Production in Networks

New types of cooperation between companies in the manufacturing sector are coming into being. Since nowadays the creation of and involvement in supply chains is for most companies standard practice, new forms of cooperation are now emerging: production networks. The paper describes current developments in the field of production networks along with techniques and methods for their operation and management.     

响应型供应链中供应商综合能力的评价研究

随着全球制造的出现,供应链管理在制造业管理中得到普遍应用,成为一种新的管理模式,供应商选择是其中一个研究的热点。不同供应链中供应商选择是有所不同的,因此供应商选择方案应该结合企业所处供应链的类型来确定。在对响应型供应链特征进行分析的基础上,建立了一套适用于制造企业的供应商评价指标体系,并用模糊综合评价法结合实例加以验证。     

Concepts,methods and tools for individualized production

The main objective of the paper is to give an overview of prerequisites and enablers for individualized production from the perspective of flexible, agile and sustainable production of customized and personalized products. Increasing volatility in the global and local markets, shortening innovation and product life cycles, as well as a tremendously increasing number of variants, call for production facilities and networks and operations management which comply with these changing demands. The paper presents a set of developed concepts, methods and tools based on the recognized needs of manufacturing companies. The observed manufacturing domain is characterized with highly customized and personalized products produced in competitively in a high-cost country with short delivery times and high quality requirements. Micro and desktop factories can be seen as one type of solution to point-of-need manufacturing of customized and personalized products, such as hand-held consumer electronics or medical implants. The LeanMES concept and associated solution blocks aim for more efficient operation via digital tools. The Competitive Sustainable Manufacturing Hotel (CSM-Hotel) concept of a platform targeted for SMEs collaborating under same factory roof or in the same area. The A-NET vision offers a new holistic framework for industrial supply networks to manage development more agilely and for deeper strategic cooperation.     

Cooperative and responsive manufacturing enterprises

The paper discusses manufacturing enterprises’ compelling challenges that are directly stemming from generic conflicts between competition and cooperation, local autonomy and global behavior, design and emergence, planning and reactivity, uncertainty and a plethora of information. Responses in product and service design, organization of production networks, planning and management of operations, as well as production control are surveyed. As illustrated through industrial case studies, production engineering should integrate a rich body of interdisciplinary results together with contemporary information and communication technologies in order to facilitate cooperation and responsiveness that are vital in competitive, sustainable manufacturing.     

链式供需链设计优化模型及其算法研究

设计和运行一个高效的供需链对于每个制造企业都是至关重要的。它有利于企业适应激烈竞争的市场环境。本文通过对链式供需链进行结构分析，把链式供需链的设计优化转化为多阶段决策问题。在此基础上提出了链式设计优化模型及其求解算法。     

Coordination policy for production and delivery scheduling in the closed loop supply chain

Coordinating a supply chain necessitates a synchronization strategy for reordering products and a cost-effective production and replenishment cycle time. The aim of this paper is to present an optimization framework for producing and distribution in the supply chains with a cooperating strategy. The main contribution of this paper is to integrate closed loop supply chain with open-shop manufacturing and economic lot and delivery scheduling problem (ELDSP). This integration is applied with the aim of better coordination between the members of the supply chain. This study examines the ELDSP for a multi-stage closed loop supply chain, where each product is returned to a manufacturing center at a constant rate of demand. The supply chain is also characterized by a sub-open-shop system for remanufacturing returned items. Common cycle time and multiplier policies is adopted to accomplish the desired synchronization. For this purpose, we developed a mathematical model in which a manufacturer with an open-shop system purchases raw materials from suppliers, converts them into final products, and sends them to package companies. Given that the ELDSPR is an NP-hard problem, a simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and a biography-based optimization (BBO) algorithm is developed. Two operational scenarios are formulated for the simulated annealing algorithm, after which both the algorithms are used to solve problems of different scales. The numerical results show that the biography-based optimization algorithm excellently performs in finding the best solution to the ELDSPR.     

