基于能力验证的模具交货期可行性分析方法

针对模具企业在订单洽谈阶段难以确定交货期可行性这一实际问题,建立了基于能力验证方法的交货期可行性验证模型.首先在新模项目关键路径的关键工序中,构建了资源范畴这一能力验证对象,并给出了能力需求和已有负荷的计算方法,然后建立了关键负荷指数这一资源负荷评价指标.基于上述理论基础,构造了启发式算法,并通过算例说明了算法的实用性.最后,针对算法中涉及的接收概率具有不确定性的问题进行了敏感度分析.     

Concurrent process/inspection planning for a customized manufacturing system based on genetic algorithm

Producing products with multiple quality characteristics is always one of the concerns for an advanced manufacturing system. To assure product quality, finite manufacturing resources (i.e., process workstations and inspection stations) could be available and employed. The manufacturing resource allocation problem then occurs, therefore, process planning and inspection planning should be performed. Both of these are traditionally regarded as individual tasks and conducted separately. Actually, these two tasks are related. Greater performance of an advanced manufacturing system can be achieved if process planning and inspection planning can be performed concurrently to manage the limited manufacturing resources. Since the product variety in batch production or job-shop production will be increased for satisfying the changing requirements of various customers, the specified tolerance of each quality characteristic will vary from time to time. Except for finite manufacturing resource constraints, the manufacturing capability, inspection capability, and tolerance specified by customer requirement are also considered for a customized manufacturing system in this research. Then, the unit cost model is constructed to represent the overall performance of an advanced manufacturing system by considering both internal and external costs. Process planning and inspection planning can then be concurrently solved by practically reflecting the customer requirements. Since determining the optimal manufacturing resource allocation plan seems to be impractical as the problem size becomes quite large, in this research, genetic algorithm is successfully applied with the realistic unit cost embedded. The performance of genetic algorithm is measured in comparison with the enumeration method that generates the optimal solution. The result shows that a near-optimal manufacturing resource allocation plan can be determined efficiently for meeting the changing requirement of customers as the problem size becomes quite large.     

顾客需求向技术特征映射的产品设计规划求解

在利用质量功能配置进行产品规划决策时,根据顾客需求选取技术特征是实现产品规划中顾客域到技术特征域的转换,进而进行产品规划的关键。为了实现质量屋建立过程中顾客需求域到技术特征域的映射,建立了映射求解的整数规划模型,该模型以映射得到的技术特征集表现度最大为目标,考虑进行相应技术特征配置所需的资源约束和配置过程中顾客需求与技术特征的对应约束关系,确定出在映射决策中需重点考虑的技术特征项。最后,给出了实例。     

基于知识的制造业客户关系管理系统研究与实现

随着以客户为中心的竞争趋势的形成 ,客户关系管理系统的应用成为企业信息化建设的焦点。本文应用认知科学、数据仓库、智能决策分析等技术 ,并结合知识管理的先进思想 ,将知识转移和客户忠诚度智能分析等功能融入传统客户关系管理系统中 ,进而构建出适合制造业的基于知识的客户关系管理原型系统。     

Capacities-based supply chain network design considering demand uncertainty using two-stage stochastic programming

The design of a supply chain (SC) aims to minimize cost so the product can reach the customer at the cheapest cost with flexible demand. The demand of a product is variable with time and environment. Most of the researchers have considered investment cost, processing cost, and transportation cost as variable costs to minimize the cost while considering a constant demand. In actual practice, the demands are flexible. In this paper, a two-stage stochastic programming model has been proposed for a capacities-based network design of a supply chain for flexible demands while considering inventory carrying cost and missed opportunity cost in addition to the above-mentioned costs. It will enhance the logistic planning and seek the location network optimally. Furthermore, in the first stage, decision variables represent different nodes (facility locations of echelons) of the supply chain, with the assumption that they will be considered at the design stage before uncertain parameters are unveiled. On the other hand, decision variables related to the amount of products to be produced and stored in the nodes of the SC, the flows of materials among the entities of the network, and shortfalls and excess at the customer centers are considered as second-stage variables. The methodology has been illustrated by solving an example. It was found that the proposed model yields more feasible and advantageous results.     

