Julien Le Duigou

Survey on mechatronic engineering: A focus on design methods and product models

According to the principles of concurrent engineering and integrated design, engineers intend to develop a mechatronic system with a high level integration (functional and physical integrations) based on a well-organised design method. As a result, two main categories of issues have been pointed out: the process-based problems and the design data-related problems. Several approaches to overcome these issues have been put forward. To solve process-based problems, a dynamic perspective is generally used to present how collaboration can be improved during the mechatronic design. For design data-related problems, solutions generally come from product models and how to structure and store the data thanks to the functionality of data and documents management of Product Lifecycle Management systems. To be able to assess design methods and product models, some criteria are proposed in the paper and used to evaluate their added value on integrated design of mechatronic system. After this assessment, main outcomes which focus on the combination of design method and product model for improving the design of mechatronic system are finally discussed.

Generic PLM system for SMEs: application to an equipment manufacturer

For several years, digital engineering has increasingly taken a more important place in the strategic issues of mechanical engineering companies. Our proposition is an approach that enables technical data to be managed and used throughout the product life-cycle. This approach aims to provide assistance for costing, development and industrialization of the product, and for the capitalization, the reuse and the extension of fundamental knowledge. This approach has been experimented within several companies. This paper presents the case in a company environment that designs and produces families of ship equipment parts.

Multidisciplinary interface model for design of mechatronic systems

We propose a new data model for design and integration of mechatronic systems.We develop this new model for improving design methodology.We present the integration of multidisciplinary interfaces in mechatronic systems.We detail the model implementation to illustrate the methodology application. The design of mechatronic systems is based on the integration of several disciplines, such as mechanical, electrical and software engineering. How to achieve an integrated multidisciplinary design during the development process of mechatronic systems has attracted the attention of both academia and industry. However, solutions which can fully solve this problem have not been proposed by now. The concept of multidisciplinary interface represents the logical or physical relationship integrating the components of the mechatronic system or the components with their environment. As the design of mechatronic systems is a multidisciplinary work, the multidisciplinary interface model can be considered as one of the most effective supports to aid designers for achieving the integrated multidisciplinary design during the development process. The paper presents a multidisciplinary interface model for design of mechatronic systems in order to enable the multidisciplinary integration among design team members from different disciplines. On the one hand, the proposed model ensures the consistency of interface defined by the designers. On the other hand, it helps the designers to guarantee the different components integrate correctly. The interface model including three concepts: classification, data model and compatibility rules. The multidisciplinary interface model is implemented by a case study based on a 3D measurement system.

Manufacturing knowledge management based on STEP-NC standard: a Closed-Loop Manufacturing approach

The paper presents a proposal to ensure Closed-Loop Manufacturing from CNC machines to CAM systems. The main goal is to manage knowledge from the CNC machine and to reuse it in the CAM system. This proposal aims to help CAM programmers for programming new machining sequences by choosing the best CNC machines parameters. The main contribution of this paper focuses on how to provide guidelines extracted from past CNC programs to the CAM programme for future cases. Although STEP-NC standard enhances bidirectional exchanges in the digital chain, from CAD systems to CNC machines, it does not allow the management of manufacturing knowledge. To achieve the information feedback from CNC machine to CAM system, Closed-Loop Manufacturing approach sets up a manufacturing loop using PLM systems supported by OntoSTEP-NC – an ontology based on STEP-NC. Centred on the Manufacturing Process Management platform Closed-Loop Manufacturing is a three-step process: (1) capitalisation of cutting parameters, the manufacturing features and the material to fill the Manufacturing Process Management database, (2) validation of last machining sequences and (3) manufacturing feature recognition to have the most relevant information integration from the Manufacturing Process Management in the CAM programming stage.

Differentiation and customer decoupling points: An integrated design approach for mass customization:

Mass customization draws a twofold benefit: cost reduction, inherited from mass production techniques, and good response to customer requirements, inherited from customization. Two main decisions, relevant to design and manufacturing, are required for the proper implementation of mass customization. First, product features should be split between standard and customizable ones. This will position the product differentiation points. Second, processes should be split between make-to-stock and make-to-order. This will position the customer-order decoupling point. Most often, these two decisions are made separately. In this article, the authors advocate that both decisions should be made simultaneously. They propose an integrated method for design for mass customization. It is based on simultaneously evaluating the impact of these two criteria on enterprise and customer value through the modeling and simulation of value networks. A real case study on Alpina footwear industries is simulated and analyzed. The computational results highlight the joint impact of the two decisions on the overall performance. These two levers should then be considered, simultaneously, when designing the mass customization strategy.

