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

本研究的主旨是探讨将并行工程概念应用于先进制造系统设计的争论和一般概念。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，确定健壮制造系统设计所必需的框架和实施指南；(2)通过对柔性制造系统(FMS)的两种现实操作和计划模型，即零件选择模型和刀具分配模型的开发和广泛的实验，来证实“为操作和管理而设计”的概念；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奠定了坚实的基础。先进制造技术，如柔性制造，仍然是一个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。不是FMS用户购买了什么，而是FMS用户将如何以全面和完全集成的方式操作它，从而有效地利用新技术。PI的行业经验为上述说法提供了生动的佐证。看似合理的补救办法是彻底改变获取制造系统的典型过程，在这种过程中，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达到管理层要求的性能水平。

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.