Application of fuzzy VIKOR for concept selection in an agile environment

Due to the increasing competition, modern manufacturing organisations are adopting agile manufacturing (AM) paradigm. AM enables the speedy production of customised, high-quality products in varying lot sizes. Concept selection in the context of AM is a typical multi-criterion decision making problem as it involves several agility criteria. The case organisation needs to select the best concept among five alternative designs. VIKOR (VlseKriterijumskaOptimizacija I KompromisnoResenje in Serbian, meaning multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution) has been used to select the best concept design. Based on the inputs gathered from decision makers, concept design (A3) has been found the best concept design from the perspective of agility. The result derived from Fuzzy VIKOR has been compared with fuzzy TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution) methodology. The selected concept design has been subjected to implementation in the case organisation.     

Thirty-criteria-based agility assessment: a case study in an Indian pump manufacturing organisation

The present market situation has become fragile, so in order to adopt and hence to sustain an organisation, it needs to evaluate itself, so as to identify its current strategic agile position. In today's trend agility exerted by manufacturing, organisation plays an important role. The present work has been conducted to assess the agility of the manufacturing organisation using a scoring approach. This paper presents a 30-criteria agility assessment model which could be utilised to measure agility and to identify the agile characteristics of organisation. Thus, weak factors were identified, and proposals are suggested so as to enhance the agility of the organisation.     

Measuring organisational agility before and after implementation of TADS

The ever increasing competition compels the modern organisations to react quickly in accordance with this kind of dynamic demands of the customers, which is referred to as agility, and currently researchers are addressing these capabilities under the field agile manufacturing. The success of achieving agility lies in designing agile-friendly products. In this direction, very little researches have been pursued. In order to fill this gap, a model called total agile design system (TADS) is proposed. The implementation study conducted to examine this model in a traditional manufacturing company is briefly appraised. A scoring model has been used for measuring agility before and after implementation of TADS. The implementation study revealed the improvement of agility by 10%. This improvement is appreciable in traditional manufacturing organisation where only the mass production-based practices are only currently practiced.     

Twenty criteria based agility assessment using fuzzy logic approach

This paper reports a research carried out to assess the agility level of an organisation using fuzzy logic approach. Agility refers to the quick response of an organisation against the customers’ dynamic unpredictable demands. During this research, an agility index measurement model containing 20 criteria incorporated with fuzzy logic approach was designed. Subsequently, the data gathered from a manufacturing organisation were substituted in this model and the agility index has been determined. Using this model, the method of determining the obstacles for achieving agility in the organisation was examined. It was found that the organisation is required to concentrate on the activities leading to overcome obstacles so as to achieve agility. This method of agility evaluation will help the organisation to accelerate the process of achieving agility.     

中小企业客户化产品制造敏捷性研究

在分析市场需求和中小制造企业现状的基础上，以客户化产品制造的敏捷性为目标，依据制造技术和制造模式的适用性原则，提出基于延迟生产理论的中小企业客户化敏捷制造实施模式；以虚拟企业思想和技术适用性原则为指导，提出基于企业合作的客户化产品敏捷制造策略；依据中小企业现有的信息技术环境及其在制造系统中的作用，提出了基于信息敏捷性的敏捷制造模式。     

Customer centric chips [semiconductor manufacturing]

The manufacturing of semiconductors has always been a difficult process, where long throughput times of up to three months and chaotic manufacturing processes have created an industry that struggles to react effectively to market changes. Intel has adopted its mirror approach, whereby all of its fabs are identical, allowing the company to move product from one facility to another. Constrained by less manufacturing capacity, AMD has taken another route and created an entirely new manufacturing model that emphasises speed, accuracy and agility to allow it to better respond to customer needs. In this paper, we introduce the 'automated precision manufacturing' (APM) concept. It allows the company to react to market needs, gives it a more rapid introduction of advanced technologies as well as achieving better quality and higher efficiencies.     

Partnership Synthesis for Virtual Enterprises

The virtual enterprise (VE) concept is one of the most important ways to raise the agility and competitiveness of a manufacturing enterprise. Under this concept a master company develops its products by using the manufacturing resources of external partners. Thus product design and partner selection or partner synthesis become two important issues. In this paper, we propose an integrated product design and partner synthesis process model, and develop an architecture of computer-aided product design and partner synthesis system for the VE (CAPDPS), in which product design and the partner synthesis module and the respective databases are implemented. Partner synthesis activity, in this paper, is divided into two phases: partner type synthesis and partner instance synthesis. In the partner type synthesis phase, group technology (GT) is applied for retrieving and selecting potential partners. In the partner instance synthesis phase, more factors other than the cost are identified, and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is employed to select the best partner from the potential ones. A specific automobile manufacturing group (including master company and its partner factories) and its typical product – automobile steering assembly – are used as a case to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach.     

