost causing costs increase. Information Asymmetry (IA) exists when two or more parties in a contract/project have different types or amounts of information, and choose not to share or fail to understand information that is shared. This paper aims to outline some of the challenges faced within the DS as a result of the existence of IA. This is the first step towards improving the management of IA and has been supported by a literature review and through semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts. Therefore, the conclusions in this paper can be used for further developments in this area of study

Mitigating the risk of software obsolescence in the oil and gas sector

This paper focuses on how on-going energy demand, shift in water depth and heavy crude oil type are creating huge obsolescence issues especially software in the offshore oil and gas industry. The aim is to identify and quantify software obsolescence using a novel framework developed to evaluate major software types, their associated obsolescence impact and risk exposure, cost implications, and resolution qualification. Validation of the framework confirmed the role of the framework for life cycle support and guidance related to software obsolescence. The tool can be used for engineering and procurement contracts thereby reducing capital and operating expenditure

Industry 5.0 transition for an advanced service provision

The current service provision for high-value manufactured equipment is transitioning from a purely product-focused business model to a service-focused one, known as servitization. Businesses aim to continuously improve their service offerings to sustain customer satisfaction in order to maintain their competitive edge within the industry. On the other hand, Industry 5.0 is characterized by bringing industries’ focus towards collaboration for sustainable value co-creation rather than producing goods and services for profit. This research investigates the possible enablers to design and deploy a highly effective advanced service provision. Advanced service provision refers to providing service solutions that fulfil the desirable availability, capability, and reliability in product-service contracts. The research outcomes are presented in the form of a transition framework and a set of recommendations towards the desired future state, with phased timings for implementing the key enablers with a potential 2035 vision to support the Industry 5.0 transition. The validity of the framework was tested by collecting experts’ opinion who currently work within servitization contracts. The outcome of this study can be generalized for industries in high-value manufacturing

Toward an integrated sustainability assessment in through-life engineering services

Through-life Engineering Services (TES) is comprised of develop, prepare, utilize and retire phases for complex engineering assets with a focus on maximizing their availability, predictability and reliability at the lowest possible life-cycle cost. TES employs a set of technologies and solutions to improve asset performance efficiently. On the other hand, optimal solutions for minimizing waste in terms of service time and resources is crucial for designing the right service at the right time. Thereby, specifying the possible TES opportunities within the economic, social and environmental sustainability dimensions can be an added value across different manufacturing sectors when deploying TES. However, due to the complexities and immensity of TES approaches, it is challenging to perceive such opportunities. To this end, the existing literature is limited to the effect of TES on economic sustainability and mostly focuses on investigating how TES has modified the service design to improve productivity and profitability. However, a comprehensive study on integrated sustainability has not been yet conducted. This paper presents a holistic view of the potential TES opportunities associated with the sustainability triple bottom line following a systematic review of empirical and theoretical advancements and methodological approaches in the literature. The outcome from this research raises the awareness of TES contribution in the design of sustainable service solutions and technologies, and offers a benchmark and reference point for future research in the field. Finally, this paper provides a set of recommendations that call for the further development of an integrated sustainability assessment framework for TES.Cranfield Universit

An agent-based model for flexible customization in product-service systems

Product-Service System (PSS) models offer an integrated service solution to create value for businesses. In the high-value manufacturing sector, value creation for maintaining market competitiveness and improving customer satisfaction is a challenging task. Designing an effective PSS solution depends on integrated service, and product requirements and constraints. Thereby, PSS contract decisions can be significantly influenced by customers’ requirements, and also product and service features. However, existing literature primarily focuses on the impact of service requirements on the PSS contract decisions. Moreover, the existing insights for PSS customization mainly consider hysteretic customer requirements rather than forecasting the requirements under product and service uncertainties. In this paper, an agent-based cost-benefit analysis simulation model is implemented for the PSS contract decisions context. Moreover, a sensitivity analysis is conducted on service costs. Additionally, the effect of product remaining life on service contract decisions is analyzed. The simulation model considers stochastic uncertainty to study PSS contracts customization. The presented model supports PSS customization process by providing a quantitative tool that measures contracts’ profitability as early as the requirement elicitation phase. Furthermore, the bottom-up nature of the model, and the integration of probabilistic uncertainties enhance the flexibility of PSS customization. A case study of PSS contract decision in the machine tool industry is considered for assessing the validity of the presented model. Studies on different forms of service uncertainty highlight that the product failure rate has the most influence on the profitability of a service contract. Moreover, the impact of product age on profitability in an availability-based contract is more significant compared to a spare-parts contract

