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Showing papers on "Production engineering published in 2007"


Book
06 Dec 2007
TL;DR: Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of an object or component through analysis of its structure and function as mentioned in this paper, which can then be used to redesign the object very quickly using computer-aided design in concert with rapid-manufacturing processes to produce small numbers of components adapted to the needs of a particular customer.
Abstract: Reverse engineering is the process of discovering the technological principles of an object or component through analysis of its structure and function. Such analysis can then be used to redesign the object very quickly using computer-aided design in concert with rapid-manufacturing processes to produce small numbers of components adapted to the needs of a particular customer. This way of working has huge benefits of speed and flexibility over traditional mass-production-based design and manufacturing processes. This edited collection of essays from world-leading academic and industrial authors yields insight into all aspects of reverse engineering: The methods of reverse engineering analysis are covered, with special emphasis on the investigation of surface and internal structures. Frequently-used hardware and software are assessed and advice given on the most suitable choice of system. Rapid prototyping is introduced and its relationship with successful reverse engineering is discussed. Importantly, legal matters surrounding reverse engineering are addressed as are other barriers to the adoption of these techniques. Applications of reverse engineering in three significant areas: automotive, aerospace, and medical engineering are reported in depth. Reverse Engineering is a "must have" title for anyone working with advanced modern manufacturing technologies, either with a view to researching and improving them further or to making their company leaner and more agile in a competitive manufacturing marketplace.

148 citations


Book
12 Nov 2007
TL;DR: The Handbook of Computational Intelligence in Manufacturing and Production Management focuses on new developments in computational intelligence in areas such as forecasting, scheduling, production planning, inventory control, and aggregate planning, among others.
Abstract: During the last two decades, computer and information technologies have forced great changes in the ways businesses manage operations in meeting the desired quality of products and services, customer demands, competition, and other challenges. The Handbook of Computational Intelligence in Manufacturing and Production Management focuses on new developments in computational intelligence in areas such as forecasting, scheduling, production planning, inventory control, and aggregate planning, among others. This comprehensive collection of research provides cutting-edge knowledge on information technology developments for both researchers and professionals in fields such as operations and production management, Web engineering, artificial intelligence, and information resources management.

57 citations



Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The role of a production engineer is to maximize oil and gas production in a cost-effective manner as discussed by the authors, and the role of an E&E is to minimize the adverse effects of such releases if they occur.
Abstract: The role of a production engineer is to maximize oil and gas production in a cost-effective manner Familiarization and understanding of oil and gas production systems are essential to the engineers This chapter provides graduating production engineers with some basic knowledge about production systems A complete oil or gas production system consists of a reservoir, well, flowline, separators, pumps, and transportation pipelines The reservoir supplies the wellbore with crude oil or gas The well provides a path for the production fluid to flow from bottom hole to surface and offers a means to control the fluid production rate The flowline leads the produced fluid to separators The separators remove gas and water from the crude oil Pumps and compressors are used to transport oil and gas through pipelines to sales points Through the one and half century of pipeline operating practice, the petroleum industry has proven that pipelines are by far the most economical means of large-scale overland transportation for crude oil, natural gas, and their products, clearly superior to rail and truck transportation over competing routes, given large quantities to be moved on a regular basis The purpose of safety systems is to protect personnel, the environment, and the facility The major objective of the safety system is to prevent the release of hydrocarbons from the process and to minimize the adverse effects of such releases if they occur

51 citations


Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 Sep 2007
TL;DR: A new approach and corresponding tools for the design, development and application of modular virtual virtual Web based production automation devices is presented, showing that the initial requirements for the use of flexible reconfigurable devices in production are completely supported by the proposed approach.
Abstract: Based on the integration of the service-oriented architecture (SoA) paradigm and existing 2D/3D based engineering systems, a new approach and corresponding tools for the design, development and application of modular virtual Web based production automation devices is presented in this paper. As apart of a 3D product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, Delmia automation was used to model the SoA environment, which brought the engineering of SoA to a complete workflow from the design of a product throughout the engineering of the production system. First developments have been applied to three pilot applications: a single virtual device, a mixed environment with one virtual and one real device, and finally an example of multiple virtual devices and instantiation on reusable components, thus showing that the initial requirements for the use of flexible reconfigurable devices in production are completely supported by the proposed approach.