Resource efficiency and environmental impact of fiber reinforced plastic processing technologies

The process energy demand and the environmental indicators of two carbon fiber reinforced plastic process chains have been investigated. More precisely, the impact of different production set-ups for a standard textile preforming process using bindered non-crimp fabric (NCF) and a material efficient 2D dry-fiber-placement (DFP) process are analyzed. Both 2D preforms are activated by an infrared heating system and formed in a press. The resin-transfer-molding (RTM) technology is selected for subsequent processing. Within a defined process window, the main parameters influencing the process energy demand are identified. Varying all parameters, a reduction of 77% or an increase of 700% of the electric energy consumption compared to a reference production set-up is possible, mainly depending on part size, thickness, and curing time. For a reference production set-up, carbon fiber production dominates the environmental indicators in the product manufacturing phase with a share of around 72–80% of the total global warming potential (GWP). Thus, the reduction of production waste, energy efficient carbon fiber production, and the use of renewable energy resources are the key environmental improvement levers. For the production of small and thin parts in combination with long curing cycles, the influence of the processing technologies is more pronounced. Whereas for a reference production set-up, only 10% (NCF–RTM) and 15% (DFP–RTM) of the total GWP are caused by the processing technologies, a production set-up leading to a high process energy demand results in a share of 40% (NCF–RTM) and 49% (DFP–RTM), respectively.     

石油管市场前景展望(上)

近年来随着世界经济的复苏,特别是中国经济的发展,全球及中国对能源需求的旺盛,石油管需求急增。分析了全球包括中国的石油天然气资源和消费情况以及OCTG的供求情况,阐明了石油天然气与钢管及OCTG的对应关系,指出全球OCTG将供大于求;分析了国内细分市场中OCTG的供求现状、存在的问题及应对措施。预测了今后石油管的需求情况,提出了投资石油管存在的风险。     

A method to determine customer-specific volume flexibility in a supply network

Volume flexibility is a crucial factor to keep up performance in supply networks. In order to align volume flexibility requirements along the various supply chains within the networks, contracts defining flexibility ranges are set up increasingly in customer–supplier relationships. However, suppliers lack suitable methods to evaluate the limits of volume flexibility that they can guarantee in terms of a contract, especially if they are members of several cross-linked supply chains. Hence, this article presents an approach to evaluate customer-specific volume flexibility. Therefore, factors influencing volume flexibility are modelled mathematically. Subsequently, a dedicated simulation system is introduced to evaluate volume flexibility of different demand scenarios in terms of flexibility range as well as adjustment time and costs. Finally, the interpretation of the simulation results is demonstrated.     

石油管市场前景展望(下)

近年来随着世界经济的复苏,特别是中国经济的发展,全球及中国对能源需求的旺盛,石油管需求急增。分析了全球包括中国的石油天然气资源和消费情况以及OCTG的供求情况,阐明了石油天然气与钢管及OCTG的对应关系,指出全球OCTG将供大于求;分析了国内细分市场中OCTG的供求现状、存在的问题及应对措施。预测了今后石油管的需求情况,提出了投资石油管存在的风险。     

Design concept for a transparent supply chain

The production companies have been concentrating increasingly on their own core-competencies while outsourcing their secondary production processes at the same time. Apart from the advantage of efficiency, however, this strategy leads to an increase in inter-company distribution of labor resulting in a strong dependence on reliable supply relationships. Consequently, closer co-operations in form of supply chains have to be set up in order to cope with the mutual dependencies of the supply chain processes. The article deals with this subject and proposes a solution concept for the design of supply chains. The solution concept is divided into four stages and enables the production companies to govern and control the complexity and transparency of their supply chains.     

High resolution supply chain management: optimized processes based on self-optimizing control loops and real time data

The efficient dealing with the dynamic environment of production industries is one of the most challenging tasks of Supply Chain Management in high-wage countries. Relevant and current information are still not used sufficiently, to handle the influence of the dynamic environment on intra- and inter-company order processing adequately. Among other things, the problem is caused by missing or delayed feedback of relevant data. As a consequence of that, planning results differ from the actual situation of production. High Resolution Supply Chain Management describes an approach aiming on high information transparency in supply chains in combination with decentralized, self-optimizing control loops for Production Planning and Control. The final objective is to enable manufacturing companies to produce efficiently and to be able to react to order-variations at any time, requiring process structures to be most flexible.     

制造网格中基于WSRF的资源共享架构的研究

为实现异构分布式环境下制造资源的共享与协作，提出了基于WSRF的制造网格资源共享椠构。在架构中，通过建立制造资源的描述模型，将其封装为符合WSRF标准的WS—Resource服务．实现了制造资源的透明化使用和管理；通过基于QoS的资源搜索与调度算法，实现了制造资源的全局搜索与合理调度。为制造网格用户提供最优质量的制造服务。最后，以快速成型制造为应用，验证了模型的实用性及资源调度算法的可行性。     

Scalable data pipeline architecture to support the industrial internet of things

Managing manufacturing data remains challenging despite the growth of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT). While various standards and technologies enable greater access to data, scaling data processing and distribution can be difficult given the increasing variety of data from an increasing variety of sources in global production networks. This paper proposes an architecture for a scalable pipeline to process and distribute data from a mix of shop-floor sources. The feasibility of this approach is explored by implementing the architecture to bring together MTConnect-compliant machine and ad-hoc power data to support analytics applications.     

