新技术在车门制造中的应用

随着对汽车车身轻量化及汽车制造柔性化的要求日益提高,汽车制造新技术越来越多地得到应用。车门作为车身结构的重要组成部分,其制造新技术也备受关注。介绍新技术在汽车车门制造中的应用,包括拼焊板技术、热冲压成形技术及机器人滚边技术,着重分析各新技术的特点优势,为车门设计和制造提供参考。     

制造业可持续发展的绿色制造技术

绿色制造是实现制造业可持续发展的必由之路。文章介绍了绿色制造的内涵,研究了产品从设计、制造、包装、运输、使用到报废处理整个生命周期的绿色制造的内容,分析了绿色制造与制造业可持续发展的关系,提出了推进绿色制造的对策。     

2020 年汽车行业十大关键词

2020年是不平凡的一年,作为机床行业最大的下游用户,汽车行业从年初的停工停产、供应链中断,到车市加速洗牌,新势力接连暴雷“出局”、边缘车企掀破产潮,再到年底受海外疫情影响,芯片全线告急,进而传导至整个汽车行业。这一年,全球汽车行业倍感压力,同时也在加速转型,新生事物不断涌现。疫情的暴发及持续蔓延让全球车市一度停摆,部分国家的汽车销量甚至一夜归零。好在进入下半年后,各大市场开始逐步恢复元气,而以电动化、智能化、网联化为代表的“三化”融合变革并未止步,反而在加速前进。本刊通过对行业专家、学者和车企意见的收集筛选出2020年汽车行业十大关键词,回首2020年,从“低潮”中逐渐走出来的汽车行业更具韧性,满怀信心地迎接2021年的到来。     

汽车行业的刀具解决方案

前言诸多不断变化的因素,如油价的起伏、日益严苛的环境保护法规和技术往更高效的方向发展,都在持续推进改变全球汽车市场。以上因素还加剧了汽车制造商和OEM制造商之间的竞争,并决定了当今汽车行业的制造趋势。     

Additive manufacturing of promising heterostructure for biomedical applications

As a new generation of materials/structures, heterostructure is characterized by heterogeneous zones with dramatically different mechanical, physical or chemical properties. This endows heterostructure with unique interfaces, robust architectures, and synergistic effects, making it a promising option as advanced biomaterials for the highly variable anatomy and complex functionalities of individual patients. However, the main challenges of developing heterostructure lie in the control of crystal/...     

飞机制造中数字化标准工装的定义与应用

在分析传统协调方法的基础上,提出了飞机制造中的新型协调方法——数字化标准工装的定义与应用。该方法基于数字化设计制造技术和数字化测量系统,取代实物标准工装,使飞机零件工装及装配工装的设计制造发生了质的变化,可很好地满足飞机各协调部位的协调准确度要求、显著减少制造周期和制造成本。在有些协调部位可显著缩短协调路线,提高协调准确度。通过数字化标准工装的应用实例显示了其优越性,在零件制造中采取独立制造原则,可极大改善飞机的可维护性,是飞机制造中一个切实可行的方法。     

CAXA软件服务制造业

CAXA (北京数码大方科技有限公司)是我国制造业信息化领域自主知识产权软件优秀代表和知名品牌。CA XA 十几年来坚持“软件服务制造业”理念,开发出 20多个系列软件产品,覆盖了制造业信息化设计、工艺、制造和管理四大领域。是我国 CAD /CA M /PLM 业界的主要供应商。     

Postponement strategies for re-engineering of automotive manufacturing: knowledge-management implications

