Entire Product Life Research Articles

The conceptual framework of IoT based decision support system for life cycle management

Since the impact of manufacturing industries towards the global environmental issues such as climate change is significant, it is required to adhere to stringent environmental performance measures to survive from different pressure groups in the global markets. To improve the environmental performances of the manufacturing sector, it is essential to consider the entire life cycle of products to identify environmental hotspots mitigated through Life Cycle Management(LCM) by subsequent product designs as eco-design. It is required to have adequate and timely information about the entire product life cycle of the product and processes it manufacture and typically it is a time-consuming and costly operation. This issue can be eased some extent through the Internet of Things (IoT) which is tracking data real time. To manage a product life cycle, it is required to evaluate many alternatives scenarios which is impossible to carry out manually. Therefore, this study develops an IoT base Decision Support tool for LCM.

The logistics network digital twin in view of concept of the non-destructive quality control methods

The purpose of the research consists in improving the theoretical basis for non-destructive quality control methods in the context of digitalization and an active transition to Industry 4.0. The methodology used by authors include the consideration of the logistics network digital twin, as well as globalization of markets and ever-increasing global competition in all areas. The article discusses non-destructive quality control methods based on the process of modeling digital twins and the authors’ approach proves the advantages of just such an innovative concept of expanding the definition of logistics network digital twin in comparison with the traditional methods of non-destructive quality control. It could be shown that this approach eventually leads the ability of industries to switch to digitalization of their processes. Saying precisely the improving of the quality control methods could be treated as digitalization of their supply chains, reflecting the entire product life cycle. We have displayed a digital supply chain, which includes the method of non-destructive testing, like a digital twin. The main difference between the digital supply chain and the traditional supply chain is noted. The ideas of large audit companies such as Gartner’s, Siemens and Deloitte are analyzed. What are the benefits of using a digital twin as a non-destructive testing method? All participants of this digital supply chain receive their benefits in terms of digitalization and market competition.

Effects of Hybridisation on the Low Velocity Falling Weight Impact and Flexural Properties of Flax-Carbon/Epoxy Hybrid Composites

The trend of research and adoption of natural plant-based fibre reinforced composites is increasing, with traditional synthetic fibres such as carbon and glass experiencing restrictions placed on their manufacture and use by legislative bodies due to their environmental impact through the entire product life cycle. Finding suitable alternatives to lightweight and high-performance synthetic composites will be of benefit to the automotive, marine and aerospace industries. This paper investigates the low-velocity impact (LVI) and flexural properties and damage characteristics of flax-carbon/epoxy hybrid composites to be used in structural lightweight applications. LVI, for example, is analogous to several real-life situations, such as damage during manufacture, feasibly due to human error such as the dropping of tools and mishandling of the finished product, debris strikes of aircraft flight, or even the collision of a vessel with another. Carbon fibre has been hybridised with flax fibres to achieve enhanced impact and flexural performance. The failure mechanisms of woven flax and flax-carbon epoxy hybrid composites have been further analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). It was observed from the experimental results that carbon fibre hybridisation has a significant effect on the impact and flexural properties and their damage modes. The results obtained from this study exhibited that the flexural strength and modulus of plain flax/epoxy composite increase significantly from 95.66 MPa to 425.87 MPa and 4.78 GPa to 17.90 GPa, respectively, with carbon fibre hybridisation. This significant improvement in flexural properties would provide designers with important information to make informed decisions during material selection for lightweight structural applications.

Brazilian potential for circular fashion through strengthening local production

Textile and garment industry ranks among the world’s dirtiest sectors. The long-term success of the sector will depend on the control of social and environmental resources in the entire product life cycle. The “circular economy” (CE) concept is fast becoming a new model for resilient growth. However, CE continues to be understood largely as a waste management and recycling strategy, but the economic opportunities are far broader and more diverse. The success of the CE in developing countries will be critical to global efforts to ensure sustainable growth. Brazil’s textile and garment industry is the largest complete textile chain in the West and ranks among the world’s top producers of textiles and apparel. This sector is also the second largest generator of manufacturing jobs in Brazil. On the other hand, of the 8 million workers that are estimated, 6.5 are irregular ones. The objective of this paper was to provide a comprehensive review of research efforts encompassing aspects of CE as value network, local production, economic benefits and Brazilian fashion market. By this, it is expected to bring new contributions to neglected issues, the manufacturing base as CE strategy and the social performance. The two main contributions of this research are to highlight Brazilian focus and to find how circular approaches align with and support the already existing domestic industrial and social development strategies.