Selection of dispatching rules in FMS: ANP model based on BOCR with choquet integral

Scheduling policy which depends on selection of dispatching rules is one of the reasons which affect FMS’ productivity. Selection of a dispatching rule can only be based on one or two criteria such as processing time, due date, or system components at traditional methods such as mathematical programming, simulation, and heuristic algorithms. However, traditional methods have some weakness; the first one is about selection criteria based on only one dispatching rule or a few combination of the rules, the second one is related with not considering most of the manufacturing system information, and the last one is to deal with selection decision is not a dynamic structure. In this study, an analytical network process (ANP) model has been developed in order to eradicate these weaknesses. The model based on multiple criteria decision-making process. In addition, most of manufacturing system information have been employed, and it consists of a dynamic decision-making process. The proposed model has a comprehensive structure which consists of a company’s manufacturing criteria and macro-strategies. Although interdependence is accepted among criteria in ANP, non-interaction is assumed among them (i.e., additive measure). Because of existence of interactivities among criteria, a choquet integral has been adapted in an ANP model.     

敏捷制造的盟员选择策略研究

提出一种实现敏捷制造的盟员选择策略。将成组技术应用于敏捷制造,建立了新颖的产品和制造资源模型。通过２种产品评价方法－－变异式评价方法和创成式评价方法,利用层次分析方法,实现多规则盟员选择,最终形成敏捷制造企业。     

基于Web的敏捷车削参数规划系统

使用现代信息技术来提升制造企业的影响力是敏捷制造研究的重要领域。实现了一个考虑分布式资源的、基于Web技术的敏捷车削参数规划原形系统，初步尝试了提高企业敏捷性的方法。该系统支持异地站点上的工程人员通过因特网使用标准浏览器来实现远程工艺参数规划和优化。     

基于成组技术的敏捷制造技术研究

提出了基于GT的敏捷制造技术的思想,分析了GT是实现先进制造技术的基础,实现敏捷制造必须具备生产系统的高度柔性和制造流程的可重组性,实现虚拟企业和分散制造必须以GT为基础。研究了我国制造企业基于GT的敏捷生产组织构建方法以及敏捷制造单元的成组与制造系统重构技术。     

基于RP工艺的直接铸型制造方法探讨

快速成形 (RP)发展的重心已转向快速制造 (RM)。RP技术与铸造工艺结合产生的快速铸造 (QC)是 RM的主要研究领域之一。本文介绍了基于 RP工艺的直接铸型制造的工艺方法 ,对其成形精度、效率、适用范围和主要特点进行了分析比较 ,指出直接铸型制造工艺是实现铸造过程的自动化、柔性化、敏捷化的重要途径。 PCM工艺具有独特的优越性 ,应用前景广阔     

Leanness evaluation using IF–THEN rules

Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing system aimed at waste elimination thereby streamlining the process. Leanness is the performance measure of lean manufacturing. The measurement of leanness necessitates fuzzy logic, due of the existence of impreciseness and vagueness. The calculation of leanness using fuzzy logic manually is a time consuming and highly repetitive job. To overcome this, fuzzy logic-based inference method has been attempted in this research study. A conceptual model consisting of three levels namely enabler, criterion, and attributes has been developed. Then the linguistic variables are assigned and the membership functions are defined. Leanness level has been computed using IF–THEN rules based interface method. This is followed by gap analysis to identify the weaker criteria. Then suitable proposals have been derived to overcome these obstacles towards leanness improvement of the organization.     