A Systematic Approach for Ensuring the Logistic Process Reliability of Supply Chains

In the production logistics context, the process reliability of supply chains corresponds to their ability to meet the logistic performance expectations of customers. This ability depends on the contributions of all supply chain members to the logistic performance of the entire chain. The overall performance is affected by the dynamic Interrelationships between the specific logistic performances of the separate supply chain members. Currently, however, no practical analytical models of the logistic supply chain dynamics are available. This paper presents an approach for modeling and analysing the logistic interdependences across supply chains, the understanding of which enables supply chains to better control their process reliability.     

A computer aided chaining approach for predicting the shape accuracy in manufacture of automotive structures

The increasing competition and the urge to reduce costs and shorten product-life-cycles in the automotive industries imply the application of virtual manufacturing mock-ups. Computer aided engineering methods including simulations of the structural behavior during manufacturing and assembly contribute to eliminate trial-and-error along the production chains of vehicle structures. Such digital mock-ups also provide an input for additional tolerance analyses and allow the identification of the pending quality of structure components in advance. In this way large numbers of experiments and adjustments on the existent production lines can be avoided. In this paper an approach is introduced, which allows the replication of the physical effects along manufacturing chains based on thermo-mechanical models. The rendered results after considering successive operational steps provide the basis for initial estimations regarding the shape accuracy of structure assemblies. For a specific example of the automotive body-in-white a first run of a manufacturing process chain is investigated in order to predict the shape quality of a probable production cycle by applying a tolerance chain analysis. The results enable the scrap identification due to non-satisfied quality of assemblies. Finally, based on the achieved results a re-engineering of the manufacturing chain is suggested in order to fulfill quality requirements.     

服务需求快捷响应模式下的云制造资源共享研究

针对云制造系统开发及应用过程中制造资源共享服务能力不足、制造反馈缓慢等问题,设计一种以服务需求快捷响应为特征的制造资源管理模型,主要包括:跨行业制造资源的综合分类方案的设计、供需信息处理与流动模型的开发、制造资源优化配置方案的设计等,并对各功能模块的开发方案进行了方法研究和有效性论证。以中小通用航空制造业的云制造系统开发为例,设计了制造资源的管理方案和系统应用模型。     

Technology chain optimization: a systematic approach considering the manufacturing history

The optimization of technology chains is usually conducted as a local problem of each individual process step. However, in order to optimize the technology chain in terms of product properties a local optimization is insufficient and a more holistic approach is indispensable. Existing methods, which consider the manufacturing history of a workpiece, are often accompanied by a high level of effort in research. This paper presents a systematic approach to integrate the manufacturing history into the technology chain optimization process going along with a significant reduction of effort compared to existing methods based on simulation and experiments. Resulting from previous methods and models a set of representative variables is identified to describe interactions and dependencies within technology chains. Furthermore, an approach consisting of three steps is developed which allows a visualization as well as an explanation of the cause-and-effect relationships within technology chains. This approach is used to deduce two different optimization strategies for technology chains. The first strategy allows a global optimization by adjusting specified parameters without changing the processes within the technology chain. Whereas the second strategy comprises a redesign of the whole chain.     

制造业信息系统演化及动态企业建模的研究

分析了人类社会制造业分划阶段与生产特性，指出信息技术、信息系统将对制造业产生使能作用。研究了企业资源规划(ERP)、动态企业建模(DEM)的基本特性、软件功能、体系结构及其对制造业的影响；最后给出制造业信息系统的发展态势。     

Adaptive process planning

The success of companies with job shop production strongly depends on their production flexibility. This is often significantly influenced by the process planning and production control. Aiming at maximizing production flexibility, this paper presents an approach to further integration of process planning and production control by combining and optimizing already existing planning methods. Essentially, in a rough planning stage, all process chains which are technological relevant to the manufacturing of a given product are taken into consideration. Applying a dynamic multi-criteria evaluation to all process chains ensures that the most appropriate, situation-specific process chain is chosen for production. This is done based on pre-established production targets, which facilitates a flexible response to incidents and other unplanned production events. The structure and functionalities of the presented approach are thoroughly explained in this paper and its feasibility is demonstrated with an example.