The development of a visual interactive simulation of packaging flow lines

The design and implementation of new manufacturing processes or the reconfiguration/reuse of existing machines is a multidisciplinary activity. The introduction and modification of processes requires input from a variety of people with disparate skills, backgrounds, responsibilities and requirements. In addition, the trend towards globalization of businesses has resulted in collaborative projects involving domain experts who speak different languages and originate from different cultural backgrounds. Clearly effective communication via common representations is essential in such projects. A visual interactive simulation that can easily be modified (i.e. reconfigured, extended or reused) is an effective method of providing a common representation for personnel involved in the design and implementation of manufacturing processes. In this paper the development of a visual interactive simulation is discussed with regards to the problem of investigating the operation and interoperation of a number of workstations that comprise a beverage can production flow line. A consortium of European partners was involved in the project to determine the opportunities to increase the efficiency of the current operation with respect to material usage and machine operational efficiency.     

Impacts of environmental product legislation on solid oxide fuel cells

Ongoing development of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology coincides with a rapid increase in legislation aiming to control the environmental impacts of products across their life cycle. A risk-based method is used to explore the potential future impacts of this body of legislation on the technology. Legislation controlling the use of hazardous materials is one area of significance. Under the new European REACH Regulation some nickel compounds, used widely throughout general industry but also in the fabrication of anode structures, may fall under the classification of a substance of very high concern (SVHC) in future, which presents a risk of restrictions being placed on their continued use. This risk must drive the development of alternative anode materials, or requires the SOFC industry to identify a socio-economic argument justifying exemption from any future restrictions. A legislative trend establishing recycling requirements for end-of-life products is also identified as having a potential future impact on the technology. Recycling strategies for SOFC products must be considered, prior to commercialisation. It is proposed that failure to meet these future environmental requirements may be detrimental to the perception of SOFC technology, the demand for which is substantially driven by the environmental benefits offered over incumbent power generation technologies. The consideration of these issues in the design of commercial products will mitigate this risk.     

Improving energy efficiency in manufacturing using peer benchmarking to influence machine design innovation

Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy - Energy efficiency in manufacturing is important for overall sustainability of society. This paper combines three observations to improve an overlooked...     

Recycling process planning for the End-of-Life management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment

The ever-increasing amount of waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) has become a common problem due to the significant environmental and health impacts associated with inappropriate End-of-Life (EoL) management. The current ad hoc applications of WEEE recycling are often based on limited knowledge and cannot cope with the complex range of materials and products in such waste. A knowledge-based approach has been utilised to investigate the realisation of a recycling process planner which aims to determine the most suitable EoL options for WEEE. A number of case studies have been used to show that a 20-30% improvement on economical and environmental performance could be achieved through adoption of such a systematic approach to recycling process planning.     

State of the art in wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM)

Wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) is a specialised thermal machining process capable of accurately machining parts with varying hardness or complex shapes, which have sharp edges that are very difficult to be machined by the main stream machining processes. This practical technology of the WEDM process is based on the conventional EDM sparking phenomenon utilising the widely accepted non-contact technique of material removal. Since the introduction of the process, WEDM has evolved from a simple means of making tools and dies to the best alternative of producing micro-scale parts with the highest degree of dimensional accuracy and surface finish quality.Over the years, the WEDM process has remained as a competitive and economical machining option fulfilling the demanding machining requirements imposed by the short product development cycles and the growing cost pressures. However, the risk of wire breakage and bending has undermined the full potential of the process drastically reducing the efficiency and accuracy of the WEDM operation. A significant amount of research has explored the different methodologies of achieving the ultimate WEDM goals of optimising the numerous process parameters analytically with the total elimination of the wire breakages thereby also improving the overall machining reliability.This paper reviews the vast array of research work carried out from the spin-off from the EDM process to the development of the WEDM. It reports on the WEDM research involving the optimisation of the process parameters surveying the influence of the various factors affecting the machining performance and productivity. The paper also highlights the adaptive monitoring and control of the process investigating the feasibility of the different control strategies of obtaining the optimal machining conditions. A wide range of WEDM industrial applications are reported together with the development of the hybrid machining processes. The final part of the paper discusses these developments and outlines the possible trends for future WEDM research.     

Semi-heterarchical production planning structures in the support of team-based manufacturing

Manufacturing enterprises are facing fierce competition within the modern global market, resulting in a requirement for continuous improvement of their production management practices. In this context, a number of manufacturing paradigms such as team-based manufacturing have been adopted to provide the flexibility, agility and responsiveness required to cope with the volatility of production demands. The introduction of team-based working practices necessitates a clear definition and delegation of responsibilities to various teams and often requires significant changes in production planning and control procedures. The successful implementation of such a distributed production approach is then dependent on the way that the production teams manage their internal activities and cooperate with other teams to achieve overall manufacturing goals. A novel team-based distributed production planning and control approach based on a semi-heterarchical structure is presented that aims to support the autonomous and cooperative attributes of various production teams within manufacturing enterprises.     

A novel separation process for recycling of post-consumer products

The use of automated product recycling based upon fragmentation and separation processes is rapidly increasing due to the high economic feasibility. Air-classifiers are key low-cost technologies employed in these processes; however their efficiency can be highly variable due to inhomogeneous particle sizes as separation largely relies upon the difference in particle terminal velocity. In this paper a pulsing air-column classifier is introduced in which particles are constantly accelerated and decelerated to provide higher separation efficiency regardless of particle sizes. Experimentation with inhomogeneous granulated leather, foam and rubber from footwear waste products demonstrates a separation improvement of 10–25% compared to existing technologies and ability to reclaim rubber with above 90% purity.     

A resource-based modelling approach to support responsive manufacturing systems

The manufacturing industry faces the challenge of responding quickly to the ever-changing requirements of customers. A key factor in these highly competitive environments is an ability for companies to master key production system dynamics such as change in the product types and variants and production quantities that they make, with high quality, low cost, and fast delivery. A novel approach to modelling manufacturing systems is introduced which is based on the provision of means for explicitly representing and computer executing dynamic producer units (DPUs). DPUs are defined as re-usable, change capable components of a manufacturing enterprise and have been described in the present authors’ previous publications. DPU concepts were conceived to support (1) the design of change capable manufacturing systems that can realise families of similar products in varying quantities and mixes and (2) the re-configuration of manufacturing systems in cases of withdrawal of a product family and introduction of a new one. To achieve this, a generic manufacturing system model is required to facilitate the systematic and timely alteration of production system designs and production plans. DPU modelling concepts facilitate these alterations through explicitly specifying the need for change capabilities so that rapid and cost-effective changeover responses can be made when production requirements change. This paper presents how DPU modelling concepts can be applied with reference to an industrial case study and describes a change decision-making framework in the form of a taxonomy and enabling tools.     

IT tools to improve the performance of metalworking SMEs

The small manufacturing enterprise is typically recognized as a company that is heavily reliant on its human constituents, namely the skilled manufacturing operators who accept a high level of responsibility for the parts they produce, and also have a major influence on the existence of the company. The significant reduction in costs of IT technology and software tools over recent years has enabled the SME to use hardware and software systems that were previously only available to larger companies. This paper investigates the use of modern IT tools and their application within a metalworking SME. The work is based on a number of major research areas, namely the holonic manufacturing paradigm, distributed planning and control, and open controllers for CNC control. The major emphasis of the paper is the design of appropriate IT tools tailored for the requirements of 'human-centred manufacturing systems' based on holonic concepts to support an autonomous cooperative working environment.