Market turbulence forces assembly plants to constantly adjust their production volume of products, variants and quantities. At the same time, assembly plant managers must protect…
Abstract
Market turbulence forces assembly plants to constantly adjust their production volume of products, variants and quantities. At the same time, assembly plant managers must protect long‐term investments in the flexible assembly system. For reconfigurability and agility the best solution is the modular semi‐automatic approach by combining flexible automation and human skills. It gives managers possibility to adjust volume by adding new modules or to automate the manual tasks step by step. The control of material handling and information flow in the agile assembly system is important. To keep flexibility, the combination of an intelligent pallet, i.e. use of escort memory, carrying a single product together with other hardware providing paperless production even supports a lot size of one. The article shows how to create flexible capability and capacity in the final assembly systems.
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Market turbulence drives assembly plants to constantly adjust their production volume of products, variants and quantities. At the same time, the assembly plant managers must…
Abstract
Market turbulence drives assembly plants to constantly adjust their production volume of products, variants and quantities. At the same time, the assembly plant managers must protect the long‐term investments in the flexible assembly system. The best solution is the modular approach, which gives managers possibilities to adjust volume by adding new modules or to automate the manual system step by step. To keep flexibility, the combination of intelligent pallet, i.e. use of escort memory, and individual product together with other hardware providing paperless production supports even lot size one.
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H. Lehtinen, R. Soudunsaari and P. Voho
This article describes a study that has been made on the automation of deburring in a foundry. Circular castings weighing up to 20kg are deburred before delivery in order to make…
Abstract
This article describes a study that has been made on the automation of deburring in a foundry. Circular castings weighing up to 20kg are deburred before delivery in order to make them fit into machining cells. The maximum production rate of the cylindrical castings on the foundry line is one casting every ten seconds. However, the castings are produced in small batches, typically ranging from 100 to 1,000. After casting and integrated sand blasting and cooling chambers, the castings are transferred further on a conveyor belt. Deburring is today done manually by lifting and pressing against different grinding and deburring machines. Bins and forklifts are used in transport and storage of castings, from production line to deburring and shipment.
Ann-Louise Andersen, Jesper Kranker Larsen, Thomas Ditlev Brunoe, Kjeld Nielsen and Christopher Ketelsen
During design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems, manufacturing companies need to select and implement the right enablers of reconfigurability in accordance with the specific…
Abstract
Purpose
During design of reconfigurable manufacturing systems, manufacturing companies need to select and implement the right enablers of reconfigurability in accordance with the specific requirements being present in the manufacturing setting. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate enablers of reconfigurability in terms of their importance in industry, current level of implementation in industry, and significant differences in their implementation and criticality across different manufacturing settings.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire survey is conducted, in order to provide generalizable empirical evidence across various industries and manufacturing types.
Findings
The findings indicate that the level of implementation of the reconfigurability enablers is rudimentary, while their criticality is perceived higher than the current level of implementation. Moreover, significant differences regarding implementation and criticality of mobility, scalability, and convertibility were found for companies with varying degrees of manual work, make-to-stock production, and varying production volume, industry type and organization size.
Research limitations/implications
Main limitations of the research cover the relatively small sample size and non-random sampling method applied, primarily limited to one country, which could be increased to further extent the findings reported in this paper.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that the importance and implementation of reconfigurability enablers is contingent on the manufacturing setting. Thus, the research presented in this paper provides valuable knowledge in regard to aiding a paradigm shift in industry and help companies design manufacturing systems with the right reconfigurability enablers.
Originality/value
This paper expands research on manufacturing system design for changeability and reconfigurability, by explicitly considering these as capabilities that can be enabled in various ways for various purposes in different manufacturing contexts.
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J. Heilala, K. Keränen, J.‐T. Mäkinen, O. Väätäinen, K. Kautio, P. Voho and P. Karioja
The aim of the research was to evaluate the concept that utilizes structured planar substrates based on low temperature co‐fired ceramics (LTCC) as a precision platform for the…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the research was to evaluate the concept that utilizes structured planar substrates based on low temperature co‐fired ceramics (LTCC) as a precision platform for the passive alignment of a multimode fiber and wide‐stripe diode laser.
Design/methodology/approach
Presents the manufacturing process for realisation of 3D precision structures, heat dissipation structures and a cooling channel into the LTCC substrate. The developed methodology for 3D modelling and simulation of the system was used to optimize structures, materials and components in order to achieve optimal performance for the final product and still maintain reasonably low fabrication costs. The simulated optical coupling efficiency and alignment tolerances were verified by prototype realization and characterization.
Findings
The achieved passive alignment accuracy allows high coupling efficiency realisations of multimode fiber pigtailed laser modules and is suitable for mass production.
