Negotiation mechanisms for capacity allocation in distributed enterprises

The paper proposes an agent based approach for the capacity allocation in distributed enterprises, characterized by complex and articulated organizations and by geographically distributed production capacities contended by many product families. In such a scenario the process of allocating the production capacity to the single customer order is one the major bottlenecks of the production planning activity as far as many organizational decisional levels are involved and market turbulence implies a continuous retuning of the capacity allocation plan. A high grade of reactiveness is needed. Agent based approaches and negotiation models, by decentralizing the decisional control and simplifying the decision itself, make the capacity allocation process enough reactive. Although, when the actors involved in the negotiation have different decisional powers and different knowledge, the problem of decentralization and specifically the design of the negotiation mechanism become very complex. This paper proposes two negotiation models for the capacity allocation process in distributed enterprises. The models, rationalised by using the standard IDEF3 representation, have been tested in the industrial environment of a primary semiconductor company.     

Decision Making and Institutional Design for Product Lifecycle Management

This paper proposes a new approach to decision making and institutional design for product lifecycle management based on social systems engineering. Product lifecycle problems are limited not only by technological issues, but also by economic and social issues. We construct an agent-based model of decision making systems consisting of human subjects such as producers, consumers, dismantlers and used-unit dealers. The focal point of this study is the analysis of which economic agents should collect used units and how product durability affects the formation of a recycling society. This paper also presents discussion of institutional design by comparing experimental results with current institutions using real-world data for several types of products.     

Optimum design of forging dies using fuzzy logic in conjunction with the backward deformation method

A novel shape optimization method is presented for the design of preform die shapes in multistage forging processes using a combination of the backward deformation method and a fuzzy decision making algorithm. In the backward deformation method, the final component shape is taken as the starting point, and the die is moved in the reverse direction with boundary nodes being released as the die is raised. The optimum die shape is thereby determined by taking the optimum reverse path. A fuzzy decision making approach is developed to specify new boundary conditions for each backward time increment based on geometrical features and the plastic deformation of the workpiece. In order to demonstrate this approach, a design analysis for an axisymmetric disk forging is presented in this paper.     

防止会计信息失真 提高会计信息质量

指出会计信息是决策者进行决策的重要依据之一,因此,会计信息的质量,直接关系到决策者的决策及其后续效果.而会计信息失真,将引起投资决策失误和社会经济资源的无效配置.笔者分析了产生会计信息失真的原因及其影响,提出了一些提高会计信息质量的防范措施.     

Decision-based process design for shortening the lead time for mold design and production

We propose “Decision-based process design” for reducing the process time of the design and production of molds. This method reviews the human processes of making decisions for setting unknown parameters, and reduces their process time by actively reducing the operations with such decisions. We applied decision-based process design to the design and production of injection molding cellular phone shells, together with 3D-CAD and high speed machining. The application reduced the number of decision operations to 77, 13% of the total number of operations, and drastically decreased the process time by 86% down to 50 hours.     

Cyber physical systems for predictive production systems

As disruptive technologies like Industry 4.0 and Internet of Things advance at a breakneck speed, modern manufacturing is ready to embrace the systematic deployment of predictive production systems. The predictive production system is an intelligent manufacturing system where networked assets are equipped with self-awareness to predict, root cause, and reconfigure faulty events automatically. Cyber physical systems are one of the core enabling technologies within which information from all the related perspectives are analyzed and interconnected between physical factory floor and the cyber computational space. It intertwines with smart analytics to comprehend invisible issues for rapid decision making. In this paper, a systematic approach is proposed on how cyber physical systems can be applied to predictive production systems to inject resilience and interoperability so that the productivity of manufacturing can be optimized.     

Integrated capacity planning over highly volatile horizons

Today production planning has to deal with highly dynamic markets and increasing uncertainties. Moreover, it has to take into account possibilities of the surrounding production network. By combining a queueing theory model with a stochastic, dynamic optimization approach, a method to support decision making in production planning was developed. Hereby, a Markovian Decision Process is solved to find cost minimal policies as reactions to volatile market demands for minimizing costs due to capacity adaptations, changes in process steps, and locations. The method was applied at an automotive supplier to find suitable system configurations and investment decisions for an uncertain future.     

Global production networks: Design and operation

Industrial companies are nowadays acting in global production networks (GPNs). A comprehensive scientific overview of those networks is still missing. To close this gap, a framework for designing and operating GPNs is introduced. It structures influencing factors, challenges, enablers and outlines the need for decision support systems. The state of the art in designing and operating GPNs is reviewed. Three trends are identified that help to transform historical grown networks into changeable GPNs with a focused network footprint. In conclusion, a need for future research in forming the production strategy, designing the network footprint and managing the network is given.     

An energy factor based systematic approach to energy-saving product design

In order to reach to an energy-saving product design, this paper presents a mathematic energy model to calculate the total energy consumption within entire product lifecycle. Energy factor is the essential coefficient of this model to represent the energy consumption throughout the entire product lifecycle, including raw material extraction, manufacturing, assembly, use, disassembly, and recycling. With an aim to create a systematic approach to energy-saving product design, the authors integrate the axiomatic design and modularity design theories with energy factor, and the energy factor is eventually optimized together with other major design factors in a multiple objective decision making model.     