42 citations


01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors address the topic of manufacturing strategy, especially the manufacturing capabilities and operational performance of manufacturing plants, and propose a manufacturing strategy research aims to improve the manufacturing capability and performance of plants.
Abstract: This dissertation addresses the topic of manufacturing strategy, especially the manufacturing capabilities and operational performance of manufacturing plants. Manufacturing strategy research aims ...

39 citations


DissertationDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, two new concepts, process platform and production configuration, are proposed to facilitate the production of customized products while utilizing existing manufacturing resources, and a number of case studies using vibration motors has been conducted in an electronics company.
Abstract: A critical issue facing manufacturing companies is to achieve product variety while maintaining mass production efficiency. Although many methodologies, approaches and tools have been reported, they deal with design of customized products, instead of production. Therefore, this book purports two new concepts, process platform and production configuration, to facilitate production of customized products while utilizing existing manufacturing resources. These concepts are proposed to support production process planning of customized products. Systematic methodologies are discussed in detail to accommodate the definition, construction and development of process platforms and production configuration systems. To better demonstrate these concepts, a number of case studies using vibration motors has been conducted in an electronics company. These case applications shed light on the fundamentals of and issues associated with process platforms and production configuration. The positive application results further prove that process platforms and production configuration are useful to process engineers, industrial engineers, or anyone else who are involved in production process planning.

38 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A new method where engineer’s task is not to make decisions but rather to prepare a knowledge-based “road map” that simplifies the decision making process in production planning is presented.
Abstract: Production management, in batch type manufacturing environment, is regarded by the current research community as a very complex task. This paper claims that the complexity is a result of the system approach where management performance relies on decisions made at a too early stage in the manufacturing process. Decisions are made and stored in company databases by engineers who are neither economists nor production planner’s experts. This paper presents a new method where engineer’s task is not to make decisions but rather to prepare a knowledge-based “road map”. The road map method does introduce flexibility and dynamics in the manufacturing process and thus simplifies the decision making process in production planning. Each user will generate a routine that meets his/her needs at the time of needs by using KBMS CAPP. Thereby this method increases dramatically manufacturing efficiency.

25 citations


Posted Content
TL;DR: An integrated manufacturing environment which can enhance one or several levels of decision and control in manufacturing process and several domains can be addressed: Product and Process Design, Process and Production Planning, Machine Tool, Robot and Manufacturing System.
Abstract: The research area "Virtual Manufacturing" can be defined as an integrated manufacturing environment which can enhance one or several levels of decision and control in manufacturing process. Several domains can be addressed: Product and Process Design, Process and Production Planning, Machine Tool, Robot and Manufacturing System. As automation technologies such as CAD/CAM have substantially shortened the time required to design products, Virtual Manufacturing will have a similar effect on the manufacturing phase thanks to the modelling, simulation and optimisation of the product and the processes involved in its fabrication.

23 citations


DOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review and the final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.
Abstract: • A submitted manuscript is the author's version of the article upon submission and before peer-review. There can be important differences between the submitted version and the official published version of record. People interested in the research are advised to contact the author for the final version of the publication, or visit the DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers.

23 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present major issues on actual approaches on virtual engineering, both about methods and tools but also regarding knowledge integration, the main actual strategic way of usage is based on knowledge formalisation, one of the strategic issues of next generation design environments.
Abstract: The current paper presents major issues on actual approaches on virtual engineering, both about methods and tools but also regarding knowledge integration. The main actual strategic way of usage is based on knowledge formalisation, one of the strategic issues of next generation design environments. The evolution of the market has necessitated for new products the reduction of time-to-market, essentially because the product lifecycle is shorter, but also because it is very important to proceed more rapidly from an initial conception to a mass production object. As a result of newly evolved software environments, knowledge-based systems for integrated design and manufacturing is applied for complex systems obtained thanks to complex virtual extended enterprises. Owing to this evolution of virtual engineering technologies and their integration within extended companies, it has become possible today to validate parts representative of customised production within a very short time. The present paper provides ...

DissertationDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, a method for separating different errors despite their interdependencies is presented for 3-axis machining centers, where a ball plate can be brought into different defined locations in space to create a spatial grid of measuring points.
Abstract: For machining processes (e.g. milling, grinding, electrical discharge machining), there has been a trend for many years towards ever increasing demands for workpiece accuracies, i. e. closer form, dimensional and location tolerances. Kinematically any machine tool for such processes can be understood as an arrangement of different linear and rotary axes that cause a relative motion between tool and workpiece. The movements of these axes have a multitude of different errors, affecting the workpiece (e. g. positioning or straightness errors, roll and tilt motion errors, squareness and parallelism errors). These axes errors cause a major part of the form, dimensional and location deviations of the workpiece to be machined. Today’s state of the art of geometric testing and calibrating machine tools is widely based on sequential measurements of single axes errors. For machining centers the problems of such an approach are pointed out as an example in this work. Since a multitude of different measuring devices and measuring setups are necessary, many different instruments and much time are required. More important are interdependency effects between errors. Several errors may have a similar influence on a measurement result, making the identification of different errors difficult. A method for separating different errors despite their interdependencies is presented for 3-axis machining centers. With a ball plate that can be brought into different defined locations in space a spatial grid of measuring points is created. With this measurement different errors can be distinguished easily. Design details for achieving a measurement uncertainty as small as possible are presented. For complex kinematics, where such a clear distinction between the single errors is not possible, an approach is presented to quantify the resulting uncertainty of the identification of an error due to the influence of measurement uncertainty and other geometric and nongeometric errors. Thereby a systematic planning and improving of calibration procedures is made possible. The geometric behavior of a machine that can be expected after calibration can be predicted.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
29 Oct 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an implementation approach for the monitoring and analysis of a discrete manufacturing environment using the RFID technology, which bridges the gap between the physical flow of materials on the shop floor and manufacturing information and execution systems by allowing a rapid development and deployment of an RFIDbased manufacturing automation solution.
Abstract: Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has become an important driver in the production and logistics activities of today's information-based industries and economies. With the innovative developments in information and communication technologies, companies focus more on how these changes can be implemented and promoted in order to improve their value-added processes. This paper presents one such implementation approach for the monitoring and analysis of a discrete manufacturing environment using the RFID technology. Our aim is to bridge the gap between the physical flow of materials on the shop floor and manufacturing information and execution systems by allowing a rapid development and deployment of an RFID-based manufacturing automation solution.

BookDOI
14 Nov 2007
TL;DR: The 33 papers presented in this book were selected from amongst the 97 papers presented during the sixth edition of the International Conference on Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering during 28 sessions as mentioned in this paper, and two keynote papers, one presented by Professor Stephen Lu, from the IMPACT Research Laboratory, University of Southern California, USA, on Supporting participative joint decisions in integrated design and manufacturing teams, and one written by Professor Stefan Rudolph from Stuttgart University about Know-How Reuse in the conceptual design phase of complex engineering products or: Are you still constructing manually or do you generate already automatically,
Abstract: The 33 papers presented in this book were selected from amongst the 97 papers presented during the sixth edition of the International Conference on Integrated Design and Manufacturing in Mechanical Engineering during 28 sessions. Two keynote papers, one presented by Professor Stephen Lu, from the IMPACT Research Laboratory, University of Southern California, USA, on Supporting participative joint decisions in integrated design and manufacturing teams , and one written by Professor Stefan Rudolph from Stuttgart University about Know-How Reuse in the conceptual design phase of complex engineering products or: Are you still constructing manually or do you generate already automatically , introduce the subject of the Conference and are followed by the different themes highlighted during the conference: The design/manufacturing interface; Integrated design of manufacturing processes; Life cycle design and manufacturing approaches; Agility in design and manufacture; Knowledge in engineering; and Management in production systems.