Research limitations/implications
Provides guidance in the design of LTCC precision platforms for passive alignment and presents a hybrid simulation method for photonics module concept analysis.
Practical implications
The three‐dimensional shape of the laminated and fired ceramic substrate provides the necessary alignment structures including holes, grooves and cavities for the laser to fiber coupling. Thick‐film printing and via punching can be incorporated in order to integrate electronic assemblies directly into the opto‐mechanical platform.
Originality/value
Introduces the LTCC 3D precision structures for photonics modules enabling passive alignment of multimode fiber pigtailed laser with high efficiency optical coupling. Demonstrates the hybrid simulation methodology for concept analysis.
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Giulio Rosati, Maurizio Faccio, Andrea Carli and Aldo Rossi
Flexible automated assembly is an emerging need in several industries. The purpose of this paper is to address the introduction of an innovative concept in flexible assembly: the…
Abstract
Purpose
Flexible automated assembly is an emerging need in several industries. The purpose of this paper is to address the introduction of an innovative concept in flexible assembly: the fully flexible assembly system (F‐FAS).
Design/methodology/approach
After an analysis of the state of the art, the authors describe the proposed F‐FAS, from a layout, constitutional elements, functioning principles and working cycle point of view. Second, the authors compare the traditional FAS and the manual assembly system versus the proposed F‐FAS according to their throughput and unit production costs, deriving a convenience map as a function of the number of components used in assembly and of the efficiency of the F‐FAS. Finally, using a prototype work cell developed at the Robotics Laboratory of University of Padua, the authors validate the F‐FAS concept.
Findings
Results of the research indicate that the concept of full‐flexibility can be exploited to bring automation to a domain where traditional FAS are not competitive versus manual assembly. In fact, the F‐FAS outperforms both traditional FAS and manual assembly, in terms of unit direct production costs, when the size of the batch is small, the number of components used in assembly is large and the efficiency of the F‐FAS is reasonably high. The F‐FAS prototype demonstrated the possibility of working, for certain conditions (models/components/production mix), in the F‐FAS convenience area, highlighting the achievable cost reduction versus traditional assembly systems.
Originality/value
The novelty of the study lies in the F‐FAS concept, its performances in terms of flexibility, compactness, throughput and unit direct production costs. A prototype work cell validated the concept and demonstrated its viability versus traditional assembly systems, thanks to convenience analysis.
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For such a small country Finland has a strong programme of R&D in assembly processes. In this article, projects to assemble water taps and wire harnesses are described.
Åsa Fasth‐Berglund and Johan Stahre
The paper aims to discuss the importance of considering both the physical and cognitive automation when aiming for a flexible or reconfigurable assembly system. This is done in…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to discuss the importance of considering both the physical and cognitive automation when aiming for a flexible or reconfigurable assembly system. This is done in order to handle the increased demand for mass customized production and to maintain or improve the social sustainability within the company.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodologies used in this paper are a theoretical review about task allocation and levels of automation and a methodology called DYNAMO++ for the industrial case studies.
Findings
The paper provides both theoretical and empirical insights about the importance of considering both the cognitive and physical automation when aiming for a reconfigurable assembly system.
Research limitations/implications
The paper will only discuss the cognitive strategy from a social sustainability perspective and not from an economical or environmental angle.
Practical implications
The paper presents data from three industrial case studies, mostly in the automotive industry. The result points towards a need for a more structured and quantitative method when choosing automation solutions, furthermore an increased use of cognitive automation solution.
Social implications
The results from the case studies show that when the complexity and variety of products increases, a cognitive support for the operators is needed. This strengthens the theory of a need for a cognitive automation strategy within companies.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates an advance in the state of the art in task allocation. The concept model and the DYNAMO++ method can be seen as a step closer towards quantitative measures of task allocation (i.e. changes in both physical and cognitive LoA) and dynamic changes over time.
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The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a design approach based on the investigation of the sensitivity of assembly systems to volume fluctuations as part of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a design approach based on the investigation of the sensitivity of assembly systems to volume fluctuations as part of the selection process of alternative design solutions for scalable assembly systems on the basis of a real industrial case study.
Design/methodology/approach
A conceptual approach for the (re‐)design of a scalable assembly system is developed on the basis of an industrial case research using axiomatic design (AD) for the top level structuring of the framework incorporating useful methods and insights obtained from a thorough literature review and from previous research work.
Findings
The findings of this research are limited due to the focused nature of a case study based research. However, the obtained results encourage assuming its transferability to similar problems.
Originality/value
Significant research has been done in the design of assembly systems for high product variety, but the review of literature in this field still identifies many opportunities for future research. This paper responds to the clearly identified research need of a methodological guidance regarding the design of scalable assembly systems and offers a practically proven help to improve the efficiency of the design process and the quality of the design results.