An integrated object-oriented approach for design and analysis of an agile manufacturing control system

The agile manufacturing paradigm has emerged as an important concept in the development of manufacturing systems. The control software, developed based on the object-oriented technology, leads to reusability, reconfigurability, and scalability; and the agility of a manufacturing control system can be achieved. In this research, an efficient and systematic methodology for developing an object-oriented agile manufacturing control system is proposed. The proposed development process is divided into four stages: functional analysis, static structural analysis, behavior analysis and verification, and system implementation. The Integration Definition for Function Modeling (IDEF0), Object-Oriented Petri Net (OPN), and Unified Modeling Language (UML) are integrated into the corresponding stages based on their characteristics. In order to develop the system rapidly and efficiently, the transformation rules between the IDEF0 and OPN, and between the OPN and sequence diagram are conducted. In addition, the attributes and operations for each object are also defined directly from the OPN model. The result of the integrated IDEF0/OPN/UML systematically leads to object-oriented control software design for manufacturing systems. Finally, an assembly and packaging system is given to illustrate how the integrated object-oriented approach is implemented for developing the manufacturing control system.     

The most cost efficient automotive vendor with price uncertainty: A new DEA approach

Vendor’s performance evaluation is an important subject which has strategic implications for managing an efficient company. However, there are many important criteria for prospering company. These criteria may contradict together. In other words, while a criterion is improved, the other may worsen. Indeed, similar to manufacturing manager in global market, purchasing manager who has significant practical implications deals with this issue. The vendor selection problem (VSP) is obviously affected by the complexity and uncertainty due to the lack of information associated with related business environment of countries in a global market. On the other hand, in the automotive industry which plays an important role in the worldwide market, these decisions will be exacerbated by increasing the outsourcing and opportunities. There are varieties of techniques, from simple weighted scoring methods to complex mathematical programming, for handling VSP.In this study, we propose a new cost efficiency data envelopment analysis (CE–DEA) approach with price uncertainty for finding the most cost efficient unit. Potential uses are then illustrated with an application to automotive industry involving 73 vendors in Turkey.     

面向云制造的网络研究

云制造为我国广大中小企业充分利用和共享社会制造资源,提升企业综合竞争能力提供了重要的支撑手段。然而Internet"端到端尽力服务"的原则和无语义、中心化的Web服务,限制了云制造资源与制造能力的共享和协作。为了解决这一问题,基于覆盖网络和语义Web,提出了一种新的网络体系结构——面向云制造的网络(Cloud ManufacturingOriented Network,CMON),以支持资源高利用率、高敏捷性、高可靠性、高安全性和高可用性的云制造服务环境,为进一步深入、系统地开展云制造的研究、开发、实施和应用奠定了基础。     

What is agility? [agile manufacturing]

Agile manufacturing sprang to prominence in the USA in 1992 when the Agile Manufacturing Forum was set up. The term is generally less commonly used in the UK, but there is great interest in a number of its constituent elements, such as mass customisation and virtual companies. The concept of agile manufacturing is trying to address new ways of running companies, which will enable them to compete in the future. It is based on an evolving vision of what companies will look like in 10 to 20 years' time, taking an all-encompassing view. This does not discount the value of some existing approaches, and thus the recipe for agility contains some elements of current approaches as well as new ones. The author identifies the elements of agility, and how they relate to the other buzzwords of our time     

面向业务流程重组的生产管理系统快速重构技术研究

应用 BPR理论分析企业业务流程 ,提出生产管理系统重构是提高制造敏捷性的关键 ,建立了企业活动单元信息模型 ,阐述了采用组件技术实现企业生产管理系统快速重构的原理和方法 ,为实现敏捷制造和企业管理系统自动化创造了条件     

模具制造中的并行工程研究

并行工程是保证模具交货期和质量的有效手段。本文通过分析模具制造的特点和我国模具制造企业存在的问题,从组织机构和技术手段两方面,对实施模具并行工程的可行性进行了论证,提出了模具制造并行工程的基本框架和实现模具并行工程的关键技术以及实现这些关键技术的手段和方法。这些方法已在注塑模和压铸模的设计制造中得到部分应用,取得了很好的效果。     

Additive manufacturing technology: the status,applications, and prospects

Additive manufacturing (AM) has first emerged in 1987 with the invention of stereolithography. The AM is an important, rapidly emerging, manufacturing technology that takes the information from a computer-aided design (CAD) and builds parts in a layer-by-layer style. As this technology offers many advantages such as manufacturing of complex geometries, reducing manufacturing cost and energy consumption, it has transformed manufacturing from the mass production to the mass customization. Also, it has found wide applications in several fields although some drawbacks. This paper presents the state of the art of the different AM processes, the material processing issues, and the post-processing operations. A comparison between AM and conventional processes is presented as well. We finish by presenting some prospects of this technology such as hybrid manufacturing and 4D printing.