An approach for the performance-impact of parent-child wellbores spacing and hydraulic fractures cluster spacing in conventional and unconventional reservoirs

The objective of this paper is focusing deep insights on the impacts of the spacing between parent and child wellbores and between hydraulic fractures on the performance of conventional and unconventional reservoirs. The target is developing a quantitative approach for determining these impacts on pressure responses, flow regimes, and productivity indices during the entire production life of these reservoirs. The motivation of this study is the willing to set-up and define clearly the criteria for the optimum spacing between wellbores and fractures that could give the maximum productivity considering different reservoir configurations and wellbore types.The methodology used in this study consists of four tasks. The first includes developing several analytical models for pressure behavior, and productivity index of reservoirs depleted by multilateral wells intersected by multiple hydraulic fractures. These models are applicable for conventional and unconventional reservoirs. The second demonstrates the solutions of these models using a state of the art computational tools and considering different spacings between these laterals and different spacings between fractures. The third concentrates on characterizing the production interference caused by the narrow spacing between fractures and short spacing between wellbores. This interference can be predicted from the changes in the flow regimes seen on pressure derivative curves. The last task focuses on proposing a quantitative measure for the optimum spacing between parent-child wellbores and optimum spacing between hydraulic fractures that could give the maximum productivity during the entire production life of the reservoirs.The observations are summarized in: 1) The impact of parent-child spacing is more influential than the impact of hydraulic fracture spacing. A significant increase in the productivity index is pointed out by increasing the number of the wellbore and decreasing the spacing between them while a very slight increase is seen in spite of the large increase in the number of hydraulic fractures. 2) The interference caused by parent-child spacing is seen after the interference of fracture spacing. The first one impacts linear flow regime when reservoir fluids flow from the drainage area beyond fracture tips to the area between hydraulic fractures while the second one impacts bilinear flow regime when reservoir fluids move toward hydraulic fractures. 3) The Frac-Hit, represented by the direct contact between hydraulic fractures of two adjacent wellbores, could cause a significant decline in the total productivity index of the production system. 4) The optimum wellbore spacing in fractured reservoirs depends on the number of hydraulic fractures propagated from these wellbores.The novel points presented in this study are: 1) New approach for estimating the optimum wellbore spacing and fracture spacing in conventional and unconventional reservoirs. 2) The possibilities for predicting the starting time of production interference caused by narrow spacings between fractures and wellbores. 3) The optimum spacing between hydraulic fractures is in the range of (10−30acres) for each fracture.

Муніципалітет як регулятор поводження з побутовими відходами

Мета статті. У статті розглянуто досвід органів місцевого самоврядування в країнах ЄС у сфері поводження з побутовими відходами, який виправдав себе на практиці. Досліджено законодавство ЄС у зазначеній сфері. Встановлено напрямки запобігання виникненню відходів на муніципальному рівні.
 Наукова новизна. У зв’язку з незадовільним станом виконання в Україні зобов’язань, покладених на органи місцевої влади законом «Про відходи», пропонується вперше дослідити найкращі практики країн – членів ЄС у сфері поводження з побутовими відходами з метою запозичення позитивного досвіду.
 Висновки. Органи місцевого самоврядування є одним із ключових гравців у запобіганні утворенню відходів. Вони можуть за допомогою відповідних заходів сприяти зменшенню кількості утворюваних відходів та їх небезпечних властивостей. Запобігання виникненню відходів є комплексом заходів, вживаних до того, як речовина, матеріал або продукт стають відходами. Метою цих заходів є зменшення кількості відходів шляхом повторного використання продукції або продовження терміну їх служби, зменшення впливу відходів, що утворюються, на навколишнє середовище та здоров’я людини, зменшення шкідливих речовин у матеріалах і продуктах.
 Запобігання виникненню відходів є необхідною передумовою сталого розвитку населеного пункту. Необхідно сприймати цю сферу не тільки з точки зору відходів (хоча запобігання виникненню відходів є першою ланкою в ієрархії поводження з відходами), але також з точки зору всього життєвого циклу продукції (дизайну продукції, виробництва, розподілу, використання, повторного використання, переробки) та синергії соціального, регіонального розвитку, освіти тощо.
 Запобігання виникненню відходів на муніципальному рівні можна класифікувати за такими напрямками: координаційна та інформаційна діяльність; освітня діяльність; компостування відходів; повторне використання відходів; підтримка діяльності суб’єктів у сфері запобігання виникненню відходів. Координаційна діяльність повинна здійснюватися як між суб’єктами на рівні громади (горизонтальна координаційна діяльність), так і загальнодержавним, регіональним і місцевими рівнями (вертикальна координаційна діяльність).
 Освітня діяльність відіграє важливу роль в активному залученні громадян до скорочення утворення відходів та сортування твердих побутових відходів. Навчальні та інформаційно-просвітницькі кампанії повинні проходити у цьому напрямку. Бажано поєднувати навчання та тренінги з його практичною реалізацією у населеному пункті. Значний ефект дає освіта школярів.
 Як окремі напрямки, що сприяють зменшенню виникнення відходів на місцевому рівні, слід виділити станції компостування органічних відходів та сприяння повторному використанню товарів з боку органів місцевого самоврядування. Вживані товари, які споживач більше не використовує або не хоче використовувати, але які є функціональними, цілком можуть служити комусь іншому. Залежно від стану та вартості вживаний товар можна продавати, обмінювати або дарувати. Із цієї причини громадяни повинні мати достатньо можливостей для передачі цих товарів для подальшого використання. Такі можливості за зразком країн-членів ЄС мають створити органи місцевого самоврядування.

