Flexible manufacturability analysis applied to the welding process to increase sustainability in engineer to order businesses

Abstract

This paper addresses the manufacturability of welded components for engineer to order businesses including manufacturing feasibility, approximate manufacturing cost, manufacturing difficulties along with the sustainability aspects. This is addressed by creating an evaluation system for integration in a multi-objective design analysis system in the early phases of product development of the jet engines components in an aerospace business. The work is focused on the weldability assessment based on available weld methods and the weld capabilities of the company. Several rules for analysing the weldability are proposed. To keep the knowledge transparent, traceable and updatable, it is managed by a novel software called Howtomation© Suite using a forward chaining inferencing engine. The proposed framework enables a weldability index and welding cost guide to be derived, helping the designers choose appropriate weld method in early design stages.