基于AHP与IFS的单件生产模式下制造需求与资源匹配算法

针对复杂大型装备的单件生产模式产品规格繁多、结构复杂且个性化强、工艺变更频繁且难以标准化、工艺编制难度大、加工周期长、对资源能力依赖严重等特点,以及制造服务提供企业在订单阶段难以对客户需求与当前制造能力的匹配度进行正确、快速预判等问题,提出了基于零件特征的单件生产制造需求和制造资源能力模型。引入基于层次分析法与直觉模糊集的特征工序矩阵与设备资源能力矩阵匹配算法,计算零件需求和资源的匹配度,实现订单阶段的用户需求和制造资源的快速匹配,最后通过企业实例验证了该方法的有效性。研究结果有助于提高单件制造企业的订单评估质量,降低接单风险,增强企业的竞争力。     

An investigation into the implementation of computer integrated manufacturing in small and medium enterprises

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an increasingly important role in all aspects of competitiveness e.g. for both products and production techniques, but also management methods, the organisation of the firm and human resource training. Obtaining and, just as importantly, mastering scientific and technological information is therefore essential to competitiveness of all SMEs. During the last two decades, several factors have forced global manufacturers to make dramatic changes in their products, markets, and manufacturing strategies. One of the ways by which SMEs can achieve a competitive advantage in manufacturing is through the implementation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM). Realising the importance of SMEs, an attempt has been made in this paper to study the implementation of CIM in SMEs. First, the characteristics of CIM have been studied with reference to the application and infrastructure of SMEs. Secondly, a framework has been presented for the implementation of CIM in SMEs with the help of a conceptual model. Finally, future research directions on CIM in SMEs are indicated.     

Quick decision-making support for inspection allocation planning with rapidly changing customer requirements

Manufacturing products with multiple quality characteristics is always one of the main concerns for an advanced manufacturing system. To assure product quality, finite automatic inspection systems should be available and employed. Inspection planning to allocate inspection stations should then be performed to manage limited inspection resources. Since product variety in batch production or job shop production is increased to satisfy the changing requirements of various customers, the specified tolerance of each quality characteristic varies from time to time. Except for a finite inspection resource constraint, therefore, manufacturing capability, inspection capability, and tolerance specified by customer requirement are considered concurrently in this research. A unit cost model is constructed to represent the overall performance of an advanced manufacturing system. Both the internal and external costs of a multiple quality characteristic product are considered. The inspection allocation problem can then be solved to reflect customer requirements. Since determining the optimal inspection allocation plan seems to be impractical as the problem size gets larger, in this research, two decision criteria (i.e., sequence order of workstation and tolerance interval) are employed concurrently to develop a heuristic method. The performance of the heuristic method is measured in comparison with an enumeration method that generates the optimal solution. The result shows that a feasible inspection allocation plan to meet changing customer requirements can be determined efficiently.     

A constrained Nash bargaining approach to the stock rationing problem in multi-echelon supply chains

In order to survive in the global volatile market place, supply chain analysts are brainstorming to arrive at robust inventory control policies that prevents inventory worth of millions of dollars to get tied up in the chain and at the same time ensures to achieve the differentiated customer service levels. Inventory rationing is a useful strategy to tackle the above problem of conflicting objectives, i.e., minimizing inventory costs (holding costs and backorder costs) and achieving the desired customer service levels. In this paper, we consider a multi-echelon supply distribution system and pose the stock allocation problem in a constrained Nash bargaining (NB) setting. The objective of the model is to determine a set of rationing fractions at the central depot in order to minimize the order-up-to level inventory yet exactly achieving the differentiated target fill rates. It is our firm belief that the distribution resource planning (DRP) managers will find the proposed models a useful tool in their stock allocation decision-making process. Rigorous computational experiments suggests that our approach performs better than the existing ones for this important problem.     

