Robin G. Qiu

Using RFID tags for tracking patients, charts and medical equipment within an integrated health delivery network

Tracking patients, charts and equipment in hospitals and across integrated health delivery networks is mostly done manually on white boards or manual entry within health information systems. Some health delivery networks have adopted systems using a combination of infrared and radio frequency (RF) technology to help manage the tracking process. This paper proposes an approach that can improve the operational efficiency of a health delivery network by automating this process through the use of RF identification (RFID) tags. RFID tags are low power communication devices that can be embedded in a patients ID bracelet, inside a patient chart and medical equipment, and can help track their location and status.

Manufacturing grid: a next generation manufacturing model

We envision that manufacturing would be operated in a more integrated and collaborative fashion in the future. A manufacturing grid would be created for low-cost and high productivity productions through controlled resource sharing across enterprises just like a computational grid. All participants (i.e., factories) in the manufacturing grid would provide designated production services for making different products. This paper introduces such an innovative concept. A formal model defining how a manufacturing grid would operate in the future is proposed. A simplified application is prototyped.

A structured adaptive supervisory control methodology for modeling the control of a discrete event manufacturing system

Two basic measures, model complexity and model construction efficiency, are usually used to evaluate the implementability of a methodology for modeling the control of a discrete event manufacturing system (DEMS) on the shop floor. Many well-recognized methods are used to represent and analyze the dynamics of DEMs, but not many relevant applications have been found in developing control software for the shop floor due to their shortcomings in satisfying these two measures. The paper explores a methodology for modeling the control of a DEMS, which leads to ease of control software development, rather than a new representational/analytical tool, by significantly reducing the model complexity (in terms of the number of required control states) and improving the model construction efficiency. First, an extended finite machine, called a deterministic finite capacity machine (DFCM) with parallel computing capability is developed. Based on DFCMs, the complexity growth function of a DEMS control model is linear in the number of synthesized control components. Then, an automaton structure of a DFCM control model, called structured adaptive supervisory control (SASC), is developed. By referring to supervisory control theory, an SASC model is created with three function layers: acceptance, adaptive supervision, and execution. The well-defined structure ensures that the control model can be constructed systematically.

Message-based Part State Graphs (MPSG): A formal model for shop-floor control implementation

This paper presents a formal model of the execution portion of shop-floor controllers that operate in a distributed control environment. This model, called a message-based part state graph (MPSG), represents the execution module of shop-floor controller as a communicating finite state machine. Individual controllers in a distributed environment communicate using the defined protocol to oversee floor operations. The aim has been to use this formal model as a basis for developing the control software. Known methods for generating lexical analysers based on the underlying deterministic finite automaton model are used to generate the execution portion of shop-floor controllers. The implementation of the MPSG model in a hierarchical shop-floor control system is described.

Mighty MESs; state-of-the-art and future manufacturing execution systems

This article intends to answer what manufacturing execution systems (MES) are and describe their relationship with other information systems. It summarizes the features of those significant MESs being used today and discusses their limitations and where they should evolve in order to accommodate customer needs for faster real-time response, the expanded functionality, and increased complexity, as well as computing technologies and research areas that support such evolution. The main message is that it is essential for a semiconductor manufacturer to invest into advanced MESs to keep them competitive in the severely intensified global marketplace. As an MES is deployed on the shop floor in a manufacturing enterprise, the manufacturing process becomes information driven, contributing to both overall productivity and the financial viability of the manufacturing enterprise. Lastly, recognizing that MES deployments are not restricted to the semiconductor industry, the advancements could be applied with little or no refinement to other automated manufacturing environments.

Extended structured adaptive supervisory control model of shop floor controls for an e-Manufacturing system

The high cost and long development cycle of shop floor control systems and the lack of true system integration capabilities are identified as one of the most challenging obstacles in deploying e-Manufacturing systems. Overcoming these obstacles is essential for manufacturers to execute a make-to-order business model in order to stay competitive and remain profitable in the future. We propose a formal method to generate the desired control trajectories and provide true integration mechanisms for shop floor control systems. Using the proposed architecture can result in the development of an e-Manufacturing system capable of achieving a substantial reduction of both the high cost and long development cycle currently required to engineer shop floor control systems. By taking advantage of both the linear growth of the complexity function in a structured adaptive supervisory control model and the information-centric characteristics of a virtual production line in a manufacturing execution system, a formal model, which we call an extended structured adaptive supervisory control, for a discrete manufacturing system is introduced. A shop floor control system based on the extended structured adaptive supervisory control model is built for an industrial testbed system. The shop floor control system is fully tested and evaluated.

Integrated design approach for virtual production line-based reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) have been recognized as a new manufacturing paradigm. In light of their enhanced flexibility and responsiveness, RMSs are considered to be mostly applicable to the very dynamic and unpredictable marketplaces of the near future. However, systematic approaches to the design and ramp-up of an RMS have not been well addressed. This paper presents a virtual production line-based (VPL) approach to the design and operation of a reconfigurable manufacturing system. Shop floor attributed finite-capacity automaton and VPL attributed finite-capacity automaton are proposed for modelling the control of an RMS, which leads to ease of control software development. Algorithms for balancing VPLs to maximize the productivity of an RMS are discussed. The results of simulation runs of the proposed methodology and algorithms applied to simplified back-end semiconductor manufacturing are provided.

The effect of standardization and customization on service satisfaction

Standardization versus customization in service design is a topic of considerable discussion and debate. While it is recognized that service providers need to standardize or customize their services, it is unclear how such efforts may affect customer satisfaction. We hypothesize that standardization and customization may contribute to service satisfaction in a nonlinear fashion, and simultaneous efforts of standardizing and customizing service may not produce synergy in affecting customer perceptions of service. Empirical data collected from a sample of automobile after sale service customers offer considerable support for these hypotheses.

E-MAINTENANCE IN SUPPORT OF E-AUTOMATED MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS

ABSTRACT Eliminating costly unscheduled shutdown maintenances and accordingly reducing the failures of production systems as a whole help deliver the promises on ordered products. In the exploration of more efficient maintenance and service strategies, the approaches of condition-based proactive maintenance, collaborative maintenance, remote maintenance and service support, provision for real-time information access, and integration of production with maintenance have evolved into a new phenomenon called e-maintenance to meet the needs of the future e-automation manufacturing world. This paper introduces the emerging field of e-maintenance by studying its critical elements in support of the deployment of next generation manufacturing systems; we focus on industrial wireless technology and artificial intelligence, which are two essential technological means in the realization of scalable and agile e-maintenance. The technical issues and challenges involved for applying these technologies in an e-maintenance platform are explained. Finally, a framework for practical implementations is briefly presented.

Design and implementation of virtual production lines for discrete automated manufacturing systems

Abstract A manufacturing execution system (MES) functions as the representative of an enterprise resource planner on the shop floor. The MES integration with a shop-floor control system while guaranteeing the manufacturing system with necessary flexibility and responsiveness is in a great demand. The concept of virtual production lines (VPL) is presented for providing such a solution. When this concept is implemented in the MES and shop-floor control system, both the software and hardware of an integrated manufacturing system can be modularized based on VPLs. It is modularization that makes the manufacturing system easily/quickly accommodate the change of a product mix.