EAGER: Scaled Down Manufacturing

EAGER：缩小制造规模

• 批准号: 1156478
• 负责人: Sanjay Sarma
• 金额: $ 10万
• 依托单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-10-01 至 2012-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1156478&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Scaled; Down; Manufacturing

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award provides funding for the development of a new paradigm in distributed manufacturing which, if successful, will integrate small and medium-sized American manufacturing facilities into virtual factories which can serve large customers. The concept of a virtual factory is intended on the one hand to leverage the creativity and efficiency of American small manufacturing businesses, and on the other hand, create "a sum that is larger than the parts" virtual enterprise so that American businesses can compete better with the bulk-manufacturing facilities overseas to which the US is losing manufacturing jobs.Many of the tools to enable distributed manufacturing are already in place. For the manufacture of mechanical parts, CAD files are regularly transmitted over the Internet. CAM takes CNC milling machines a step towards printing. 3D printing, meanwhile, takes mechanical manufacturing a lot further towards the printing of form (though not functionality). In the hands of an experienced 21st century manufacturing expert, though these three technologies already enable pieces of distributed manufacturing. Key elements of a truly integrated virtual factory are missing, however. The inspection of parts manufactured in distributed environments remains unscalable. The shipping of parts shipped from distributed locations remains expensive. The proposed research attempts to fill these needs by looking at: low-cost, networked, high-definition CT scanning to enable quality assurance in a truly distributed virtual factory; and low-cost, small-batch shipping by leveraging RFID and flexible warehousing and shipping. In summary, the goal of the research is to fight the tyranny of bulk manufacturing, by leveraging the strengths of small manufacturing shops in the US.

这一早期概念探索性研究补助金(EIGER)奖为分布式制造中新范式的开发提供了资金，如果成功，将把美国中小型制造设施整合到能够服务于大客户的虚拟工厂中。虚拟工厂的概念一方面是为了利用美国小型制造企业的创造力和效率，另一方面是为了创造“大于零部件的总和”的虚拟企业，以便美国企业能够更好地与美国正在失去制造业工作的海外大规模制造设施竞争。许多实现分布式制造的工具已经到位。对于机械零件的制造，CAD文件定期通过互联网传输。凸轮使数控铣床向印刷迈进了一步。与此同时，3D打印将机械制造进一步推向表格打印(尽管不是功能性)。在一位经验丰富的21世纪制造专家的手中，尽管这三项技术已经使分布式制造成为可能。然而，真正整合的虚拟工厂缺乏关键要素。对在分布式环境中制造的部件的检查仍然不可扩展。从分散的地点发运的零部件仍然很昂贵。拟议的研究试图通过以下方面来满足这些需求：低成本、联网、高清晰度CT扫描，以在真正分散的虚拟工厂中实现质量保证；以及通过利用RFID和灵活的仓储和运输，实现低成本、小批量运输。总而言之，这项研究的目标是通过利用美国小型制造工厂的优势，与批量制造的专制作斗争。