An Approximate analytical method to evaluate the performance of multi-product assembly manufacturing systems

The automotive industry is characterized by the continuous and frequent adoption of cutting edge technologies in manufacturing. The introduction of new technology often entails a system level investigation to determine whether it meets expected production requirements. Many system design alternatives are usually considered at this stage, and a fast performance evaluation tool is desired to quickly obtain the optimum system configuration. In this paper, we introduce an analytical tool that was developed for this specific purpose

De-manufacturing systems

open3noDe-Manufacturing Systems allow implementing optimized End-Of-Life strategies and are necessary to support a sustainable and competitive Manufacturing/De-Manufacturing integrated paradigm. However, available technologies, management methods and business models present several limitations that make landfill and, at a lower extent, materials recycling, the most diffused End-Of-Life practices. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes an integrated multi-disciplinary research framework addressing single technologies improvement, system integration and business model coherency. The main challenges and research opportunities are presented that can boost the development of sustainable De-manufacturing Systems at industrial level.Colledani, Marcello; Copani, Giacomo; Tolio, TullioColledani, Marcello; Copani, Giacomo; Tolio, TULLIO ANTONIO MARI

Smart Composite Mechanical Demanufacturing Processes

Recycling of Glass Fibers Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) can be preferentially performed through mechanical processes due to the low cost of virgin fibers. Because of the poorer mechanical properties after comminution, the most interesting solution to reuse this material is a cross-sectorial approach, in which particles obtained through shredding of products from one sector are used in another sector. To allow this, a fine control on the particles dimension is fundamental, together with the minimization of operational costs. In this chapter, after a deep analysis on the available size reduction technologies and a preliminary feasibility analysis on the products involved in Use-Case 1 of the FiberEUse project, a 2-step architecture to optimize these two characteristics is presented. The models for both steps are shown and the developed solutions is applied to the End-of-Life products, demonstrating the potential of this approach, leading to optimal dimension of the particle with operational costs lower than both virgin fibers and disposal costs

The FiberEUse Demand-Driven, Cross-Sectorial, Circular Economy Approach

Composite materials are widely used in several industrial sectors such as wind energy, aeronautics, automotive, construction, boating, sports equipment, furniture and design. The ongoing increase in composites market size will result in relevant waste flows with related environmental issues and value losses if sustainable solutions for their post-use recovery and reuse are not developed and upscaled. The H2020 FiberEUse project aimed at the large-scale demonstration of new circular economy value-chains based on the reuse of End-of-Life fiber reinforced composites. The project showed the opportunities enabled by the creation of robust circular value-chains based on the implementation of a demand-driven, cross-sectorial circular economy approach, in which a material recovered from a sector is reused within high-added value products in different sectors. A holistic approach based on the synergic use of different hardware and digital enabling technologies, compounded by non-technological innovations, have been implemented to develop eight demonstrators grouped in three use cases, fostering different strategies. In particular, Use Case 1 focused on the mechanical recycling of short glass fibers, Use Case 2 on the thermal recycling of long fibers, while Use Case 3 focused on the inspection, repair and remanufacturing of carbon fiber reinforced plastics products and parts

Introduction, Context, and Motivations of a Circular Economy for Composite Materials

Circular Economy is an emerging production-consumption paradigm showing the potential to recover and re-use functions and materials from post-use, end-of-life, products. Even if several barriers still exist at different levels, from legislation to customer acceptance, the transition to this sustainable industrial model has been demonstrated to potentially bring economic, environmental, and social benefits, at large scale. Composite materials, which usage is constantly increasing, are composed by a fiber reinforcement in a resin matrix. Among them, the most widely adopted are Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastics (GFRP) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastics (CFRP). Their applications range from wind blades to automotive, construction, sporting equipment and furniture. The post-use treatment of composite-made products is still an open challenge. Today, they are either sent to landfill, where not banned, or incinerated. The application of Circular Economy principles may lead to the creation of new circular value-chains aiming at re-using functions and materials from post-use composite-made products in high value-added applications, thus increasing the sustainability of the composite industry as a whole

A decision support system to manage the quality of End-of-Life products in disassembly systems

The quality of post-consumer products is one of the major sources of uncertainty in disassembly systems. This paper develops a methodology to design disassembly lines under variability of the End-of-Life product quality, with the objective to maximize the profit. This decision support system helps to take decisions about the depth of disassembly and the organization of the disassembly system, depending on the pre-process measurement of the key quality characteristics of the product to be disassembled. The industrial benefits are demonstrated in a real industrial case focused on the remanufacturing of mechatronic parts in the automotive industry

A multi-method simulation approach for evaluating the effect of the interaction of customer behaviour and enterprise strategy on economic viability of remanufacturing

reserved2siThe economic viability of remanufacturing is shown to be significantly affected by the interaction between customer behaviour and strategic decisions of the manufacturer. The paper investigates this interaction using a multi-method simulation model combining a multi-agent-based model of customers and a system dynamics based model of the remanufacturing enterprise. The model uses validated approaches for each component and is used to investigate, analyse and forecast the long-term effects of strategic decisions of the remanufacturing enterprise on customer behaviour and the consequent effects on the business environment that determine the profitability of the enterprise.mixedNassehi, Aydin*; Colledani, MarcelloNassehi, Aydin; Colledani, Marcell

Quality-oriented design of rotor assembly strategies for electric drive production systems

Electric mobility is an emerging industrial sector that requires innovative quality control methods as common manufacturing and testing methods of combustion engines cannot be transferred directly to electric motors. This paper presents new solutions for the quantitative evaluation of quality-oriented rotor assembly strategies in electric drive production systems. The proposed methods assist the analysis of productivity and quality performance of two different assembly strategies namely selective assembly and sequential assembly. The impacts of these approaches are validated within a real industrial context, where state of the art quality and process control technologies show strong limitations. Experimental results have shown that the application of the proposed strategies yield a significant improvement in the production rate of conforming parts of the system. Moreover, the general applicability of these approaches to similar industrial problems encourages their adoption for defect reduction and elimination thus paving the way to zero-defect manufacturing paradigm

Particle simulation of granular flows in electrostatic separation processes

In waste processing technology, the recent Corona Electrostatic Separation (CES) method is used to separate conductive from non-conductive particles in recycling streams. This paper proposes an innovative simulation approach based on non-smooth dynamics. In this context, a differential-variational formulation is used to implement a scalable and efficient time integrator that allows the large-scale simulation of trajectories of particles with different properties under the effect of particle-particle interactions and frictional contacts. Issues related to performance optimization, fast collision detection and parallelization of the code are discussed