Workplace analysis and design using virtual reality techniques

Workplace layout affects worker wellbeing and is linked to productivity, physical fatigue and production costs. So far, workplace optimization is based on observational methods and software simulations which may not be insightful, while full size prototypes signify high costs and implementation time. This work proposes a method to analyse and enhance industrial workplaces using immersive virtual reality. The system allows the tracking of multiple users virtually performing assembly tasks inside a CAVE system and the visualization of KPIs (e.g. completion time, traveled distance, ergonomics) for supporting decision making by production engineers. A case study is used to demonstrate the approach.     

Life cycle management of production facilities using semantic web technologies

High added value along the life cycle stages design, installation, operation, adaptation and disposal of production facilities is achieved by services. Activities like commissioning, maintenance, reuse or training are knowledge intensive and require efficient ways of managing relevant knowledge. Distributed semantic web knowledge bases enable companies or networks to make knowledge explicitly available to all involved agents at the right place and on the right time. This paper presents a semantic web based approach for the life cycle management of production facilities, and verifies it on a reuse planning case study of an automotive body-in-white facility.     

Skeletal tool of mineral processing expert system

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基于仿真的模糊调度集成决策方法

在自动化的复杂生产环境中，决策问题是生产调度中最重要的最困难的问题之一，本文用层次分析法（AHP方法），对复杂的生产调度问题进行分解，分析，并利用仿真技术对不同的调度规则组合的调度进行仿真，最后利用模糊理论进行模糊集成决策。     

基于集对分析的绿色设计材料选择多属性决策研究

为解决绿色设计中材料选择的不确定多属性决策问题,提出一种基于集对分析的多属性决策模型。该模型应用联系数来描述材料选择方案之间的确定性与不确定性关系,分别在相对确定与不确定条件下,利用相对贴近度对方案进行综合排序,利用联系数的差异度对排序结果进行稳定性分析,并给出保持结果稳定的差异度系数取值区间的计算方法。并通过一个实例,应用该模型综合考虑材料的物理属性、经济属性和环境属性进行决策。分析结果表明,该模型是求解绿色设计材料选择不确定多属性决策问题的一种有效方法。     

Study of an assembly tolerance allocation model based on Monte Carlo simulation

The traditional design methods of assembly tolerance allocation are usually based on engineers' experience, or the worst on worst tolerance analysis (WOW) method, or the root sum square tolerance analysis (RSS) method. However, the above-mentioned methods, whilst used frequently in the analysis of a single-dimensional chain, are not suitable for the analysis of geometrical tolerance and multi-dimensional chains. Also, the relationship between tolerance and manufacturing cost is not considered and a suitable tolerance allocation based on minimum manufacturing cost can not be obtained. Some research works have applied linear or non-linear programming methods to optimize the tolerance allocation of each part in an assembly. However, the convergence of the solution is not ensured. The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated approach, including tolerance design, manufacturing cost analysis and multiple chains consideration, using the Monte Carlo method to optimize the tolerance allocation with minimum cost. The Monte Carlo method, a statistical simulation method, was used to simulate the dimension variance of each part and each dimensional chain. The contribution percentage of each part on each dimensional chain was calculated. Tolerance cost was chosen as an object function and the tolerance allocation model as a constraint condition, the optimum tolerances of each part being obtained by the iteration method. Results of computer simulation for several examples were compared with published data for demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed method. It can be concluded that the tolerance-allocation model combined with a tolerance-cost relationship can provide a very practical and useful approach for design engineers.     

机械设计专家系统中机构类型方案的评价与决策方法

评价与决策是机械设计专家系统的重要组成部分,评价准则和决策模型是评价与决策过程中的两个核心问题.本文提出以层次分析法为核心,并在对该方法进行改进的基础上来解决机械设计中机构类型方案选择的问题.最后以某自动武器方案设计中机构类型的选择为例说明了方法的应用.     

Simulation studies of process flow with in-line part inspection in machining cells

The paper highlights the issues of process flow planning within a machining cell with a coordinate measuring machine (CMM) integrated into it. The use of such equipment in FMS structures involves definite implications to decision making on proper allocation and sequencing inspection operations with regard to the incurred costs of quality assurance and the requirements of efficient system operation. An integrated simulation based approach to the study of interactions between part inspection heuristics and scheduling policies was adopted, using a real case of a robot served cell and data from industrial practice. The selection of inspection plans has been found to have a significant impact on the assessed cell performance measures. The investigation shows that job sequencing strategies heavily relied on the inspection plan to be introduced in the cell. Results of the work indicate the practical usability of developed simulation modelling and analysis scheme for the selection of process alternatives in discrete part manufacturing. The investigated, alternative process flow strategies can be directly implemented to real time shop floor control using currently available software and standardised interfaces, accordingly with the CIM-OSA concept.     

A novel approach for real-time prediction and prevention of tool chipping in intermittent turning machining

An integrated tool condition monitoring system, based on a novel signal processing approach, for online prediction and prevention of tool chipping in intermittent turning is presented. It identifies the unstable crack propagation features of the prefailure phase, independent of the cutting parameters and workpiece material. A correlation between the chipping size and these features was developed for decision making, to protect machined surfaces. Experimental validation results confirmed the accuracy of the proposed system. The time required for signal processing, decision making and communication with the machine controller allows stopping the operation before part damage. No such system is presently available.