Production engineering

About: Production engineering is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2657 publications have been published within this topic receiving 37409 citations.

An exploration of simultaneous engineering for manufacturing enterprises

Abstract: With the increasing application of high technology in manufacturing enterprises, the traditional serial or sequential production approach has begun to be replaced by a parallel or simultaneous production approach. The functional balance of organisations of current manufacturing enterprises is decline. The organisation within manufacturing enterprises needs to be restructured and the functions need to be adjusted. Many production functions within an enterprise can be integrated by following the production information. This is the premise of this exploration of simultaneous engineering in manufacturing enterprises. A functional model of an enterprise is described in this paper. Some possibilities of functional integration within an enterprise are discussed. Finally, some related research activities are outlined to stimulate an open discussion on the point of view.

Advances in Networked Enterprises: Virtual Organizations, Balanced Automation, and Systems Integration

Abstract: New market trends and the emergence of the so-called Internet-based `new economy' are leading companies to new forms of organization, mostly relying on privileged cooperation links. Nowadays, most manufacturing processes are not carried out by single enterprises. Rather, organizations feel the need to focus on their core competencies and join efforts with others, in order to fulfill the requirements of new products/services demanded by the global market. In a cooperative networked organization, every enterprise is just a node that adds some value to the process; namely, a step in the manufacturing/supply chain. Furthermore, manufacturing companies increasingly encompass what has typically been regarded as the domain of the service sector. They try to establish long-term relationships with their customers, in order to service their needs around a manufactured product. For these reasons, the area of virtual organizations and industrial virtual enterprises is attracting growing interest in terms of research and development, and implementation approaches for new business practices. The main emphasis of this book is on virtual enterprises and other networked organizations, with special focus on: supporting infrastructures and management of distributed business processes, intelligent multi-agent systems, knowledge management, human interfaces, and socio-economical aspects. Also included in the book are related topics on automation, both in manufacturing and transportation. Special attention is assigned to the fact that advances in information technology and new organizational paradigms will be used not only to induce new economic structures, but also to help a sustainable migration of existing systems towards the new economy. When electronic business initiatives attract such widespread attention, it is important to conciliate the `old' and `new' economies under a balanced perspective. Advances in Networked Enterprises is essential reading for researchers and engineering students in production engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, industrial sociology, and transportation, as well as for engineers and practitioners in manufacturing and transportation systems organization and planning.

Consideration of Legacy Structures Enabling a Double Helix Development of Production Systems and Products

Abstract: Based on an increasing need of life cycle perspectives in product and production development, there is a call for more effective working methods for the reconfiguration, rearrangement, retro-fit and reuse of current equipment, systems and processes within production systems. This chapter discusses the need and character of such methods based on current research and industrial practice in production system design and development. A concluded development process is illustrated by a double helix development cycle for the production system and the product. The traditional life cycle illustration of product and production system design is in this case altered to a double helix where the same design phases of requirement analysis, alternative synthesis and alternative analysis reoccur for each project phase of conceptual design, detailed design, validation and industrialization/running-in, but for each development cycle on an elaborated level.