Automated requirements-driven design synthesis of gearboxes with graph-based design languages using state of the art tools

In order to best match individual customer requirements in gearbox applications, customer-tailored gearboxes are a desirable solution. That leads to the demand for a truly individualized product development. In order to keep costs down despite an increasing product variability, novel digital design methods which automate the design process and avoid redundant manual work need to be developed and deployed. Graph-based design languages in UML (Unified Modeling Language) use a central data model to guarantee model consistency and to generate automatically multi-disciplinary models and simulations thereof. The paper shows the use of graph-based design languages for automated gear synthesis and the automated three dimensional arrangement of gearset parts. The aim of this language is to generate the gearset including the gear calculation. The calculation automation is supported with the domain-specific synthesis tool GAP (‘Getriebe Auslegungs Programm’). The resulting gearset is then packaged into a given design space provided as one of the customer requirements. The package problem is the subject of several boundary conditions and for this reasons normally multiple solutions do exist. Therefore, optimization methods are used in the following to select the final three-dimensional arrangement. The current state of the gear system model also includes a fully parametric CAD housing. The approach shown in this paper can be extended to the entire product life cycle, also including domain-specific and already established software solutions. Finally, the opportunity is present to include further product assessments like a cost calculation and a first reliability check of the system. The authors are aware of the fact that this fully automated process is currently still restricted to a specific class of product design problems such as gears and gearbox design.

Sustainability indicators for biobased chemicals: A Delphi study using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Biobased chemistry has gained interest and has the potential to tackle some of the sustainability challenges the chemical industry must endure. Sustainability impacts need to be evaluated and monitored to highlight the advantages and pitfalls of different biobased routes over the entire product life cycle. This study aims for expert consensus concerning indicators needed and preferred for sustainability analysis of biobased chemicals in Europe. Experts are consulted by means of a Delphi method with stakeholders selected from three core groups: the private, public and academic sector. Best-Worst Scaling (BWS) is performed to gather data on the prioritization of the sustainability indicators per respondent. Afterwards, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is used to develop a consensus ranking among the experts. The results show that GHG emissions, market potential and acceptance of biobased materials are deemed the most crucial indicators for respectively environmental, economic and social sustainability. Expert consensus is positive in all three sustainability domains, with the strongest consensus measured for environmental sustainability showing a median Kendall’s τ of 0.63 (τ ranging from -1 to 1) and the weakest consensus found within social sustainability showing a median Kendall’s τ of 0.50. Further research can apply the ranked indicators on specific case studies to evaluate the practicability of the defined indicator set.

