Dedicated Manufacturing Lines Research Articles

Expert Elicitation To Estimate the Feed Safety Impact of Criteria Included in the Canadian Food Inspection Agency Risk Assessment Model for Feed Mills

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is developing an Establishment-based Risk Assessment (ERA) model for commercial and on-farm mills involved in the manufacture, storage, packaging, labeling, or distribution of livestock feed (ERA-Feed Mill model). This model will help inform the allocation of inspection resources on the basis of feed safety risk, including animal health and food safety risk. In a previous study, 34 risk factors, grouped into inherent, mitigation, and compliance clusters, along with assessment criteria were selected. The objective of this current study was to estimate the relative risk (RR) of the 203 assessment criteria on the basis of the impact on feed safety to design an ERA-Feed Mill model algorithm. Furthermore, the intent of this study was to assess the maximum increase or decrease of risk obtained when multiple criteria belonging to a same cluster were identified in a specific feed mill. To do so, a two-round face-to-face expert elicitation was conducted with 28 Canadian feed experts. Results showed no significant association between respondent profiles (years of experience and work sector) and estimated RR. Uniformity of answers between experts improved between rounds. Criteria having the highest increase in risk (median RR ≥ 4) included the presence of materials prohibited to be fed to ruminants in a facility that produces ruminant feed, the presence of multiple livestock species on-site, and historical noncompliances related to the inspection of the feed mill's process control and end-product control programs. Risk mitigation criteria having the highest impact on decreasing the risk were the implementation of feed safety certifications, the use of dedicated manufacturing lines (prohibited materials or medications), and having a hazard sampling plan in place for finished feed. The median RR assigned to each criterion and cluster will be used to build an algorithm of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's ERA-Feed Mill model.

Design, quality, safety and efficacy of extensively hydrolyzed formula for management of cow's milk protein allergy: What are the challenges?

Cow's milk protein allergy (CMPA) is one of the most common food allergies in infancy. Clinical food allergy guidelines recommend an extensively hydrolyzed formula (EHF) as the first-line treatment in nonbreastfed infants with CMPA. Designing and commercializing EHF poses both technical and regulatory challenges. Each manufacturing step, from sourcing of raw materials to release of the final product, needs to be managed in accordance with comprehensive quality systems. To avoid cross-contamination via externally sourced ingredients, suppliers should be carefully selected based on quality requirements. Strict zoning of the manufacturing areas according to contamination risk and air flow control are effective strategies to prevent accidental allergen contamination. Furthermore, dedicated manufacturing lines for hypoallergenic products are used to prevent potential cross-contamination from other products produced on the same line. The enzymatic hydrolysis, heat treatment and ultrafiltration used are specific to each manufacturer. Consequently, EHF are a heterogenous group of products with differences in the molecular weight profile of peptides, content of residual immunogenic cow's milk allergens, and residual in-vitro allergenicity. These differences are likely to affect clinical efficacy and safety. As not all commercialized EHF products have undergone formal testing in the laboratory and clinical trials, there is a need to develop guidelines for minimum technical and regulatory requirements for EHF products, including validated assays for ongoing quality control. Clinical trials assessing new EHF products for their hypoallergenicity and ability to support normal growth remain the definitive proof of efficacy and safety in infants and young children with CMPA.

Model of decision support for the configuration of manufacturing system

Abstract Manufacturing enterprises today have to face the volatility of markets, characterized by a decreasing production volume and an increasing number of product variants to meet customer expectations. Traditional dedicated manufacturing lines (DML) have been replaced by flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and, recently, by the systems that combine features of DML and FMS, i.e., by reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). Appropriate manufacturing support and optimization systems for FMS and RMS will advance the quality and effectiveness of reconfigurable manufacturing. This paper proposes an original mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model for decision support in configuration and reconfiguration of the manufacturing system. The modeled problem is a certain development of the known machine loading problem MLP. In this approach, we generate a highly parameterized model based on a set of constraints and a set of questions. Different mathematical programming (MP) - based solvers are proposed to solve this model.