Globally, automotive manufacturers are faced with the challenges of expanding product variety and high customer service provision. They increasingly face a flexibility driven, time-based competition. This demands effective knowledge management to develop more effective processes. In other words, there is a need for knowledge-driven innovations that can offer business process improvements in the new business environment. One innovative response to these challenges is postponement, also known as “delayed differentiation”. Such a strategy calls for redesigning products and re-engineering processes so that the stages of the production process in which a common process is used are prolonged. This product/process re-engineering should allow a flexible option to defer the point of differentiation. The manufacturing industry motivation to focus in this direction can be encouraged through relevant demonstrative models capturing their existing processes. In this paper, we develop such a model that captures the costs and benefits associated with postponement strategy that is implemented through business process re-engineering. We apply this model to analyze a real case in an automobile manufacturing plant. Our findings are that there are enormous opportunities for cost-effective postponement strategies in automotive manufacturing sector through a knowledge management (KM)-based process re-engineering. We also note that as the number of differentiated models and variability in demand increase, the cost of process re-engineering can be recovered through value of postponement (VOP), in as short a time frame as 1 year. It is also suggested that for practitioners and researchers working in the KM context, the sharing of the tacit knowledge amongst different professionals managing the various processes must be continually emphasized. This is increasingly important to deal with flexibility challenges.     

Robotic manufacturing of near-net-shape components utilizing stereo imaging and reconfigurable tooling

A process is described to acquire geometrical data of the target object and to utilize it to rapidly create a near-net-shape component with flexible tooling system. The topological data acquisition of the object is made possible using a robot-assisted stereo-imaging technique. Stereo-image data is translated into CAD data, and subsequently the geometric data constitutes the basis for the path planning for the tooling process. A novel, rapidly reconfigurable tooling system and tool forming technology is employed by which a six-axis robotic arm is used to shape a discretized vacuum surface. Pre-heated thermoplastic sheets are formed over the shaped vacuum tool to generate near-net-shape parts. The parts may be trimmed and used as the final component or they may be used as molds for subsequent fabrication of composite components. We demonstrate the process first in the context of an abstract reference part. One of the many applications envisaged using this process is the manufacture of custom-made braces, masks, and guards for use in healthcare products. A patient intervention can have their features acquired using stereo imaging and have corrective measures incorporated into the product prior to manufacturing. Since the geometrical data acquisition process does not require physical contact, the method can be used for patients having epidermal or skeletal damage. Furthermore, employing the rapidly reconfigurable tooling technology will significantly reduce the process cycle time and permit complete customization, benefiting the patient with a quicker and more effective administration of medical assistance. The healthcare context of the proposed integrated process is demonstrated with the manufacture of an orthopedic component with personalized fit.     

Czech mates [automotive industry]

This paper discusses how the small Czech town of Kolin has become the focus of attention of automobile manufacturers worldwide with the inauguration of a new car factory (TPCA) that resulted from the joint venture between Toyota and PSA Peugeot Citroen. The combination of Toyota's production methods and PSA's purchasing and logistics know-how provides a formidable economic challenge to TPCA's competitors. Because of the investment global car and other manufacturers have made in central and eastern Europe, this area has become strategic. The market for transport and logistics continues to grow, adding to and not replacing the markets in western Europe.     

Driving technology [automotive industry]

Access to information is essential in a successful organisation. The author describes how IT can benefit the global company, with particular emphasis on the experiences of the automotive industry. French auto-maker Renault took drastic measures to shorten product cycles. The company relocated its disparate design, engineering, and R&D functions to a single campus connected with a wide-ranging, high-speed network. This change allowed Renault to easily move people and equipment between workgroups, enabling more efficient cross-functional teamwork. The goal is to, within the next two years, reduce the time it takes to develop a new model by over 30% from eight years to five years, and eventually, to just three years     

软性材料制造业服务平台研究

针对国内裁床制造企业发展遇到的需求变化和现实问题,延续了软性材料裁床生态系统服务方法研究,在研究互联网平台的创新应用案例的基础上,对软性材料制造业服务平台进行了构架,提出了服务平台的体系结构和功能模型,总结了基于软性材料制造业服务平台的特色服务,归纳了服务平台中产品服务方法和价值链服务方法的应用,开发了软性材料制造业服务平台,并通过若干应用情景展示了平台的应用。研究结果表明,该平台能将传统制造业与互联网有机地结合起来,对于推动我国制造业的产业升级,有着重要意义。     

“新冠”疫情将对汽车产业造成何种冲击

突如其来的新型冠状病毒感染引发肺炎(简称“新冠”)疫情的肆意蔓延,对中国经济乃至世界经济都会产生影响。在过去的两年中,中国汽车市场已经遭遇了前所未有的寒冬,这场疫情的突然袭击无疑对其是雪上加霜,汽车产业链条将因此蒙受多大损失?未来预期如何?汽车产业作为机床工具产业最大的用户行业,其所受这一事件的影响情况自然会波及到机床工具行业,因而汽车以及其他用户领域可能受到的影响也自然受到机床业界的密切关注。     

