Paolo Pedrazzoli

Virtual Factory Framework: Key Enabler For Future Manufacturing

The global market with increasing competition calls for new strategies that strengthen the future manufacturing systems. This paper presents the underlying models and ideas enabling a new conceptual framework for the next generation of Virtual Factory implementations. The approach fosters four pillars: a standard extensible data model; decoupled functional modules, based on an object oriented Virtual Factory paradigm; an event driven paradigm at the core of abstract objects management; the integration of knowledge at different layers for the decoupled functional modules. The implementation of a Virtual Factory based on the presented framework, points to the usefulness when developing future manufacturing systems.

VFF: Virtual Factory Framework

The current complex market highlights the need of software tools supporting product engineering and manufacturing during the various stages of product and factory lifecycles. These are designed focusing on specific tasks, thus missing to satisfy the requirements of networked collaboration and concurrent engineering for the design and management of products, processes and production systems. A major challenge consists in the integration and harmonisation of the knowledge related to the factory of industrial companies by using a variety of multidisciplinary software tools. The topic is addressed by software providers and the scientific community, as demonstrated by the European project “Virtual Factory Framework” (VFF) that aims at developing an integrated framework to implement the next generation virtual factory. This paper describes the motivations behind the VFF concepts, together with the goals and the first results. Finally, it is presented how the Virtual Factory will be permanently synchronised with the Real Factory to validate its expected time and cost savings during the factory lifecycle phases.

Integrated computer aided design for assembly systems

Assembly being the last step of the production cycle of a product, it is normally submitted to the constraints of the precedent step. Techniques like Design for Assembly have been developed to try to take into consideration the peculiarities of the assembly process and reduce costs. The paper present the research and development of an integrated computer aided design for assembly system. The project main aim is to obtain methodologies and tools to design and manage a complete flexible assembly system but in this paper we will describe a CAAP (Computer Aided Assembly Planning) for the determination of gripping features, gripper and finger configuration, assembly sequence, simulation of the assembly system for the design of management rules, three dimensional simulation of robots (serial and parallel) for the design of each single assembly and control cell. The results of the project is tested in a specifically designed and implemented system for the assembly of electro-mechanical components.

Virtual factory manager

The current challenges in manufacturing engineering are the integration of the product/process/factory worlds (data and tools) and the synchronization of their lifecycles. Major ICT players already offer all-comprehensive Product Lifecycle Management suites supporting most of the processes. However, they do not offer all the required functionalities and they lack of interoperability. An answer will be given by the development of a Virtual Factory Framework (VFF): an integrated virtual environment that supports factory processes along all the phases of its lifecycle. This paper will focus on the Virtual Factory Manager (VFM) that acts as a server supporting the I/O communications within the framework for the software tools needing to access its data repository. The VFM will ensure data consistency and avoid data loss or corruption while different modules access/modify partial areas of the data repository at different times. Finally, an industrial case study will show the potentiality of the VFM.

Methodological Approach and Reconfiguration Tool for Assembly Systems

Assembly lines design is intended to solve many problems related to assembly operations. The introduction of a new product should often entail the salvage of existing assembly lines. This work proposes a methodology for assembly line reconfiguration, to rationalize and support the redesign process of assembly systems. This research formalizes a representation model and a method for assembly line reconfiguration. The model describes the main characteristics and significant features of the assembly process. The study is concerned with three fundamental models, the first describes assembly line structures. The second illustrates component assembly features and the third produces all the assembly sequences. The assembly line reconfiguration method provides an analysis and estimation tool on the reconfiguration process complexity. The method proposed is also meant to be a tool to identify the operational flexibility limit. The method results point out the way to implement assembly system reconfiguration and gives detailed information about the assembly line. Each assembly line, facing a new product to be assembled, is processed with the reconfiguration method and receives operative results for reconfiguration process and quality indicators.

Integration of business processes in Web-based collaborative product development

Collaborative product development is a growing trend as companies seek worldwide opportunities to extend their market as well as small- and medium-sized engineering enterprises concentrate on their core competences. Internet and Web technology facilitates the information sharing and exchange among widely distributed collaboration partners, but the integration of business processes with the support of Web-based applications is the final goal because business processes represent the knowledge of how to reach the collaboration goals. The research results presented in this paper concern business process integration developed as part of the Europe – China project called DRAGON, which aims to develop an Engineering Portal to support collaborative product development. The reference business processes are extracted from the questionnaires completed by specially selected collaboration companies from Europe and China. The constraints, the needed functionalities of the engineering portal, of the whole collaborative product development process are analysed with IDEF0. The emphases in business process integration are put on the application of concurrent engineering principle and workflow management technology. Information integration is ensured by sharing a STEP-based product model and mapping STEP model to XML data. The solution for the coordination problem of a product development team is based on workflow management technology.

Interactive 3D virtual environments for industrial operation training and maintenance

Interactive 3D virtual environments provide an enabling circumstances for innovation and evolution in education system, training, maintenance and repair operations of industrial plants. In fact, technique like complete 3D simulation of products processes and manufacturing facilities promotes a new approach to technical documentation and assistance, where the user can be easily guided even through the most complex and critical operations. This work introduces the main characteristics of the Virtual Environments in contexts of education-centred and training-centred. Also, it presents the work done in relation to the design and implementation of a SW platform integrating the very latest in 3D modeling, 3D animation and simulation, and human-machine interface technologies. The platform finds a vast number of applications: industrial system design, assembling, operation, training and maintenance. The study also reveals how virtualization of the maintenance environment allows off-site collaborators to monitor and assist with repairs.

A rule based approach to the gripper selection issue for the assembly process

This paper reports a rule based approach to the gripper selection problem in assembly cells. We deal with grippers morphology, fingertip and actuation. The goal of the project is to develop a set of rules, based on the formalization of the gripper-selection experts know-how and reasoning methods. Once the rules are achieved, we point out which parameters, concerning the part handled and process needed, are to be known to correctly choose a gripper.

Modeling and Simulation Tool for Sustainable MC Supply Chain Design and Assessment

Supply chain design, management and assessment are key success drivers in nowadays globalised economy. With the advent of new paradigms such as sustainability and mass customization, a new generation of tools is required. This work presents a supply chain simulation tool that allows to take into account the specificity of mass customized markets, efficiently dealing with the adjustable product physical structure and the complexity of handling customized Lot Size One orders. Moreover, this tool is integrated with a sustainable Assessment Engine that allows to configure, since the product design phase, the entire supply chain in a lifecycle perspective. In order to ensure a wide applicability of the tool, this is developed using a client-server architecture and exploiting a Shared Data Model that facilitates the integration of many applications coming from different providers thus giving a powerful decision support tool to companies’ decision makers.

Factory Layout Planner

The Manufuture strategic research agenda identifies two fronts of intense and growing competitive pressure for European manufacturing: in the high-tech sector, we face other developed countries and, on the other hand, in more traditional sectors, low-wage countries pose a serious threat. One of the response envisioned and strongly promoted is the development of ground-breaking Information and Communication Technologies meant to support new approaches to industrial engineering. Clearly drawing inspiration from this vision, the tool presented in this paper, the Factory Layout Planning, aims to be such kind of technology, enabling the multi-site, multi-level distributed design of factory layout and performance simulation. This paper gives an overview on the main features, in terms of concrete software characteristics of this tool, that can be considered one of the cornerstones for the Next Generation Factory.