John W. Priest

Teaching distributed multidisciplinary software development

To create a more realistic distributed collaborative environment, three Texas universities - Texas Christian University, the University of Texas at Arlington and Texas Tech University - developed an innovative method for teaching collaborative software development in distributed multidisciplinary environments.

Intelligent reasoning assistant for incorporating manufacturability issues into the design process

Abstract This paper describes an integrated Intelligent Reasoning Assistant (IRA) as an approach to incorporate manufacturability issues into the design process. By using a series of pre-established geometric features available from a CAD system and manufacturing knowledge captured from experienced design and manufacturing personnel, the proposed model is used to recommend feasible manufacturing process sequences and design changes that enhance design manufacturability early in the conceptual design stage. The used Design For Manufacturing (DFM) approach assumes that incorporating manufacturing issues into the design process is not a serial decision method, rather, it is a process with multiple parallel interactions from origination of a conceptual design to direct linkage with manufacturing parameters. Although the emphasis of this research has been focused on part designs which are metal machining intensive, it is believed that the described approach can be generalized to other manufacturing environments.

An empirical methodology for measuring producibility early in product development

Abstract This paper describes an empirical methodology for measuring design for manufacturing (i.e., producibility) early in the conceptual design stage and throughout product development. Early involvement is especially important when implementing new design techniques such as concurrent design and simultaneous engineering. This paper summarizes the results from several studies in the area of producibility measurement. Producibility measurement in product development is not a one-time analysis, but rather a continuous evaluation of parallel interactions between design, manufacturing, and quality considerations. The proposed methodologys primary value is that it integrates knowledge from traditionally-separate sources in order to provide timely feedback to a designer. The knowledge crosses all the boundaries relevant to production, from conceptual design to final production. By formally establishing design rules and producibility measurement criteria, the methodology provides objective producibility feed...

Assessment of a resource limited process for multidisciplinary projects

Collaborative multidisciplinary team based education is increasingly recognized as a necessary component in the preparation of technical students for the workplace. This article presents a quantified assessment of a limited-resource process for teaching software product development combining students in computer science, engineering, and business at multiple universities within existing curriculum. Results indicate that the approach is useful in a resource restricted setting, as well as a providing an evolutionary step to the development of full-scale curricular changes that aim to provide students the skills needed to function in an increasingly distributed, multidisciplinary product development environment.

A hybrid analysis and architectural design method for development of smart home components

Accurate requirements provide the foundation for successful product development. Determining accurate requirements is difficult in many cases and is especially problematic in new and rapidly evolving domains. Development of smart home technologies provides such a challenge due to their dynamic design environment consisting of emergent technology, with minimal existing systems to evaluate, few standards, and users with vague ideas of the benefits or the possibilities. The most troubling problem, however, is how to optimize user satisfaction considering the wide range of user types and preferences and the dynamic system environment created by constant introduction of new products. For early development in this user-focused environment, we propose a new approach based on the synthesis of well established techniques from software engineering, management theory, and hardware product development. We propose the fusion of the use case and house of quality analysis models, simulators, and prototypes, and information processing theory coordination techniques.

Optimal component-insertion sequenceplanning methodology for the semiautomatic assembly of printed circuit boards

One of the primary concerns in the manufacturing of printed circuit boards (PCBs) is the definition of optimum component-insertion sequences for manual and automated operations. The problem is dynamic and multiple feasible solutions can be found. The research work described in this paper has developed a component-insertion sequencing methodology and a ‘proof-of-concept’ expert system for printed circuit boards. This system solves the component-insertion sequencing problem for semi-automated work cells which utilize a light guiding system to identify for the operator where to assemble the next component. The innovation of the methodology is the application of Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems techniques to represent the human reasoning involved in semi-automated PCB assembly planning. Based on established assembly criteria, sequencing decision rules and data available from a CAD system, the methodology leads to optimum component-insertion sequences.

The use of semantic networks to support concurrent engineering in semiconductor product development

The design of semiconductor devices is an extremely complex and costly process. Numerous design and test iterations are typically necessary to finally complete a successful device. Competition in the industry has forced semiconductor manufacturers to reduce design cycle times and costs. One method now being used to accomplish these objectives is concurrent engineering. This paper will review how concurrent engineering is being integrated into semiconductor device development and how artificial intelligence-based models will support concurrent engineering implementation. Major changes are needed in design simulation, methods of knowledge sharing, and incorporating best practices. A semantic network is proposed that retains the knowledge of a product in a central repository as various engineers contribute to the products development. The knowledge contained in this central repository can be referenced for applicability by engineers during product design, development, and production.

Retrieving Assembly Part Design Using Case-Based Reasoning and Genetic Algorithms

Artificial intelligence (AI) approaches have been successfully applied to many fields. Among the numerous AI approaches, Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) is an approach that mainly focuses on the reuse of knowledge and experience. However, little work is done on applications of CBR to improve assembly part design. Similarity measures and the weight of different features are crucial in determining the accuracy of retrieving cases from the case base. To develop the weight of part features and retrieve a similar part design, the research proposes using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) to learn the optimum feature weight and employing nearest-neighbor technique to measure the similarity of assembly part design. Early experimental results indicate that the similar part design is effectively retrieved by these similarity measures.Copyright

Contingency theoretic methodology for agent-based, web-oriented manufacturing systems

The development of distributed, agent-based, web-oriented, N-tier Information Systems (IS) must be supported by a design methodology capable of responding to the convergence of shifts in business process design, organizational structure, computing, and telecommunications infrastructures. We introduce a contingency theoretic model for the use of open, ubiquitous software infrastructure in the design of flexible organizational IS. Our basic premise is that developers should change in the way they view the software design process from a view toward the solution of a problem to one of the dynamic creation of teams of software components. We postulate that developing effective, efficient, flexible, component-based distributed software requires reconceptualizing the current development model. The basic concepts of distributed software design are merged with the environment-causes-structure relationship from contingency theory; the task-uncertainty of organizational- information-processing relationships from information processing theory; and the concept of inter-process dependencies from coordination theory. Software processes are considered as employees, groups of processes as software teams, and distributed systems as software organizations. Design techniques already used in the design of flexible business processes and well researched in the domain of the organizational sciences are presented. Guidelines that can be utilized in the creation of component-based distributed software will be discussed.

Proprinter design for manufacturability

Abstract Design for assembly is a design trend in industry for developing products with few parts so that they can be manufactured easily on an automated assembly line. This concept is embodied in the IBM proprinter. This table top printer is a wire matrix type for the companys personal computer line. The printer does not have the usual array of screws, pulleys, belts and brackets. The parts simply snap together. This paper attempts to make recommendations for further improvements in the area of producibility of the printer.