Dissertation
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a framework with principles and models supporting application systems development and show how different application systems can be used in a systematic way as means to ensure and enhance producibility.
Abstract: For many products, the adaptation to customer specifications is essential and requires flexible product design and manufacture while maintaining competitive pricing. Engineering design is often concerned with striking a good balance between product properties, e.g. performance, and the resources required to manufacture and assemble the product. When different courses of action are to be evaluated, even seemingly small changes in customer requirements, product design, and manufacturing properties have to be handled with caution. Small changes can entail products with: low level of conformability with the manufacturing system, highly increased cost, and extended manufacturing lead-time. For most companies, the manufacturing system is a valuable asset that is more or less fixed and only minor adaptations are allowed. This implies that the product design has to be adapted to the manufacturing system to a large extent. Design for producibility (DFP) is the process in which a systematic method is used to reach the required functional properties of the product at the same time as good compliance with the manufacturing system is ensured. The DFP process usually needs to involve several persons simultaneously for the purpose of sharing information and knowledge. For many manufacturing companies, the collaboration between engineering design and production engineering is a critical issue and they have to improve their methods and tools for ensuring and enhancing producibility. This can be achieved by introducing computer-supported design for producibility. The present research is intended to contribute to the development and utilisation of different application systems that can be used as such computer support. The aim is to provide companies with support in application system development and to show how different application systems can be used in a systematic way as means to ensure and enhance producibility. The competitive advantages to gain from introducing computer-supported design for producibility are: product designs with high level of conformability with the production system, shortened manufacturing lead-time, and decreased manufacturing cost. This work contributes to the achievement of these advantages by introducing a framework with principles and models supporting application systems development. Three types of application systems are presented and their practical usefulness is examined, showing practitioners how producibility aspects can be assessed systematically. The main scientific and theoretical contribution of the work comprises: the descriptions concerning how to structure and describe the product and product-related information (manufacturing requirements, costs, process plans and production resources), the foundation of different information models, and the clarification of the models’ interrelationships. This is perceived as a contribution to a better understanding of the domains and how they relate to each other.Design for producibility (DFP) is the process in which a systematic method is used to reach the required functional properties of the product at the same time as good compliance with the manufacturing system is ensured. The DFP process usually needs to involve several persons simultaneously for the purpose of sharing information and knowledge. For many manufacturing companies, the collaboration between engineering design and production engineering is a critical issue and they have to improve their methods and tools for ensuring and enhancing producibility. This can be achieved by introducing computer-supported design for producibility. The present research is intended to contribute to the development and utilisation of different application systems that can be used as such computer support. The aim is to provide companies with support in application system development and to show how different application systems can be used in a systematic way as means to ensure and enhance producibility.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The main objectives of the proposed approach are supporting the formation of requirement specifications for products and processes, improved and simplified information retrieval for designers and process planners, forward traceability from changes in product systems to manufacturing systems, and the elimination of redundant or multiple versions of requirements specifications by simplifying the updating and maintenance of the information.
Abstract: With today’s high product variety and shorter life cycles in automobile manufacturing, every new car design must be adapted to existing production facilities so that these facilities can be used for the manufacturing of several car models. In order to ensure this, collaboration between engineering design and production engineering has to be supported. Sharing information is at the core of collaborative engineering. By implementing an ontology approach, work within domains requirement management, engineering design and production engineering can be integrated. An ontology approach, based on an information model implemented in a computer tool, supports work in the different domains and their collaboration. The main objectives of the proposed approach are: supporting the formation of requirement specifications for products and processes, improved and simplified information retrieval for designers and process planners, forward traceability from changes in product systems to manufacturing systems, backward traceability from changes in manufacturing system to product systems, and the elimination of redundant or multiple versions of requirement specifications by simplifying the updating and maintenance of the information.