Towards a knowledge based framework for numerical design of experiment optimization and management

ABSTRACTNumerical Design of Experiment (DoE) is a powerful tool for product development, used to improve product quality and robustness. However, the simulation process can be highly extended by the DoE process. While methods have been developed to shorten the execution of numerical DoE, the time needed to set up the numerical DoE process is longer and longer. This paper presents a description of the objectives and first results of the SDM4DOE project (Simulation Data Management for Design of Experiment). This project aims to define a set of tools and methods to improve the simulation process involving DoE: data management, data robustness improvement and process shortening. A knowledge-based approach is proposed to solve this main issue, based on a specific knowledge representation.

Sustainable machining approach for CAD/CAM/CNC systems based on a dynamic environmental assessment

Sustainability assessment is becoming an unquestionable issue for manufacturing companies that are urged by governments and customers to provide environment-friendly products. Machining, as one of the major manufacturing operations, has high potential factors regarding the environmental impacts of production system. Nevertheless, environmental assessments are mainly done post-product design and post-machining processes design. Integrating environmental assessment in the machining processes design could lead to significant improvements in sustainable manufacturing field. Major difficulties to perform such an assessment are the availability of the machining data and the lack of calculation rules to express them in terms of environmental impacts. This article presents a new approach based on the STandard for the Exchange of Product model data—compliant Numerical Control to integrate the machining environmental assessment in the earlier design phases. It proposes to establish cognitive links between the machining data included in STandard for the Exchange of Product model data—compliant Numerical Control and environmental indicators. The approach is implemented on a demonstrator and validated by a use case.

An integrated closed-loop product lifecycle management approach for reverse logistics design

Abstract Nowadays, reverse logistics is gaining importance for many companies in different industries. This importance is rooted in the fact that it generates profit and decreases the environmental impacts of products. Even though the decrease of environmental impacts is an indispensable requisite, reverse logistics design is only driven by cost indicators. The main reason behind this high cost is access to environmental information is difficult and is directly linked to data all along the lifecycle of the product. This paper presents a method by which reverse logistics design integrates environmental impacts based on the management of closed-loop product lifecycle. This method is divided into two processes: from beginning of life to end of life and from end of life to beginning of life. The first process integrates product data in order to calculate environmental impacts of the potential reverse logistics networks, whereas the second process selects the most appropriate reverse logistics network before optimising the product based on this particular network. The proposition is illustrated by a case study on a recycled aluminium automotive part.

Meta-Model of PLM for Design of Systems of Systems

Mechatronic System Design involves close examination and further development of design methods, design processes, models and tools. The current trend in mechatronics involves networked mechatronic systems, or cyber physical systems (CPS), which can also be considered as a sub-part of Systems of Systems (SoS). Therefore data models for the description of the product lifecycle of SoS are necessary on the base of existing meta-models for single (mechatronic) systems. The paper shows a meta-model of PLM for the design of SoS and discusses the influence of the IT-architecture in supporting the PLM interoperability.

Enterprise Information Systems’ Interoperability: Focus on PLM Challenges

Nowadays, in industry, the interoperability of Information Systems throughout the product’s life cycle is primordial for a successful Product Lifecycle Management approach. However, there are still scientific and technological locks that prevent the integration of information between enterprise Information Systems. Especially, the lack of interoperability between Product Data Management systems, Manufacturing Process Management and Enterprise Resource Planning to be able to ensure a continuous and bidirectional information flow from the design to the manufacturing and the assembling of a product. This paper presents firstly a literature review of research works developed to define and solve the problems of interoperability in general terms. Then, it exposes most of the recent works on interoperability on the product development linking the different Product Lifecycle Management tools. Finally we proposed an approach to guarantee the interoperability of Product Data Management, Manufacturing Process Management and Enterprise Resource Planning systems.