Ahmed Bufardi

Research issues on product lifecycle management and information tracking using smart embedded systems

Abstract PROMISE will develop appropriate technology, including product lifecycle models, product embedded information devices with associated firmware and software components and tools for decision making based on data gathered through a product lifecycle. This is done to enable and exploit the seamless flow, tracing and updating of information about a product, after its delivery to the customer and up to its final destiny (deregistration, decommissioning) and back to the designer and producer. The breakthrough contribution of PROMISE, in the long term, is to allow information flow management to go beyond the customer, to close the product lifecycle information loops, and to enable the seamless e-transformation of product lifecycle information to knowledge. The PROMISE R&D implementation plan includes fundamental and applied research activities in the disciplines of information systems modelling, smart embedded systems, short and long distance wireless communication technologies, data management and modelling, design for X and adaptive production management for beginning of life (BOL), statistical methods for predictive maintenance for middle of life (MOL) and planning and management of product end of life (EOL). After a general description of the PROMISE project, we present an example of the issues to be addressed in it. It consists of defining a data structure for recording maintainability data during the maintenance operations in order to use them in design for maintainability.

Multicriteria decision-aid approach for product end-of-life alternative selection

The selection of the best compromise alternative for treating a product at its end of life (EOL) is presented. Each EOL alternative has its own consequences from an economical, environmental and social point of view. The criteria used to determine these consequences are often contradictory and not equally important. In the presence of multiple conflicting criteria, an optimal EOL alternative rarely exists. Hence, the decision-maker should seek the best compromise EOL alternative. The present paper proposes a multicriteria decision-aid (MCDA) approach to aid the decision-maker in selecting the best compromise EOL alternative on the basis of his/her preferences and the performances of EOL alternatives with respect to the relevant environmental, social and economic criteria. This approach is important because it allows the user to consider various conflicting criteria simultaneously and it takes into account his/her preferences. The paper analyses the most important aspects of this approach such as the constitution of a set of EOL alternatives, the selection of a list of relevant criteria to evaluate the EOL alternatives and the choice of an appropriate multicriteria decision-aid method. A case study is provided to illustrate how the proposed approach can be used for product EOL alternative selection in real-world applications.

Multiple criteria decision aid for selecting the best product end of life scenario

There exist several scenarios for treating an end of life (EOL) product and each scenario has different environmental, social and economic consequences. An EOL scenario can be better than another with respect to one criterion but worse with respect to another criterion. To compare EOL scenarios with respect to conflicting criteria, a multiple criteria decision aid (MCDA) method should be used. In this paper, we present the MCDA approach developed in the project AEOLOS (An End-of-Life of Product Systems) for supporting users in the selection of the best scenario for treating an EOL product on the basis of their preferences and the performances of the EOL scenarios with respect to relevant criteria.

A new concept of compatibility structure in new product development

Notwithstanding the existence of few publications addressing the compatibility issues in new product development, an axiomatic basis supporting this literature and driving new contributions to the subject is still lacking. In this paper, we propose a definition of a compatibility structure that lays down the foundations of an axiomatic basis for modelling compatibility in new product development. Regarding the number of conditions comprised in this definition, a minimal representation of compatibility structure is proposed to ease the use and manipulation of a compatibility structure. The definition of compatibility structure and its minimal representation are inspired by those of preference structure in preference modelling. The similarities and dissimilarities between preference structures and compatibility structures are emphasized. The construction and the characterization of a compatibility structure without incomparability using the proposed definition are provided. In this paper, we also propose a method to evaluate the crisp compatibility relations between two alternatives with respect to attributes/criteria. The compatibility relations are evaluated by investigating the impact that an alternative has on another, and vice-versa with respect to a single attribute/criterion. Future research related to the compatibility structure proposed in this paper is described.

Construction of a two-parameters fuzzy outranking relation from fuzzy evaluations

At the early stages of design process, several design concepts are proposed as potential solutions. The selection of the most appropriate one is based on their evaluation with respect to several conflicting criteria. In this paper, we consider the case where the evaluations of design concepts with respect to different criteria are represented by means of fuzzy numbers. We deal with the construction of a two parameters fuzzy outranking relation from fuzzy evaluations. It is based on the aggregation of outranking indices associated with alpha-cuts. This fuzzy outranking index allows the decision maker to adopt different strategies by choosing a degree of optimism and a degree of aggressiveness.

Construction of global fuzzy preference structures from two-parameter single-criterion fuzzy outranking relations

In this paper we deal with the construction of global fuzzy preference structures from two-parameter single-criterion fuzzy outranking relations proposed in [10] and which are based on the aggregation of outranking indices associated with @a-cuts. We consider two ways of constructing global fuzzy preference structures: (i) aggregate the two-parameter single-criterion fuzzy outranking relations and then construct the global fuzzy preference structures and (ii) construct global fuzzy preference structures and then aggregate the single-criterion fuzzy preference, indifference and incomparability relations. We also investigate the case where these two ways of proceeding lead to the same results.

FUZZY OUTRANKING METHODS: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

The main objective of this chapter is to account for the most recent developments related to fuzzy outranking methods with a particular focus on the fuzzy outranking method developed by the authors. The valued outranking methods PROMETHEE and ELECTRE III, which are the outranking methods the most used for application in real-life multi-criteria decision aid problems, are also presented. The description of the general outranking approach is provided.

Fuzzy Multicriteria Decision Aid Method for Conceptual Design

A general fuzzy multicriteria decision aid method for conceptual design is proposed. It is used for selecting the best compromise alternative, among a finite set of design concepts, considering environmental and economic performance. At the conceptual design phase most of the environmental impact is committed, whereas at that stage the design concepts are imprecisely defined and should be selected based on multiple, often conflicting criteria. Three vacuum cleaners, using different design principles for the dust storage, are analyzed. The best compromise design alternative is selected, considering trade offs between end-of-life profit and environmental criteria.

A competence-based industrial learning approach for factories of the future

Manufacturing industry can improve its competitiveness through innovation and technological excellence, and appropriate Industrial Learning can help to achieve this goal through allowing the manufacturing workforce to acquire new skills related to the advanced developments in information and communication technologies. This raises the need for new Industrial Learning tools and methods from the viewpoint of learning content, learning processes, and delivery mechanisms. In this paper, we present a generic competence-based approach for Industrial Learning developed in the framework of ActionPlanT project. The approach is composed of (i) an Industrial Learning model which serves to represent and understand competence-based learning, and (ii) a methodology which implements through a number of steps the Industrial Learning actions defined using the Industrial Learning model in industrial organisations. Both the model and the methodology are presented in details. A metrics-based method for evaluating the implementation of the learning actions defined using the approach is also described.

Compatibility measurement in collaborative conceptual design

A product consists of various sub-functions elaborated by alternative design principles which results in many combinations. In collaborative design, designers expect that their preferences over the combinations be respected during the combination process of sub-functions, resulting in compatible combinations. We formulate the selection of compatible combinations as a combinatorial problem by: (i) defining a design principle as a list of variables with their domain and direction of designers preferences, (ii) considering constraints among design principles, (iii) characterizing the compatibility level of combinations. A vacuum cleaner is considered with dust bag, plastic bin or cyclonic design principles for the dust collection sub-function.