A resource-oriented tolerance representation scheme for the planning of robotic machine tending operations in automated manufacturing systems

In this paper, we define a representation for tolerances associated with robotic machine tending operations. The intent of the representation and analysis presented in the paper is to assess whether a robotic material handler is capable of holding the accuracies required for loading and unloading a machine. This representation and analysis, therefore, provides the basis of a process planning system for robotic operations. This representation is critical for flexible and automated manufacturing because it enables automatic planning of unload and load operations from and to machining centers that are required for discrete part manufacturing. Planners can use this representation along with the specified tolerance criteria to conservatively assess if a given robot resource is capable of using a specific gripper to unload or load a given part from a given fixture on a machining center. For a new part, this assessment allows an automatic material handling operations planner to determine if reconfiguration or procurement of resources is required for the material handing of the new part or if simple reprogramming of the robot and machine resources is sufficient. Also, this representation helps providing flexibility to the manufacturing system control software in the case of the addition of a new machine to the manufacturing system. In this case, the new resource data would be input into the resource model, and the decision on the machine tending operations (loading or unloading) would be carried out in the same manner. This representation was tested successfully using an automatic operations planner at The Pennsylvania State University’s Factory for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) lab.     

Lighting the way [medical diode manufacturing]

Medical diode manufacturer Diomed has experienced significant growth since launching its first product in 1993. The company has been helped along the way by Infor:swan, a provider of ERP systems for manufacturing SMEs, which has helped to resolve Diomed's materials handling and enterprise resource planning (ERP) issues and also played a significant role in enabling Diomed to attain the coveted US Food and Drug Authority approval, essential for the company to market its product in the USA     

Method for control of the make-to-order manufacturing system on the base of earning power assessment

A key requirement for the make-to-order (MTO) manufacturing companies to remain competitive is the ability to assess incoming orders in terms of performance and to determine the best orders that they should accept. In this paper, we propose a method to control the entire production process, from customer enquiry up to product delivery, for the MTO manufacturing systems. In practice, decisions on order acceptance and on production planning are often made separately. Sales department is responsible for accepting orders, while the production department is in charge of production planning for implementation of accepted orders. The method proposed in this paper aims to facilitate the connection between the two departments by an integrated control based on the earning power evaluation. The main problems for a MTO manufacturing system manager, i.e. those related to order acceptance and machine control, are solved by the new control method. The solutions are highlighted by presenting the conceptual flowchart of the proposed method, followed by a case study, where three time and cost modeling techniques—namely analytical, neural, and k-NN regression techniques—are applied. The models of earning power at operation, job, and order level are further built and analyzed. The results show that the method could lead to a significant increase of the manufacturing system performance.     

Developing an agent-based APS and ERP collaboration framework

In order to respond rapidly to customer demand, SCM and ERP have been widely implemented in business. However, SCM was designed as a planning level tool to support business making related activities. For instance, the advanced planning system (APS) was aimed at developing a proper production schedule to support the potential orders. On the other hand, ERP was used in the execution level in an enterprise to integrate the order execution related business process. In order to integrate the two systems, there were several gaps exists such as the suitability of using the APS results in the ERP. In this research, an integrated APS and ERP framework will be proposed to support the collaboration among these systems. It applies the concept of Web service and agent collaboration to support the issues such as workflow integration and collaboration encountered during the integration period. There are three main stages in this framework. In the business analyze stage, the collaboration process among the APS and ERP will be analyzed and constructed by using eEPC (extended event process chain) modeling method. This result will be used in the next stage, the business design stage to design the agent-based collaboration system. A workflow oriented agent-based analyzed method, WARP (workflow automation through agent-based reflective processes) will be used to analyzed the collaboration business process and construct the related agents. Finally, in the implementation level, the related agents will be constructed by integrating i2 FP SCM modules and DataSystem Workflow ERP under the Web-based environment.     

