STRATEGIC RISK ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX ENGINEERING SYSTEM UPGRADES

Highly complex bespoke engineering products require upgrades during their long service life. These engineering changes can be risky due to the absence of an engineering baseline and/or multiple undocumented operational changes. They present significant challenges to the engineering contractor in terms of budget overruns, schedule impacts/delays, technical failures and ultimately a disappointed customer. Current risk management methods can be subjective and inaccurate. This paper outlines methodology to potentially predict, identify and visualize risks in a strategic structure which can ultimately lead to establishing necessary risk mitigation actions to significantly reduce and manage the risk of complex engineering system upgrade projects

Lifecycle Risk Modelling of Complex Projects

Large, complex and challenging engineering projects require extensive understanding and management of risk. How these risks are identified at the infancy of a project and subsequently mitigated throughout the project lifecycle is critical to successful delivery. Many projects begin with a comprehensive attempt to identify risks but lack the tools to manage and measure risk mitigation as the project progresses through the lifecycle causing the project to spiral out of control. This chapter outlines details of a risk model that uses a system within a system approach of identifying and segmenting risks. The model can then be analysed quantitatively and generate a visual lifecycle risk profile that allows the project team to monitor risks continuously in the project lifecycle. Furthermore, the use of a baseline or ideal project is proposed that is used as a measure of likely success against new projects

Enterprise System Design for RFID Enabled Supply Chains from Experience in Two National Projects

Two national demonstrator projects have been developed using global RFID standards to explore the suitability of this pervasive technology to the fast moving consumer goods supply chain. The projects show that RFID technology is still not reliable enough to produce advantages over traditional tracking technologies. This paper reviews the processes and gaps in these experiences, and assesses future research opportunities in this area. A system modelling approach is used to understand the relationships between different sub-systems in the enterprises of the supply chain and examine the enterprise processes that drive the activities in the national projects. Based on these analyses, an enterprise system model is proposed for designing future development of RFID based supply chains

Meso-scale Modeling of the Drilling of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic: Geometry and Numerical Analysis

This paper discussed the 3D finite element modeling (FEM) of the drilling of uni-directional Carbon Fibre Reinforced Plastic (CFRP). Most of the real life parts of CFRP are modeled with single layer shell element and can be modeled as composite by assigning a composite property to it. A Meso-Scale (Laminate Level) approach has been developed to extract displacements, overall stiffness behavior, and detailed stresses and strains. The objective of this study is to implement a ply-based modeling technology to model the laminates and to analyze the interaction mechanisms between the drilling tool and material to validate if the meso-scale approach would be the ideal solution to characterize the drilling induced damage. Results show the model has proved its ability to correctly estimate the thrust force and torque

Deflection Prediction on Machining Thin- Walled Monolithic Aerospace Component

Structural titanium alloys are coming in for increased use because they are light, ductile and have good fatigue and corrosion-resistance properties As a result; more manufacturing engineers are learning that machining these alloys can be a tricky job due to their unique physical and chemical properties. The problems are worsened when machining with the lowrigidity part which makes the precision difficult to master. This paper consist of two parts, a new CAD/CAE/CAM integrated methodology for predicting the surface errors when machining a thin-wall low rigidity component and secondly, the statistical analysis to determine the correlation between a criterion variable (form errors) and a combination of a predictor (cutting parameters and component attributes). The proposed modelwould be an efficient means for analysing the root cause of errors induced during machining of thin-wall parts and provide an input for downstream decision making on error compensation. A set of machining tests have been done in order to validate the accuracy of the model and the results between simulation and experiment were found in a good agreemen

Enterprise System Design for RFID Enabled Supply Chains from Experience in Two National Projects

Two national demonstrator projects have been developed using global RFID standards to explore the suitability of this pervasive technology to the fast moving consumer goods supply chain. The projects show that RFID technology is still not reliable enough to produce advantages over traditional tracking technologies. This paper reviews the processes and gaps in these experiences, and assesses future research opportunities in this area. A system modelling approach is used to understand the relationships between different sub-systems in the enterprises of the supply chain and examine the enterprise processes that drive the activities in the national projects. Based on these analyses, an enterprise system model is proposed for designing future development of RFID based supply chains

Six Sigma Driven Enterprise Model Transformation

Enterprise architecture methods provide a structured system to understand enterprise activities. However, existing enterprise modelling methodologies take static views of the enterprise and do not naturally lead to a path of improvement during enterprise model transformation. This paper discusses the need for a methodology to facilitate changes for improvement in an enterprise. The six sigma methodology is proposed as the tool to facilitate progressive and continual Enterprise Model Transformation to allow businesses to adapt to meet increased customer expectation and global competition. An alignment of six sigma with phases of GERAM life cycle is described with inclusion of Critical-To-Satisfaction (CTS) requirements. The synergies of combining the two methodologies are presented in an effort to provide a more culturally embedded framework for Enterprise Model Transformation that builds on the success of six sigma

Modelling a Global EPCM (Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management) Enterprise

This paper investigates the applicability of enterprise architectures in the context of current business environment by examining the application of Purdue Enterprise Reference Architecture to WorleyParsons, a global engineering, procurement and construction management enterprise, under the backdrop of a similar study carried out on Fluor Daniel during mid-nineties of the last century. The outcome of this study recommends the need for new enterprise architecture, the People-Centric Enterprise Architecture that not only focuses on human dimension in modern enterprises as the central thread, but also includes more business characteristics of the enterprise other than engineerings

Design of RFID Cloud Services in a Low Bandwidth Network Environment

The use of Information and Communication Technologies has significantly improved the efficiency of modern supply chains. Existing IT architecture is too rigid to allow new technologies such as RFID technologies to be implemented. With the aid of virtualisation and integrated with cloud services, infrastructure hardware and network devices can be consolidated into a physical device, reducing the cost of ownership. However, for such cloud services model to work correctly, a high speed network is required between each site and the cloud service provider. This poses huge challenges for real‐time system such as RFID‐enabled supply chains. Since modern supply chains operate on a global platform, it is almost impossible to assure availability of high speed networks across the global supply chain. This paper proposes two solutions to supplement the virtualisation and cloud services model. A sub‐cloud services solution, where each service is distributed across multiple hosts across different countries and regions is proposed to enhance accessibility to higher bandwidth networks. The second solution is the Queued Burst Device Compression system incorporates a compression service that compresses RFID data sets into much smaller packages. This solution is proved to work by a multiple‐in‐single‐out queuing model and is suitable for low bandwidth networks such as GPRS and 3G wireless environmenst