快速成形/模具网络化制造服务平台的研究现状及其发展趋势

通过构建快速成形/模具网络化制造服务平台,可缩短新产品的开发周期,提高RP&M设备的利用率,动态优化资源,降低生产成本,实现基于Internet的异地协同开发制造。论述了快速成形/模具网络化制造服务平台的国内外研究现状及其我国构建快速成形/模具网络化制造服务平台的必要性,并探讨了该平台的未来发展趋势及其应用前景。     

Loading algorithms for flexible manufacturing systems with partially grouped unrelated machines and additional tooling constraints

This paper considers the loading problem for flexible manufacturing systems with highly flexible partial machine grouping, i.e., machines are tooled differently, but each operation can be assigned to multiple machines. Loading is the problem of allocating operations and their associated cutting tools to machines for a given set of parts. As an extension of the existing studies, we consider unrelated machines, i.e., processing time of an operation depends on the speed of the machine to which it is allocated, and dedicated machines, i.e., certain part types must be processed on a specific machine. Also, we consider the constraints associated with cutting tools: (a) tool life restrictions and (b) number of available tool copies. An integer linear programming model is suggested for the objective of balancing the workloads assigned to machines and then due to the complexity of the problem, we suggest two-stage heuristics in which an initial solution is obtained using modified bin-packing algorithms and then it is improved by a simple search technique. The two-stage heuristics suggested in this study were tested on various test instances, and the results show that they can give reasonable quality solutions within a very short amount of computation time. Also, a sensitivity analysis was done on the tightness of the tooling constraints, and the results are reported.     

Applying forming simulation to process and tooling designs for minimizing springback in split dowel manufacturing

In this study, FEA simulations were conducted to analyze the forming and springback of a split dowel forming process. Through 96 simulations, the best dimensional quality product from the current production tooling was obtained. However, it still cannot meet the customer’s geometrical requirement, so a metal finish process (secondary operation) is required. In order to minimize manufacturing cost and time, the secondary operation is not desired. Therefore, a new forming process and die design were developed through many iterative FEA simulations. This new design adds a short coin bead on the seam line area of the split dowel. It has been found that the springback amount is almost eliminated and the product quality exceeds the customer’s geometry requirement. Through this real industry case study, it is shown that FEA simulation can be used to not only optimize the current process but also design a new process and tooling.     

Multi-point location theory, method, and application for flexible tooling system in aircraft manufacturing

To solve problems in aircraft manufacturing, flexible tooling system with “Forming-Machining” process is presented. Pointwise degree of freedom is defined on aircraft large-scale thin-wall workpiece during its machining process where traditional six-point location principle is not suitable, and base on which adaptive multi-point location method used for this kind of workpieces is described. Furthermore, multi-point location/support algorithm is developed to solve positions of location/support spheres of flexible tooling system to construct envelope surface of workpiece and avoid machine tool interference. Test data of sample workpiece show that flexible tooling system meets the requirements of aircraft large-scale thin-wall workpiece machining with manufacturing error and cycle decreased.     

Comparative study of laser welding in tailor blanks for the automotive industry

The increasing demand put on automotive industry to reduce car costs and fuel consumption has led to the design of innovative technological solutions. These new concepts aim at higher productivities, better quality, and improved performances of the final product. The use of tailor blanks in automotive industry is an example of a successful innovation which is nowadays used in many companies worldwide. The main objective of the present study is to assess laser welding of tailor blanks in steel, comparing the performance of the three types of high-power lasers, CO₂, Nd/YAG, and fiber laser, in terms of productivity, costs, and weld quality. Mechanical properties have also been targeted as these are essential for the formability of the welded blanks.     

虚拟制造技术在制造业中的展望

在分析中国制造业面临的机遇和挑战及虚拟制造技术的内涵基础上,简要说明虚拟制造的应用状况,提出今后的发展方向.