Set-Based Concurrent Engineering Model for Automotive Electronic/Software Systems Development

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityThis paper is presenting a proposal of a novel approach to automotive electronic/software systems development. It is based on the combination of Set-Based Concurrent Engineering, a Toyota approach to product development, with the standard V-Model of software development. Automotive industry currently faces the problem of growing complexity of electronic/software systems. This issue is especially visible at the level of integration of these systems which is difficult and error-prone. The presented conceptual proposal is to establish better processes that could handle the electronic/software systems design and development in a more integrated and consistent manner.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

A3 thinking approach to support knowledge-driven design

Problem solving is a crucial skill in product development. Any lack of effective decision making at an early design stage will affect productivity and increase costs and the lead time for the other stages of the product development life cycle. This could be improved by the use of a simple and informative approach which allows the designers and engineers to make decisions in product design by providing useful knowledge. This paper presents a novel A3 thinking approach to problem solving in product design, and provides a new A3 template which is structured from a combination of customised elements (e.g. the 8 Disciplines approach) and reflection practice. This approach was validated using a case study in the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) design issue for an automotive electrical sub-assembly product. The main advantage of the developed approach is to create and capture the useful knowledge in a simple manner. Moreover, the approach provides a reflection section allowing the designers to turn their experience of design problem solving into proper learning and to represent their understanding of the design solution. These will be systematically structured (e.g. as a design checklist) to be circulated and shared as a reference for future design projects. Thus, the recurrence of similar design problems will be prevented and will aid the designers in adopting the expected EMC test results

Identifying factors influencing the leadership performance of Saudi's healthcare sector

The purpose of this article is to identify the aspects that relate to performance level; including enablers and inhibitors that influence leadership performance in the healthcare sector of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A grounded research methodology and an action research approach that was ‘issue focused’ were used to gain the perceptions of the participants from the organisational culture as empirical data. The overall trends observed in the collected data emphasize the important role of culture in shaping performance level. In addition, the domination of factors related to the national culture and Islamic values has appeared the greatest factor affecting leaders' decisions; it also forms their relations with subordinates as well as their commitment to the organization. Viewed through this study, the effect of culture aspects on the performance level in this important sector can be understood and new and integrated solutions to overcome potential negative outcomes. Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may lack generalisability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further. The paper discusses the implications of the study findings for healthcare sector managers in different levels. This paper fulfils an identified need to study how culture can influence workforce practices in healthcare organizations and to what extent can that affect the quality of services delivered to the patients

Design and implementation of multi-configuration rolling machine

For decades, metal corrugated sheets have usually been manufactured using conventional roll-forming machines with lower and upper rollers or a die and a press as the main shaping elements. However, these machines and their related processes present economic disadvantages because of additional expenses required to improve and manage forming tools. To overcome these drawbacks, reconfigurable machines, such as dedicated and flexible manufacturing systems, were used as alternatives; they possess high flexibility for accomplishing forming processes. Reconfigurable machines are designed around a particular family of manufactured outcomes, allowing for high system flexibility. In light of the latest developments in reconfigurable machine design, this study proposes a new sheet metal forming roller called the discrete multi disk roller (MDR) as an alternative to the traditional roller design. Unlike existing processes, the MDR minimises production costs associated with material loss and effectively decreases forming errors. Furthermore, it utilises multi-disk as reconfigurable rollers. The technique and applicable procedure of the MDR are described, and wavy sheets with different dimensions and shapes are formed to verify the applicability of the reconfigurable roller, a critical component in the forming process. Thirteen parts with different configuration profiles were produced using the proposed MDR machine.Al-Khwarizmi Engineering Journa

Towards the ontology-based consolidation of production-centric standards

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the International Journal of Production Research [© Taylor & Francis], available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207543.2011.627885.Production-­centric international standards are intended to serve as an important route towards information sharing across manufacturing decision support systems. As a consequence of textual-­based definitions of concepts acknowledged within these standards, their inability to fully interoperate becomes an issue especially since a multitude of standards are required to cover the needs of extensive domains such as manufacturing industries. To help reinforce the current understanding to support the consolidation of production-­centric standards for improved information sharing, this article explores the specification of well-defined core concepts which can be used as a basis for capturing tailored semantic definitions. The potentials of two heavyweight ontological approaches, notably Common Logic (CL) and the Web Ontology Language (OWL) as candidates for the task, are also exposed. An important finding regarding these two methods is that while an OWL-­based approach shows capabilities towards applications which may require flexible hierarchies of concepts, a CL-­based method represents a favoured contender for scoped and facts-­driven manufacturing applications

Knowledge based environment to support product design validation

A knowledge-based environment to support product design validation of refresh projects (projects with minor changes in comparison with previous ones) has been developed. This was achieved by capturing the relation between the design change of refresh projects with their required physical tests and the historical data of previous projects. The refresh projects constitute the majority, around 60%, of the total number of projects in the collaborating company. The knowledge-based environment framework (Knowledge-Based Environment to Support Product Design Validation - KBE-ProVal) has been implemented on the Product Lifecycle Management Platform, called Teamcenter. The KBE-ProVal development was based on the standardisation of the existing related documents while maintaining the traceability of the decision making process. This implementation will avoid repeating unnecessary and costly physical product tests, thus reducing time and costs for these refresh project

An innovative cost modelling system to support lean product and process development

This paper presents a cost modelling system for lean product and process development to support proactive decision making and mistake elimination at the design stage. The foundations of the system are based upon three lean product and process development enablers, namely: Set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and mistake proofing (Poka-yoke). The development commenced with an industrial field study of eleven leading European industries from the aerospace, automotive, telecommunication, medical and domestic appliance sectors. Based on the requirements of industrial collaborators, the developed system comprises six modules: value identification, manufacturing process/machines selection, material selection, geometric features specification, geometric features and manufacturability assessment, and manufacturing time and cost estimation. The work involved the development of a feature-based cost estimation method for the resistance spot welding process. The developed system was finally validated using an industrial case study. The developed system has the capability to provide estimates related to product cost and associated values concurrently, facilitate decision making, eliminate mistakes during the design stage, and incorporate ‘customer voice’ during a critical decision making stage