Fishbone type horizontal wellbore completion: A study for pressure behavior, flow regimes, and productivity index

This paper focuses on studying pressure behavior, flow regimes, and productivity index of oil and gas reservoirs depleted by horizontal wells with a fishbone type completion technology. The main objective is introducing an integrated approach for the favorable configuration and distribution of multilateral horizontal wells extending in porous media at arbitrary directions and arbitrary permeability trajectories. The study aims to demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of fishbone completion in terms of transient and pseudo-steady state productivity index considering single phase flow in the porous media. It is also an attempt to propose new analytical models for the expected flow regimes and new practical solutions for estimating stabilized productivity index for different scenarios of fishbone completion.In this study, pressure distribution in the porous media is described by several analytical models considering different reservoir geometries and different multilateral horizontal wellbore configurations. These models are solved for single and dual porous media where naturally induced fractures exist. Lateral and spatial permeability are considered in these models as well as non-Darcy flow impact close to the vicinity of the wellbores in gas reservoirs. The solutions of these models are used to generate analytical models for the flow regimes that can be observed during the entire production life. Transient and stabilized productivity indices are quantified for the case of constant production rate using the observed pressure responses of fishbone type horizontal wells. The starting time of pseudo-steady state and the stabilized pseudo-steady state productivity index are used to assess the optimal configuration for fishbone completion.The observations are summarized in: 1) Pressure behavior, flow regimes, and productivity index of fishbone type horizontal wells are impacted by main wellbore and laterals distribution, however, laterals distribution in both sides of the main wellbore may not have an impact in isotropic formations. 2) Azimuth and vertical deviation angles from the main horizontal wellbore and lateral and spatial anisotropies have similar impacts because they change hypothetically the lateral length. 3) The impact of azimuth angle might be maximized by the lateral anisotropy while spatial anisotropy could maximize the impact of vertical deviation angle. 4) The conjunction points of the laterals and the main wellbore may not have a significant impact. 5) Productivity indices of fishbone type horizontal wellbores during early and late production times are less than the ones obtained by single horizontal well, however, almost identical indices are seen at intermediate production time when linear flow regime is observed. 6) The starting time of pseudo-steady state flow is controlled by the main wellbore length more than the laterals’ characteristics unless these laterals extend to reservoir boundaries.The conclusions summed up from the results of this study are: 1) Eventhough fishbone type completion could be significant solution for a lot of operation problems of long horizontal wellbore such as excessive pressure drop and wellbore instability, it is not necessary delivering optimum reservoir performance. 2) Flow regimes and flow patterns (transient or pseudo-steady state) are affected by the characteristics and distributions of the main wellbore and laterals in the porous media.

Intra-flock variability in the body reserve dynamics of meat sheep by analyzing BW and body condition score variations over multiple production cycles

Breeding for resilience requires a better understanding of intra-flock variability and the related mechanisms responsible for robustness traits. Among such traits, the animals’ ability to cope with feed fluctuations by mobilizing or restoring body reserves (BR) is a key mechanism in ruminants. The objective of this work was to characterize individual variability in BR dynamics in productive Romane ewes reared in extensive conditions. The BR dynamics profiles were characterized by combining individual longitudinal measurements of BW and body condition scores (BCS) over several production cycles. Historical data, including up to 2628 records per trait distributed in 1146 ewes, underwent cluster analysis. Two to four trajectories were observed for BW depending on the cycle, while three trajectories were found for BCS, whatever the cycle. Most trajectories suggested that BR dynamics were similar but the level of BR may differ between ewes. Nevertheless, some trajectories suggested that both BR dynamics and levels were different for a proportion of ewes. Clustering on BW and BCS profiles adjusted for individual level trends, resulted in differences only in the level of BW or BCS, rather than differences in trajectories. Thus, the overall shape of trajectories was not changed considering or not the individual level trend across cycles. In addition to individual variability, the ewe’s age at first lambing and litter size contributed to the distribution of the ewes between the trajectories. Regarding the entire productive life, three trajectories were observed for BW and BCS changes over three productive cycles. Increase in BW at each cycle suggested that ewes kept growing up until 3 to 4 years old in our conditions. Similar alternation of BCS gains and losses across cycles suggested BR dynamics might be repeatable. Many individual trajectories remained the same throughout a ewe’s life, whatever the age at first lambing, parity or litter size. Our results demonstrate the relevance of using BW and BCS changes for characterizing the diversity of BR mobilization–accretion profiles in sheep in a long timespan perspective.