01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: Systems Engineering Systems Architecting Software Engineering and Simulation Concurrent Innovative Product Engineering Collaborative Concurrent Engineering Methodologies, Methods and Tools Manufacturing Processes and Environmental Requirements for Sustainability Information Modelling for Innovation and Sustainable Interoperability for Collaboration.
Abstract: Systems Engineering Systems Architecting Software Engineering and Simulation Concurrent Innovative Product Engineering Collaborative Concurrent Engineering Methodologies, Methods and Tools Manufacturing Processes and Environmental Requirements for Sustainability Information Modelling for Innovation and Sustainability Interoperability for Collaboration Knowledge Management Collaboration Engineering Knowledge Engineering: Organization Memory, Ontology, Description Logics and Semantics Technology for Collaborative Engineering Stakeholder Value Sustainability Enterprise Architecture for Innovation Supply Chain Collaboration

01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this paper, new challenges in the product development process arise to promote continuous improvement and incrementally increase the quality of the products and services being developed for services instead of traditional sell-off.
Abstract: As companies strive to develop artefacts intended for services instead of traditional sell-off, new challenges in the product development process arise to promote continuous improvement and increas ...

Book ChapterDOI
12 Sep 2007
TL;DR: The prevalent research view point has been the one of a meta-method supporting the selection and integration of ISDM parts that together form a new situational method i.e. a method adapted to the situation of a specific ISD project.
Abstract: Method Engineering (ME) is the discipline to study engineering techniques for constructing, assessing, evaluating and managing methods for developing Information Systems Development Methods (ISDM). Method engineering can therefore, be seen as concerned with meta-methods. The prevalent research view point has been the one of a meta-method supporting the selection and integration of ISDM parts that together form a new situational method i.e. a method adapted to the situation of a specific ISD project. Research in Situational Method Engineering (SME) has not exclusively, but undoubtedly produced a large portfolio of assembly-based approaches.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A method for simulating the influence of the actual control system on the structural dynamics in real-time by using Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation is presented.
Abstract: Modern simulation methods are increasingly applied in all areas of research and development in production engineering. Moreover, the application area can be extended by the combination of different simulation tools e.g. Finite Element Method (FEM) with Computer Aided Control Engineering (CACE). The dynamic behaviour of machine tools depends not only on their distribution of mass, damping and stiffness, but also on their applied control mechanisms. The following article presents a method for simulating the influence of the actual control system on the structural dynamics in real-time by using Hardware-in-the-Loop Simulation.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present some of the issues concerning holonic manufacturing systems and present some challenges and future opportunities for research, including task and resource holons that cooperate with each other based on a variant of the contract net protocol.
Abstract: This chapter presents some of the issues concerning holonic manufacturing systems. It starts by presenting the current manufacturing scenario and trends and then provides some background information on the holonic concept and its application to manufacturing. The current limitations and future trends of manufacturing suggest more autonomous and distributed organisations for manufacturing systems; holonic manufacturing systems are proposed as a way to achieve such autonomy and decentralisation. After a brief literature survey, a specific research study is presented to handle scheduling in holonic manufacturing systems. This work is based on task and resource holons that cooperate with each other based on a variant of the contract net protocol that allow the propagation of constraints between operations in the execution plan. The chapter ends by presenting some challenges and future opportunities for research.

Dissertation
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, a cellular manufacturing system (CMS) is implemented to accommodate small batches without loosing much of production run time, which is an application of group technology in which similar parts are identified and grouped together.
Abstract: In response to demand in market place, discrete manufacturing firms need to adopt batch type manufacturing for incorporating continuous and rapid changes in manufacturing to gain edge over competitors. In addition, there is an increasing trend toward achieving higher level of integration between design and manufacturing functions in industries to make batch manufacturing more efficient and productive. In batch shop production environment, the cost of manufacturing is inversely proportional to batch size and the batch size determines the productivity. In real time environment, the batch size of the components is often small leading to frequent changeovers, larger machine idleness and so lesser productivity. To alleviate these problems, “Cellular Manufacturing Systems” (CMS) can be implemented to accommodate small batches without loosing much of production run time. Cellular manufacturing is an application of group technology (GT) in which similar parts are identified and grouped togeth...

