Research Initiation Award: An Advanced Manufacturing System Design Methodology - The Concurrent Engineering Approach

本研究的主要目的是探讨将并行工程概念应用于先进制造系统设计的论点和一般概念。中心主题有三个方面：(1)通过同时考虑可维护性、可靠性、可分解性、操作和管理等关键问题，确定框架并制定稳健制造系统设计所需的实施指南；(2)通过开发和广泛试验柔性制造系统（FMS）的两种实际操作和计划模型，即零件选择模型和工具分配模型，来证实“为操作和管理而设计”的概念；(3)为进一步研究实现可维护性、可靠性和可分解性设计的工具和模块打下坚实的基础。先进的制造技术，如柔性制造，仍然是一种非常昂贵和高风险的解决方案，需要非常定制的系统设计和配置方法。关键不在于FMS用户购买了什么，而在于FMS用户将如何以一种全面的、完全集成的方式操作它，从而有效地利用新技术。PI的工业经验为上述说法提供了生动的证据。合理的补救措施是彻底改变典型的获取制造系统的过程，系统设计师（FMS供应商）将所做的一切传递给操作人员，并希望FMS能够达到管理层所要求的性能水平。

The major thrust of this research is to explore the argument and generic concept of applying concurrent engineering concepts to the design of advanced manufacturing systems. The central theme is threefold: (1) to identify the framework and develop implementation guidelines necessary for robust manufacturing system design by concurrently considering critical issues including maintainability, reliability, decomposability, operation, and management; (2) to substantiate the "design for operation and management" concept through development and extensive experimentations of two realistic operation and planning models for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), namely, the Part-Selection Model and the Tool Assignment Model; and (3) to lay solid groundwork for further research into the tools and modules to realize design for maintainability, reliability and decomposability. Advanced manufacturing technology, such as flexible manufacturing, is still a very expensive and high risk solution which demands an extremely customized approach to system design and configuration. It is not what an FMS user has purchased but how the FMS user will operate it in an overall and totally integrated way that makes the effective use of the new technology. The PI's industrial experience has provided a vivid testimony for the above statement. The plausible remedy is to revolutionize the typical process of acquiring a manufacturing system where the system designer (FMS supplier) passes down whatever is done to the operation personnel and wishing that the FMS will live up to the performance level as required by the management.