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The
AMSTC research activities consist of:-
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Manufacturing
Systems Engineering
Over the last thirty years there has been a rapid development
of manufacturing system configurations driven by both customer
demand and global competition. In general these configurations
can be viewed based on volume oriented and variety oriented manufacturing
systems. Volume orientated manufacturing systems are based on
a pre-defined product flow layout (e.g. dedicated transfer lines)
in which the automatic material transfer system connecting a number
of sequential workstations. However, the changes in demands towards
customised products in the last two decades has resulted in the
development of variety oriented manufacturing systems such as
flexible manufacturing systems.
The
research at AMSTC on manufacturing systems design originally focused
on design of flexible manufacturing facilities together with supporting
CIM structure. The more recent research aims to adopt the innovative
and organic structures proposed by contemporary paradigms such
as holonic manufacturing, bionic cells and fractal factories and
agent-based technology for the design of the next generation of
manufacturing systems in which a conglomerate of distributed and
autonomous units operate as a set of co-operating entities. The
current projects are based on a number of applications ranging
from the human centre systems within SMEs (see figure) to more
automated agile systems for the automotive industry. |
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CAD/CAM
and CNC Technologies
The
current standard to program NC machines has seen no significant
change since the early 1950's when the first NC (numerical contorl)
machine was developed at M.I.T. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology),
USA. Today's NC machines continues to use the same standard for
programming namely G & M codes based on the ISO 6983 standard.
Since the 1970’s significant developments have been made
towards more automatic and reliable computer numerically controlled
machines with new processes such as punching & nibbling, laser
cutting, and water jet cutting which are now commonplace. The
advent of the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) brought a massive
improvement in the capabilities of these machines. Currently CNC
machines provide the ability of multi-axis, multi-tool, and multi-processes
manufacture. These capabilities have made the programming task
more and more difficult and off-lines software tools for CAD/CAM
a necessity for efficient code generation. Though these developments
have revolutionised CNC processes and capabilities, the programming
language has basically stayed the same with G/M code programming
which later became the ISO 6983 standard.
The
research at the AMSTC has focused on the developments in part
programming systems from computer aided programming to feature
based CAD/CAM and Inspection together with production data analysis.
Today under the IMS project named STEP-NC in Europe and Asia,
and Super Model in the USA, industrialists and academics are collaborating
to deliver a new data model for CNC machines entitled the ISO
14649 standard. The AMSTC is undertaking research to incorporate
this standard within design to CNC manufacture, highlighting the
need for transformation in culture in NC code generation, and
the various methods and levels of functionality for its incorporation
in CAD/CAM systems; CNC controls and its use by manufacturing
users. |
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Information
Modelling and System Integration
Effective
information exchange is the key to integrated manufacturing. Integration
of the manufacturing functions is one of the best ways to achieve
higher productivity, reduce the design, planning, manufacturing
and delivery time, and to improve the overall performance of a
factory. Information systems are playing an important role towards
the integration of the manufacturing functions. Information/data
models are constructed to understand the requirements, specification
and the functionality of such information systems. Several tools
and modelling methodologies have been developed to facilitate
the design and generation of information models for complex manufacturing
environments. The information generated during the specification,
design and manufacturing of a product is used for many purposes.
The use may involve many computer systems, including some that
may be located in different organisation or even on remote sites.
Thus the need for standards to have information models in a computer-interpretable
form. In recent years, the activity of STEP (Standard for the
Exchange of Product data model) initiatives has been predominated
to develop such standards.
The
research at AMSTC originally focused on an integrated approach
to design and operation planning of flexible manufacturing systems,
and current projects are based on the adoption of STEP standards
for integration of CAD/CAM and CNC technology, simulation and
scheduling, and also the cell controller with tool/fixture management
systems.
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| Sustainable
Product Design and Manufacture The
concept of sustainable development was defined as “development
that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs” by the ‘World
Commission on Environment and Development’ in 1987. The
contemporary view of this concept is based on three pillars of
Social, Economical and Environmental issues. The environmental
issues of this sustainable development concept in manufacturing
applications have led to the definition of further concepts referred
to as ‘Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing’ which
are concerned with developing equipment, methods and procedures
for manufacturing activities from conceptual design to final disposal
such that environmental standards and requirements are satisfied.
One way of classifying environmental technologies related to minimisation
and elimination of pollution is to view these technologies as
those related to pollution prevention and pollution control. Pollution
prevention technologies are defined as fundamental operational
changes to a basic product or primary process in order to provide
better performance. Pollution control technologies are those used
to treat or dispose of pollutants or harmful by-products at the
end of a manufacturing process.
The
research at AMSTC aims to develop these concepts based on a life
cycle approach as part of an integrated and holistic framework.
A particular area of interest is the End-Of-Life management with
projects on recovery of a wide range of products from vehicles
and white goods to cutting tools and shoes.
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| Production
Planning and Control |
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Production
planning and control is problem of well-known complexity, and
among the various manufacturing activities has been the area with
the largest proportion of research and development projects. This
is due to the significant financial incentives for the manufacturing
companies to constantly improve their production planning and
control practises. In addition, the need to develop very complex,
detailed and highly tuned operational plans and production schedules
has further increased with the urgency for greater flexibility
to deal with highly individualistic customer desires for participation
in the design and production procedures within the ‘engineering-to-order’
sector, and the unpredictable pattern of demand in the ‘make-to-order’
sector.
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The major assertion made by
the research at AMSTC is that the efficient production planning
and control structure must:
i)
reduce the delays in processing the customer orders within pre
production activities,
ii) support distributed decision making to strengthen the role
of production operators,
iii) support frequent interactions with both the production
planners and operators via an easy to use graphical interface,
and
iv) incorporate a dynamic real time approach to enable extreme
agility in responding to customer pressure.
A
wide range of applications based on these requirements has been
researched and developed ranging from metalworking companies to
shoe manufacturers.
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| SME
Manufacturing Research Small
to medium enterprises (SMEs) represent the largest proportion
of the manufacturing sector, generating more than half of the
total production output, in every industrial country. The production
system of SMEs are typified by human centred manufacturing systems
where the flexibility introduced through utilisation of often
multi-skill operators plays a major role on the agile performance
and responsiveness of the company. The significant reduction in
costs of IT technology and software tools over recent years has
enabled the SME to use hardware and software systems, which were
previously only available to larger companies.
The
major assertions made in the AMSTC manufacturing research for
SMEs is that familiar information system hierarchy and range of
tools employed in larger companies are inappropriate for SMEs;
and if one looks to the future, the integration requirements of
SMEs are not best met by scaled-down versions of deterministic
CIM structures but require more appropriate IT support. The centre’s
R & D projects within a number different industrial sector
has shown that the quality and consistency of the manufacturing
performance of the SMEs can be improved as a consequence of the
use of the most appropriate IT tools, without a need for any major
changes in business practices, manufacturing operations or the
production facilities.
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