Mads Bejlegaard

Conceptual Model for Developing Platform-Centric Production Architectures

Research into product architectures and product platforms has increased extensively the last decade to cope with challenges of increasing product variance. However, increasing demand for speed and cost-effectiveness motivates a more holistic and integrated approach to new product introductions which do not only consider product design. Thus, needs exist for extending the scope of architecture and platform development to cover production aspects and thereby improving the robust process design capability of mass customization. Although attention to production architectures and production platforms has increased lately, not much has been published within this research area. Furthermore, empirical observations show that current vocabulary and detail level of constructs, models and methods for developing production platforms are not sufficient for proper industrial application—they need to be put into context. With origin in software architecture research, this paper provides a conceptual model that sets the context of creating production platform architectures.

Investigating the Impact of Product Volume and Variety on Production Ramp-Up

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are attractive options for realizing the competitive strategy of mass customization, due to their ability to quickly introduce new products and rapidly change functionality and capacity. However, achieving such efficient reconfigurations requires continuous reduction of production ramp-up. This is a rather challenging task, as ramp-up periods generally are characterized by many unforeseen events and problems that create high uncertainty and difficulties in realizing planned performance. Therefore, the aim of this research is to empirically investigate ramp-up challenges in two case companies, a large enterprise producing high-volume standard electronic products and an SME producing low-volume customized excavators. Through this multiple-case study, significant differences in ramp-up challenges are identified and related to product volume, product variety, and company type. The findings provide a valuable addition to current research, which is mainly related to ramp-up in high-volume industrial settings.

Production Platform Development Through the Four Loops of Concern

Managing product variety is still an issue in the industry and one that gets a lot of attention. Among several ways to address this issue is the development of platforms. Platforms, for instance, coupled with the use of reconfigurable manufacturing systems, can potentially enable manufacturers to deal with a more dynamic market, an increase in variation and decrease in product lifecycle. The development of these platforms and systems is often difficult to begin and even more so to finish. This paper presents a method for developing and codeveloping product and production system platforms, using concepts from the field of software architecture development. Development and implementation of the method were carried out through case studies in two Danish companies. The method is an iterative approach consisting of four loops with four steps each. It facilitates the utilisation of concepts and tools from software architecture development during the platform development process.

Machine-Part Formation Enabling Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems Configuration Design: Line Balancing Problem for Low Volume and High Variety

Group Technology plays an important role in mass customization, coping with the difficulties in multi-product, small-lot-sized production, due to the importance of product and part-family formation. There have been many applications of Group Technology organizing manufacturing facilities, and many approaches have been created, but none of these has been found to be universally suited to all types of companies. Hence, many companies use instead their own systems for their particular applications. Based on an existing manufacturing environment, this paper contributes to the process of machine-part-family formation by identifying machine-part formations and process similarities. Additionally, configuration of a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System based on one particular part-family identified is carried out with the purpose of assessing the line balancing problem of high variety.

Product-Process Modelling as an Enabler of Manufacturing Changeability

Today’s competitive environment demands increased product variety, more rapid product introductions and increasingly efficient operations in manufacturing. Changeable manufacturing, encompassing reconfigurability and flexibility, provides a mechanisms for addressing these new demands, however there is a significant gap between the concept of changeable manufacturing, and what is actually enabled through operational methods. This paper analyzes how integrated modelling of products and processes can be applied when designing, managing, and operating changeable manufacturing systems. This is structured using generic changeability classes and generic changeability enablers. It is concluded that integrated product-process modelling has a potential to support changeability, especially within the classes reconfigurability, flexibility and transformability. However a theory-practice gap still exists, calling for more research on specific methods and feasibility of such approach.

Evaluating the investment feasibility and industrial implementation of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing concepts

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a decisions support tool that can be applied in initial stages of design, for evaluating the investment feasibility of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing design concepts, based on future demand predictions and their uncertainties. A quantitative model is proposed, which evaluates the discounted value of capital and operating costs of changeable manufacturing design concepts, based on essential characteristics regarding their type and extent of changeability. Design/methodology/approach Quantitative empirical modeling is applied, where model conceptualization, validation, and implementation are central elements, using two Danish manufacturing companies as cases. Findings The applicability of the model is demonstrated in the two case companies, highlighting differences in type, extent, and level of feasible changeability, as a result of differences in product and production characteristics. Research limitations/implications Further studies of changeability implementation should be conducted across industrial fields in order to generalize findings. Practical implications There is currently limited support for the conceptual design phase of changeable and reconfigurable manufacturing, where critical decisions regarding type, extent, and level of changeability must be made, regardless of high degrees of uncertainty about future demand scenarios. Originality/value This paper expands previous research on design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering changeability as a capability that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different industrial contexts. The proposed model and the case implementations provide important knowledge on the transition toward changeability in industry.

The Introduction Process of Low-Volume Products: Challenges and Potentials of Information Management

The product introduction process plays an important role in development of new products and launching them to the market on-time with a high quality. The product introduction process has been studied primarily in high-volume manufacturing industries and therefore, the influences of the characteristics of low-volume manufacturing industries on the product introduction process has not been investigated. The aim of this paper is to study challenges and potentials of information management during the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries by a multiple-case study in two Scandinavian low-volume manufacturing companies. The paper contributes in covering the knowledge gap about the information management during the product introduction process in low-volume manufacturing industries.

Prediction of Process Time for Early Production Planning Purposes

The production ramp-up process is critical to stay competitive and to capture market share but there are some common problems encountered during ramp-up. Among others one problem is related to the maturity of the production processes, including unforeseen bottlenecks. This paper contributes to the production planning part of the ramp-up process by showing how to predict the process time for new parts that is to be introduced in an existing manufacturing environment. A statistical model based on historical product-data is applied and the potential advantages of the model are outlined.