CONCURRENT PRODUCT PORTFOLIO PLANNING AND MIXED PRODUCT ASSEMBLY LINE BALANCING

Reconfigurable products and manufacturing systems have enabled manufacturers to provide ＂cost effective＂ variety to the market. In spite of these new technologies, the expense of manufacturing makes it infeasible to supply all the possible variants to the market for some industries. Therefore, the determination of the right number of product variantsto offer in the product portfolios becomes an important consideration. The product portfolio planning problem had been independently well studied from marketing and engineering perspectives. However, advantages can be gained from using a concurrent marketing and engineering approach. Concurrent product development strategies specifically for reconfigurable products and manufacturing systems can allow manufacturers to select best product portfolios from marketing, product design and manufacturing perspectives. A methodology for the concurrent design of a product portfolio and assembly system is presented. The objective of the concurrent product portfolio planning and assembly system design problem is to obtain the product variants that will make up the product portfolio such that oversupply of optional modules is minimized and the assembly line efficiency is maximized. Explicit design of the assembly system is obtained during the solution of the problem. It is assumed that the demand for optional modules and the assembly times for these modules are known a priori. A genetic algorithm is used in the solution of the problem. The basic premise of this methodology is that the selected product portfolio has a significant impact on the solution of the assembly line balancing problem. An example is used to validate this hypothesis. The example is then further developed to demonstrate how the methodology can be used to obtain the optimal product portfolio. This approach is intended for use by manufacturers during the early design stages of product family design.

APPROACH FOR MODULE PARTITION OF BLOCKS IN SHIPBUILDING

To manage the complexities of hull module partitions, a new approach to the partitions of hierarchical modules for shipbuilding is proposed. Based on the assembly and manufacture process, the approach determines the hierarchy and basis of the module partition first, and then according to the type of connection between the parts of the block module, the degree of membership for the rational connection is gained and the fuzzy relation matrix between different parts is then established. The fuzzy clustering technique is used to partition the modules, and then the method of fuzzy comprehensive assessment is used to choose a relative reasonable scheme. A case study has been conducted, which proves that the approach is feasible and applicable; Especially it obtains the sub-module partition, which sets up the shipbuilding process at a higher-level assembly and has offered effective tools for the modular ship design.

Research on uncertainty in measurement assisted alignment in aircraft assembly

Operations in assembling and joining large size aircraft components are changed to novel digital and flexible ways by digital measurement assisted alignment.Positions and orientations（P＆O）of aligned components are critical characters which assure geometrical positions and relationships of those components.Therefore,evaluating the P＆O of a component is considered necessary and critical for ensuring accuracy in aircraft assembly.Uncertainty of position and orientation（U-P＆O）,as a part of the evaluating result of P＆O,needs to be given for ensuring the integrity and credibility of the result;furthermore,U-P＆O is necessary for error tracing and quality evaluating of measurement assisted aircraft assembly.However,current research mainly focuses on the process integration of measurement with assembly,and usually ignores the uncertainty of measured result and its influence on quality evaluation.This paper focuses on the expression,analysis,and application of U-P＆O in measurement assisted alignment.The geometrical and algebraical connotations of U-P＆O are presented.Then,an analytical algorithm for evaluating the multi-dimensional U-P＆O is given,and the effect factors and characteristics of U-P＆O are discussed.Finally,U-P＆O is used to evaluate alignment in aircraft assembly for quality evaluating and improving.Cases are introduced with the methodology.

Methodology and Technology for Design to Cost

Product cost is one of the most important factors affecting product market share. Traditionally, product costs are estimated after they are manufactured. However, in this way, the best opportunity to control product cost is lost. In this paper, a method trying to reduce product cost at the design stage is proposed. This method is called Design to Cost (DTC). According to this method, product structure can be optimized with the application of value engineering and Design for Manufacturing/Assembly (DFMA) criteria in the conceptual stage of product design. During embodiment design, products are evaluated economically on the basis of the product model which includes manufacturing, assembly and test cost information. According to the results, products are redesigned before manufacture, and the production cost is reduced.