Task-centric method for shipyard hoisting process modelling and its application in CAPP

Abstract

Shipyard hoisting process is a project type manufacturing process which entails more sophisticated elements and relationships than other kinds of processes, this feature brings particular challenges when constructing a structured description of the process, called enterprise model, to introduce various Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) technologies. However, most of the modelling methods devised so far do not consider the individual demand of project type manufacturing process. Therefore, we envisage the necessity to expand, extend, and refactor current methodologies in order to exploit this remaining dimension. In this line, we present a dedicated method aiming at appropriately modelling the project type manufacturing process, it employs seven collaborative views and task-centric idea to emphasize work flow abstraction without sticking to the material flow abstraction as current methods do, which is the key factor to successfully achieve horizontal functions/organizations integration and vertical management hierarchies integration for this special process. The proposed method adopts semi-formal meta model to interpret its framework, building blocks and constraints graphically and rigorously. All these works are performed taking shipyard hoisting process as example. According to the modelling method, a two-stage Computer Aided Process Planning (CAPP) method is also initiated to demonstrate how the process model can serve as the bridge to converge manufacturing technology and information technology. Furthermore, a CAPP prototype is developed to carry out case study with an actual shipyard hoisting process. The study reveals promising contributions to not only enhancing the industrial competitiveness but also enriching the enterprise modelling research on project type manufacturing process.