On the Use of a Computerised Tool Kit as an Analysis Aid for Product and Process Design of Clamshell Heat Exchangers

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratip Dastidar ◽  
Taher Aboutour
Author(s):  
Jesse D. Peplinski ◽  
Janet K. Allen ◽  
Farrokh Mistree

Abstract How can the manufacturability of different product design alternatives be evaluated efficiently during the early stages of concept exploration? The benefits of such integrated product and manufacturing process design are widely recognized and include faster time to market, reduced development costs and production costs, and increased product quality. To reap these benefits fully, however, one must examine product/process trade-offs and cost/schedule/performance trade-offs in the early stages of design. Evaluating production cost and lead time requires detailed simulation or other analysis packages which 1) would be computationally expensive to run for every alternative, and 2) require detailed information that may or may not be available in these early design stages. Our approach is to generate response surfaces that serve as approximations to the analyses packages and use these approximations to identify robust regions of the design space for further exploration. In this paper we present a method for robust product and process exploration and illustrate this method using a simplified example of a machining center processing a single component. We close by discussing the implications of this work for manufacturing outsourcing, designing robust supplier chains, and ultimately designing the manufacturing enterprise itself.


Author(s):  
Lars Lindkvist ◽  
Rikard Söderberg

Abstract This paper presents a method for assembly evaluation. The method uses two evaluation criteria, robustness and variation analysis, and is supported by a software tool developed by the authors. The robustness evaluation aims at detecting design and assembly solutions that are sensitive to variation and may cause problems during production. Using this method in early product and process design phases helps to find more robust concepts, resulting in shorter production start-up time and better precision. The method’s use is exemplified in a concept study of the assembly process of the door to the body of a (fictitious) jeep. The study shows that the proposed method can be used to obtain an objective comparison between different concepts. This comparison includes both general robustness and the expected variation in the critical dimensions. The results can be used, together with economical and practical aspects, to determine which concept is best suited for the assembly process. The software used is implemented in the MS Windows environment and has an JGES interface that enables the user to import CAD geometry from an arbitrary CAD system. It can perform different types of robustness evaluations as well as traditional variation analyses.


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