Daniel P. Politze

Performance Factory in the context of mass customization

A novel performance measurement and assessment frame called Performance Factory (PerFact) applied on a specific example focussing on mass customization in the context of the Factory of the Future is presented in this work. PerFact operates target-oriented towards the mission and vision of the company by connecting the overall mission and vision via related requirements with the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and their specific reference values. The performance is measured on manufactured customer-driven products, corresponding production processes and used resources. Furthermore, PerFact is able to monitor and assess the performance of both real production systems and simulated production scenarios. Moreover, the measurement system is balanced; it assesses the performance of the factory considering all perspectives relevant for each specific case.

Exploitation method for functional product requirements - An integrated function oriented approach

The development of mechatronic products - in particular across the domain borders - is challenging. Possible interdisciplinary improvements are neglected and design inconsistencies are neither prevented nor identified efficiently. Moreover, the complexity of mechatronic products is growing continuously due to an ongoing impact of software on product functions. In addition, the quality of a product is often judged by the quality of its functions. Thus it becomes hard to track the functions of a specific product and how they are realized and the quality of the product functions cannot be assured. Daimler is facing this problem by extending the traditional requirement list with functional requirements in the early design stages. This Function Oriented Product Description (FOPD) is leading to a mature product specification, because it is able to grow and adapt while designing the current mechatronic product and the following product generations of one product family. This work presents a novel approach to gain a benefit directly from the FOPD for the succeeding design process. Therefore the authors provide directions for deriving the so-called Extended Function Structure (EFS) from a FOPD. The EFS is enhancing the traditional function structure by considering sensors, actors and the control logic explicitly. This approach will be exemplified in a case study.

Integrated Modeling of Functions and Requirements in Product Design and Factory Planning

A mature management of requirements is seen as a crucial activity within the development of high quality mechatronic products (Heumesser and Houdek 2003; Houdek 2003). Market demands and customer needs have to be captured (Akao 1992). In addition, the company strategy should be considered while designing new products. Moreover, further stakeholders are providing additional constraints, such as legal aspects and production limitations. A holistic approach is desired covering the requirements from every stakeholder spanning from high level strategic goals to low level elementary product functions.