Framework for The Development of a New Reconfigurable Guillotine Shear and Bending Press Machine

In today's manufacturing world, consumer satisfaction is difficult to achieve owing to the dynamic and continuous changes in their requirements and the rapid change in product designs. Research has been carried out on several innovations addressing this problem with various machine designs having been produced to deal effectively with the dynamic customer needs. Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) and machines (RMTs), having superseded the dedicated manufacturing lines (DMLs) with dedicated machine tools (DMTs); and flexible manufacturing systems (FMSs) with their machines (FMTs), have led to a new era that takes the best aspects of both DMLs, FMSs and machines to conceive a new manufacturing system, RMS and RMTs that satisfy the dynamic nature of customer requirements. The aim of this paper is to present a structured framework that will optimise the development process of a new reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine to be used in sheet metal work. The framework provides a guide for designers and manufactures of sheet metal machines in developing the new machine. To develop the framework, research used various tools such as reviewing existing literature on RMSs & RMTs, DMLs & DMTs, FMSs & FMTs and expected product change responsiveness. Research also explored literature on the development of machine modules for reconfigurable machines and reconfigurable technology systems. The framework seeks to provide a structured approach towards the machine development by highlighting important steps to be taken and various aspects to be considered. The results give a framework that will guide the development of a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine tool that can be configured and reconfigured to enable cutting and bending of varying sheet metal products by a single machine with dual functionality.

Study of Production Scheduling Problem for Reconfigurable Manufacturing System (RMS)

In the present competitive manufacturing environment, handling changes and uncertainties in the production scheduling is a major challenge Reconfigurable Manufacturing system (RMS) provides an effective and promising solution for this challenge. This paper provides a novel approach of production scheduling considering the reconfigurable machine tools. In Dedicated Manufacturing lines (DML) and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) do not meet the challenges up to expected level because of short comings in their implementation procedurals like lack of support for product variation, scalable production capacity and high production cost, RMS provides the solution in designing a new manufacturing system with scalable flexibility and functionality which is needed in the manufacturing industry. This paper studies the problem of scheduling of different operations in for the selected product in reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). The objective is to minimize the make span of the product by segregating and scheduling the similar operations of product. To solve the existing problem in the production scheduling different metaheuristic approaches are developed for simulation, models are evaluated for the performance.

Modelling the Problem of Production Scheduling for Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems

Companies are gradually moving towards reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) to achieve both changeable functionality of flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) and scalable capacity of dedicated manufacturing lines (DML) to the extent possible. Despite this expected trend in manufacturing, there is a dearth of literature on scheduling for RMS; papers in the production scheduling literature still mainly focus on either DML or FMS. This paper tackles the problem of scheduling production operations in RMS. After explicitly defining different aspects of the problem, a mathematical model is developed to formally model the problem. Using the model and commercial software of operations research, the small instances of the problem are solved for optimality. To effectively solve large instances of the problem, different simulated annealing metaheuristics are developed. Using numerical experiments, the model and simulated annealing algorithms are evaluated for performance.

A real-option approach to flexibility planning in reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS) are a new class of manufacturing systems aiming at combining the high throughput of dedicated manufacturing lines with the flexibility of flexible manufacturing systems. An RMS can simultaneously manufacture a large variety of product types in unpredictable quantities while maintaining mass production efficiency. Flexibility typically comes at a price and is only valuable as a hedge against environmental uncertainty. It is important to determine an appropriate level of flexibility in the reconfiguration of production systems while considering the tradeoffs between its costs and benefits. This paper develops a real-option theoretical model that provides insights into flexibility planning in an RMS. A practical method is presented to assist the justification of an RMS in deciding how to influence its operating environment and choose right reconfiguration technologies in order to maximize the performance measure of profitability. The real-option approach surmounts traditional discounted cash-flow-analysis-based valuation methods that tend to ignore the upside potentials of an investment from management flexibility. The proposed model is tested with a real-life RMS installed for the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assembly of mobile phones with a high level of variety.