Guixiu Qiao

Flexible manufacturing systems for mass customisation manufacturing

This paper presents innovative approaches in realising and exercising mass customisation in theoretical and practical applications. Strategies of generalised production line platform and modularisation are explored to support dynamic reconfigurations of mass customisation. NISTs XML-based Shop Data information integration specification is utilised to derive a data driven reconfigurable mass customisation modelling methodology. A simulation model of a Boeing aircraft major component assembly line is created and driven by a batch control file, which is generated from the XML-based Shop Data specification.

Simulation system modeling for mass customization manufacturing

Emerging rapidly as a new paradigm of the 21st century, mass customization manufacturing (MCM) systems possess some special characteristics that make the modeling of such systems extremely difficult. These characteristics include concurrency, synchronization, and cooperation among subsystems. Moreover, MCM emphasizes shortened product life-cycles, which means production lines have to be changed or reconfigured frequently. Highly flexible and re-configurable factories must be designed, simulated, and analyzed. To support the development and analysis of these systems, new approaches to modeling and simulation must be developed. In this paper, a methodology for representing manufacturing systems using a valid, colored Petri net is presented. This method for modeling and simulating is flexible enough to support the dynamic nature of the operation of MCM systems. It is able to represent solutions to problems such as dynamic rescheduling, shop reconfiguration, part rework processing, and mechanisms for recovery from machine failure. MCM systems must often support product design modifications at late stages of production, and must respond and adjust to these changes quickly, without postponing delivery time.

Manufacturing Information Integration in Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

The research on manufacturing information integration in PLM calls for a new fundamental information technology to enable adaptive information representation and exchange between manufacturing applications. Four major problems are studied, including interchangeable common data representation, management of information access, information reuse, and disturbance reflection of information change. An information model for manufacturing simulation is built. Problem about the abstraction of real models to virtual models is also discussed. A neutral model of shop information, developed by NIST based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), is detailed in this paper with illustrations from industrial applications.Copyright

Modeling information for manufacturing-oriented supply-chain simulations

This paper discusses a new approach that facilitates the use of simulation in supply chain applications, especially for manufacturing-related activities. A neutral information representation methodology, which is based on the extensible markup language (XML), referred to as the manufacturing information model for simulation (MIMS), is being developed at NIST to address the needs of information integration and exchange along supply chain applications. This information model can be applied to create a data-driven simulation that supports supply chain optimization. An example of a manufacturing-oriented supply-chain simulation is also discussed.