机械工业科技人才管理决策支持系统功能分析与总体设计

以人才资源管理理论为基础,结合机械工业科技人才管理工作实际,运用Ｉ＾３ＤＳＳ理论框架对机械工业科技人才管理ＤＳＳ进行了功能分析和总体设计,从而为该领域的决策工作提供了有力的支持手段。     

基于QFD和DSM的复杂产品设计任务规划方法

目前,现有的DSM方法缺乏与上游产品级用户需求和技术特性的关联,设计任务规划没有融合用户需求,因而也就无法从根本上保证最终的设计方案能够最大限度的满足用户需求。为此提出了基于QFD和DSM的复杂产品设计任务规划方法,通过构建两个质量屋实现了用户需求向产品结构的映射,之后再利用DSM进行设计任务规划,从而使得规划结果充分体现用户需求,更加合理和有效。最后,以水电机组为应用对象,对所提方法的可行性和正确性进行了验证。     

基于顾客满意的企业资源配置决策优化模型

将质量功能展开的分析方法引入顾客满意度优化研究中,通过质量屋中矩阵图表的形式描述了顾客满意需求与企业资源配置要素之间的关联关系,并对此进行量化分析.通过定义资源配置要素配置率的概念,来解决顾客满意度和资源配置多因素间由于量纲不同导致组合优化困难的问题,建立了基于质量功能展开的顾客满意度优化决策模型.通过算例分析,说明了所建模型的有效性和合理性,解决了企业资源配置过程中实施顾客满意战略的多因素多目标的规划问题,实现了企业资源配置成本与顾客满意度的双赢目标.     

Where's the warehouse?

Businesses are queuing up to join the enterprise resource planning (ERP) bandwagon and adopt e-commerce and advanced forecasting methods in the clamour to reduce business efficiency operations. As the common thread running through these is the ability to move goods through the supply chain more effectively, it should follow that the warehouse is an integral part of the success of such endeavours. But all too often the warehouse management system (WMS) is seen as subservient to other business functions such as production planning, order processing or billing. This is not to say that the warehouse should dictate business strategy but it should be clear that increasing warehouse performance is key to such strategic aims as reducing stock in the supply chain, meeting shorter lead times and ultimately improving customer satisfaction levels. In other words, to make the most of your enterprise strategy you need to optimise your warehouse, and that means having the best WMS     

A Schema for Flexile Equipment Control in Manufacturing Systems

In this work a methodology is proposed for increasing the flexibility of the control software of Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMSs). This greater flexibility is required due to factors such as uncertain product demand, uneven distribution of shop load, and machine or cutting tool unavailability. In the proposed framework the following modules were developed: (a) an automated process planning module which generates non-linear process plans for a given part, considering the shop floor resource availability; the non-linear plans include both material handling and material processing information; (b) a planning module that linearises the process plan aiming at minimising the total manufacturing time of the parts; (c) a NC program generation module, which generates the NC program for the chosen CNC machine(s). In order to increase the flexibility of the control software even more, a resource model was devised and implemented, which provides the necessary resource information for the above modules. Each of these modules is described within this paper, and details about the part and process plan representation necessary for this implementation are also given. A case study is presented in order to show the capability of the methodology.     

QFD based optimal process quality planning

Process quality planning is an important activity of quality assurance. It aims to determine manufacturing processes with appropriate process capability to produce product characteristics. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a powerful tool for quality planning, which starts with identifying customer needs and ends with determining process plans. However, most studies on quality planning by QFD are limited to the product planning stage. The approach to process quality planning through QFD has rarely been discussed. This paper adopts the optimal QFD model and further develops it for process quality planning. By incorporating an empirical capability function for process elements, a composite process capability index (CCp) is presented to reflect the overall process quality level. Constraints including technical feasibility, correlations among process elements, project budget and development time are considered. A case study of the numerical control (NC) machining process quality for a thin-walled complex window frame of airship is given to illustrate how the proposed model can be effectively applied by process quality team to determine the optimal target level of process elements concerning with resources utilization .