Assessment of product sustainability and the associated risk/benefits for an automotive organisation

Incorporating environmental aspects into a product poses a greater challenge to the stakeholders. There are various environmental issues concerned with developing a product and often they are found to be conflicting. There exists a need to examine the environmental risks and benefits associated with any product so that improvements can be made in dealing with the end of life issues of any product. An easy to adopt evaluation model was described which allows this risk/benefit assessment to be made in a sequential manner throughout the life cycle of any product considering environmental characteristics. The major environmental risks/benefits are tabulated and presented graphically for ease of evaluation in order to improve the automotive product. A simple but effective way of sorting out design-oriented issues studied was also explained and suitable alternatives were suggested with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of the automotive product.     

Implementation cost/ benefits for fault tolerant systems

Although most control project specifications for modern digital systems include references to redundancy and fault tolerance, little effort usually is expended to analyze the cost additions to the project. Risk assessment applied to a control system most often maximizes reliability without regard to cost, though the additional expense may have no significant justification. On some projects, redundancy is carried to extremes, while other times partial redundancy is added with minimal gain in overall system reliability.

This paper will assist the project engineer in properly analyzing the benefits of redundancy versus the true cost of this capability and the effect this will have on a project. The methodology described attempts to achieve the system's objectives and quantity the requirements that will be placed on system reliability. The emphasis is not on the cost or safety benefits to the process but on the relative cost/benefits associated with different offerings that implement fault tolerant or redundant functions.     

Assessing the structural complexity of manufacturing systems configurations

Modern manufacturing systems are increasingly required to be flexible and adaptable to changing market demands, which adds to their structural and operational complexity. One of the major challenges at the early design stages is to select a manufacturing system configuration that both satisfies the production functional requirements and is easy to operate and manage. A new metric for assessing the structural complexity of manufacturing system configurations is presented in this paper. The proposed complexity metric incorporates the quantity of information using an entropy approach. It accounts for the complexity inherent in the various modules in the manufacturing system through the use of an index derived from a newly developed manufacturing systems classification code. The code captures the effect of various component types and technologies used in a manufacturing system on the system’s structural complexity. The presented metric would be helpful in selecting the least complex manufacturing system configuration that meets the requirements. An engine cylinder head production system is used to illustrate the application of the proposed methodology in comparing feasible but different manufacturing system configurations capable of producing the cylinder head based on their structurally inherent complexity.     

A multi-criteria decision method for sustainability assessment of the use phase of machine tool systems

In recent years, going green has become a strategic priority in manufacturing which has evolved from the growing awareness of the need for environmentally friendly processes and products. Recent trends in developing new machining strategies able to support environmental protection and prevention of pollution in balance with socioeconomic needs and technical requirements inevitably require significant efforts in fundamental understanding of the actual energy and material flows needed to meet the machining requirements. This paper describes the methodology and software, Global Reasoning for Eco-Evaluation of Machining, developed to evaluate the use phase of a machine tool system with respect to a consistent set of technical, economical, and environmental criteria, as a part of the NEXT European project. The evaluation, based on the analytic hierarchy process, is conducted at two levels: (a) the process/part level which considers the local cutting environment along with the “actors” that are directly involved in the cutting area, their relationships, and the phenomena that occur from their interactions and (b) the system level which gathers together the main specifications of the machine tool system and the energy requirements associated with various activities performed in order to support the material removal processes. Two database structures were defined in order to store the entire amount of data needed to perform the analysis at each level. A detailed example of the evaluation carried out at the first level demonstrated the superior performance of the dry and minimum quantity lubrication alternatives over their wet machining counterpart when cutting power, cutting fluid consumption, and the machining time were considered as criteria for the performance evaluation of various milling tests.     

Towards industrial sustainability

Being sustainable means more than simply producing a 'green' product. The article looks at how logistics, energy use, and corporate lifestyle all play a part     

Applications and benefits of real-time I/O simulation for PLC and PC control systems

Organizations are experiencing increased demands for more effective project implementation. This paper reviews the evolution of control system testing methods. The discussion reveals the numerous risks associated with control system implementation, and demonstrates how real-time simulation can mitigate these risks. Benefits are outlined from applying simulation during the development, testing, operator training, start-up and maintenance phases of control system projects.     

Data benefits

Is engineering data management yet another management toy or can it really change the way your company operates? Phil Newell presents the business case for EDM.     

标准化的经济效果

标准化是在经济、技术、科学及管理等社会实践中，对重复的事物和概念，通过制定、发布和实施标准达到统一，以获得最佳秩序和最佳社会效益的活动过程。正因为有了标准化，科学、技术、经济、管理等各方面有了衡量的准则、比较的基础、协作的依据和协调的保证；才有秩序化、合理化、科学化、最佳化；才有高速度、高质量、高效益。标准化是设计、生产和管理的一个重要纽带，它以科学技术与实践的综合成果为根据，不仅奠定当前的基础，而且还决定了将来的发展。标准化是社会化大生产不可缺少的共同依据和准则，在经济上具有重大意义。 1 标准…     

Reeling in the benefits

Fly fishing may not seem the obvious candidate for MRP II, but one company has certainly caught the benefits. Marilyn Huckerby reports.