Dissertation
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigated how the two parties can cooperate with each other in making decisions to increase both the system and individual profitability in a single-channel vendor-buyer system with complex transportation schemes.
Abstract: Nowadays, the global market and economy have made it difficult for companies to compete solely as individual entities. Many companies have realized the potential for achieving a competitive advantage through effectively coordinating different logistics participants in their supply chains. In the meanwhile, information technology and outsourcing have enabled companies to successfully operate a collaborative supply chain, in which each logistics participant focuses on only a few key strategic activities. In this dissertation, we deal with the logistics coordination issues in two distinct vendorbuyer systems, where the vendor and buyer may represent any two upstream-downstream logistics participants that are independently managed, whether they belong to different companies or simply behave as such. For each vendor-buyer system studied, we investigate how the two parties can cooperate with each other in making decisions to increase both the system and the individual profitability. We have (I). Single-Channel Vendor-Buyer System with Complex Transportation Schemes In the single-channel vendor-buyer system studied, multiple products are shipped from a vendor to a buyer through a single channel. At the buyer, each product has a deterministic and constant demand; at the vendor, each product is supplied at the same rate as its demand. In the previous literature, it has been shown that system cost savings can be obtained through coordinating the vendor and buyer in such a single-channel system. Our research contributes to the literature by taking into account the industrial trend of outsourcing transportation to 3 party logistics companies and by considering four complex transportation schemes. For each transportation scheme, we develop a vendor-buyer coordination model and investigate the optimal solution properties.


Proceedings ArticleDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: A demonstration prototype involving distributed software agents and industrial equipment integration, which implements part of the developed model functionalities of the dynamic PPC model is presented.
Abstract: This work describes a model for distributed dynamic Production Planning and Control (PPC) agent based system, which includes interoperation with manufacturing automation. It is presented a demonstration prototype involving distributed software agents and industrial equipment integration, which implements part of the developed model functionalities. Clients can send orders, and resources may apply for those orders fulfilment. Resources with orders allocated to, start automatically the required manufacturing operations. The prototype was implemented integrating several tools, including LabVIEW and LEGO Mindstorms components. This is useful to validate the integration, proposed by the dynamic PPC model, between production planning processes and manufacturing execution operations.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: In this article, the main changes that have occurred in this industry and its ability to adapt to the availability of higher level of digital technologies and how they support new business models, extending their value adding chain.
Abstract: In production engineering radical changes are taking place supported in new manufacturing paradigms and in technological developments. The increasing demand for meeting customer requirements and technological innovations have influenced the degree of flexibility built in the manufacturing system and its ability to respond in terms of cost, volume and time delivery. Taking the example of Portuguese mould making industry, this paper will analysed the main changes that have occurred in this industry and its ability to adapt to the availability of higher level of digital technologies and how they support new business models, extending their value adding chain.


01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: A model for managing interfaces between technology development, product development and production is presented in this article, where the authors propose a framework for managing the interfaces between technologies and product development, respectively.
Abstract: A model for managing interfaces between technology development, product development and production

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2007
TL;DR: The Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University is to create the necessary preconditions for such offerings as service life of the entire press-die-system along with novel services for a condition-oriented press and die maintenance.
Abstract: Forming technologies and deep drawing in particular play a key role in Germany’s industry regarding quality, costs and time. The production system’s efficiency is thereby tremendously influenced both by timed and qualitative availability of press and die. A detectably higher availability resp. service life of the entire press-die-system along with novel services for a condition-oriented press and die maintenance represent a solution to the actual dilemma. Furthermore new service models to optimize the spare parts management as well as business models, e.g. pay-per-piece, are additional options. In a consortium of industry and university within the research project Smart Stamping, the Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) at RWTH Aachen University is to create the necessary preconditions for such offerings.