An agent-based approach to quantify the uncertainty in product-service system contract decisions: a case study in the machine tool industry

Product-service system (PSS) business models appraise the relationship between different stakeholders and focus on a partnership based on profit. Existing literature discusses servitization and the associated cost-benefit analysis (CBA) models mostly from the perspective of original equipment manufacturers. Additionally, CBA is typically conducted using top-down approaches and standard activity-based costing, with limited available data and without considering uncertainty. As a result, inadequate and under-priced contract decisions may be made. To address the problem, this paper extends the current literature by proposing a novel framework for quantifying uncertainty in cost and benefit estimates of PSS contracts. The framework offers a bottom-up costing approach using the agent-based simulation technique. The framework comprises a stochastic CBA model for PSS. It is developed by considering through-life cost and benefit of products and services with aggregate uncertainty in terms of service costs, service lead-times, and their occurrences. The framework has been tested successfully on a real-world case study with a bespoke service provider in the machine tool industry. The model is applied to include spare-parts and availability-based servitization contracts. The simulation results are validated by real-world measurements and expert knowledge. The results involve a comprehensive stochastic analyses of a through-life CBA under probabilistic uncertainty and provide the opportunity to quantify the uncertainty in PSS contract decisions. Moreover, the results highlight that servitization is more beneficial for bespoke service providers in long-term contracts, and for relatively new or retrofitted products. Further research works are required to apply the model on capability-based contract

Defining next-generation additive manufacturing applications for the Ministry of Defence (MoD)

“Additive Manufacturing” (AM) is an emerging, highly promising and disruptive technology which is catching the attention of the Defence sector due to the versatility it is offering. Through the combination of design freedom, technology compactness and high deposition rates, technology stakeholders can potentially exploit rapid, delocalized and flexible production. Having the capability to produce highly tailored, fully dense, potentially optimized products, on demand and next to the point of use makes this emerging and immature technology a game changer in the “Defence Support Service” (DS2) sector. Furthermore, if the technology is exploited for the Royal Navy, featured with extended and disrupted supply chains, the benefits are very promising. While most of the AM research and efforts are focusing on the manufacturing/process and design opportunities/topology optimization, this paper aims to provide a creative but educated and validated forecast on what AM can do for the Royal Navy in the future. This paper aims to define the most promising next generation Additive Manufacturing applications for the Royal Navy in the 2025 – 2035 decade. A multidisciplinary methodology has been developed to structure this exploratory applied research study. Moreover, different experts of the UK Defence Value Chain have been involved for primary research and for verification/validation purposes. While major concerns have been raised on process/product qualification and current AM capabilities, the results show that there is a strong confidence on the disruptive potential of AM to be applied in front-end of DS2 systems to support “Complex Engineering Systems” in the future. While this paper provides only next-generation AM applications for RN, substantial conceptual development work has to be carried out to define an AM based system which is able to, firstly satisfy the “spares demands” of a platform and secondly is able to perform in critical environments such as at sea

Dynamics of cost uncertainty for innovative high value manufacturing products - a geometric phenomenon

In practice the forecasting of cost uncertainty for high value manufacturing products is typically a statistical exercise focused on predicting a static cost range at a future point in time. This only leads to robust forecasts if sufficient historical data is available, robust knowledge of cost estimating relationships exists and these relationships do not change in the time between creating the forecast and verifying its accuracy. The more innovative the product is the less likely it however is that these prerequisites are met. Using cost data from the U.K. Ministry of Defence Royal Air Force A400M transport aircraft from 2002 to 2014 as an example, the dynamics of cost estimating relationships over time are examined using a novel non-statistical forecasting approach. The approach considers cost uncertainty as a geometric phenomenon, does not rely on prior information and permits easy identification of patterns in changes of cost estimating relationships over time