Effect of Pressure-Propagation Behavior on Production Performance: Implication for Advancing Low-Permeability Coalbed-Methane Recovery

Summary Low-permeability coalbed-methane (CBM) reservoirs possess unique pressure-propagation behavior, which can be classified further as the expansion characteristics of the drainage area and the desorption area [i.e., a formation in which the pressure is lower than the initial formation pressure and critical-desorption pressure (CDP), respectively]. Inevitably, several fluid-flow mechanisms will coexist in realistic coal seams at a certain production time, which is closely related to dynamic pressure and saturation distribution. To the best of our knowledge, a production-prediction model for CBM wells considering pressure-propagation behavior is still lacking. The objective of this work is to perform extensive investigations into the effect of pressure-propagation behavior on the gas-production performance of CBM wells. First, the pressure-squared approach is used to describe the pressure profile in the desorption area, which has been clarified as an effective-approximation method. Also, the pressure/saturation relationship that was developed in our previous research is used; therefore, saturation distribution can be obtained. Second, an efficient iteration algorithm is established to predict gas-production performance by combining a new gas-phase-productivity equation and a material-balance equation. Finally, using the proposed prediction model, we shed light on the optimization method for production strategy regarding the entire production life of CBM wells. Results show that the decrease rate of bottomhole pressure (BHP) should be slow at the water single-phase-flow stage, fast at the early gas/water two-phase-flow stage, and slow at the late gas/water two-phase-flow stage, which is referred to as the slow/fast/slow (SFS) control method. Remarkably, in the SFS control method, the decrease rate of the BHP at each period can be quantified on the basis of the proposed prediction model. To examine the applicability of the proposed SFS method, it is applied to an actual CBM well in Hancheng Field, China, and it enhances the cumulative gas production by a factor of approximately 1.65.

Transient and Pseudo-Steady-State Inflow Performance Relationships for Multiphase Flow in Fractured Unconventional Reservoirs

The objective of this paper is developing new methodology for constructing the inflow performance relationships (IPRs) of unconventional reservoirs experiencing multiphase flow. The motivation is eliminating the uncertainties of using single-phase flow IPRs and approaching realistic representation and simulation to reservoir pressure–flow rate relationships throughout the entire life of production. Several analytical models for the pressure drop and decline rate as wells productivity index of two wellbore conditions, constant Sandface flow rate and constant wellbore pressure, are presented in this study. Several deterministic models are also proposed in this study for multiphase reservoir total mobility and compressibility using multi-regression analysis of PVT data and relative permeability curves of different reservoir fluids. These deterministic models are coupled with the analytical models of pressure drop, decline rate, and productivity index to construct the pressure–flow rate relationships (IPRs) during transient and pseudo-steady-state production time. Transient IPRs are generated for early-time hydraulic fracture linear flow regime and intermediate-time bilinear and trilinear flow regimes, while steady-state IPRs are generated for pseudo-steady-state flow regime in case of constant Sandface flow rate and boundary-dominated flow regime in case of constant wellbore pressure. The outcomes of this study are as follows: (1) introducing the impact of multiphase flow to the IPRs of unconventional reservoirs; (2) developing deterministic models for reservoir total mobility and compressibility using multi-regression analysis of PVT data and relative permeability curves; (3) developing analytical models for different flow regimes that could be developed during the entire production life of reservoirs; (4) predicting transient and steady-state IPRs of multiphase flow for different wellbore conditions. The study has pointed out: (1) Multiphase flow conditions have significant impact on reservoir IPRs. (2) Multiphase reservoir total mobility and compressibility exhibit significant change with reservoir pressure. (3) Constant Sandface flow rate may demonstrate IPR better than constant wellbore pressure. (4) Late production time is not affected by multiphase flow conditions similar to transient state flow at early and intermediate production time.

Sow removal in commercial herds: Patterns and animal level factors in Finland

This observational retrospective cohort study provides benchmarking information on recent sow productivity development in Finnish herds. It focuses on parity cycle specific trends in sow removal patterns, and especially on the role of litter performance (size and piglet survival) in sow removal. In addition, the generated models offer a tool for calculating sow removal risks in any period, which could be used in economic and other simulation models. The data used in the study pool information of sows starting the same parity cycle (1 through 8) over the enrollment period of July 1st, 2013 through June 30th, 2014 and followed until the end of the study period (December 31st, 2014), and their performance histories across their entire previous productive life. Out of 71,512 individual sow parity cycle observations from the first to the eighth, 15,128 ended up in removal. Average litter sizes exceeded 13 piglets born in total in all of the most recent farrowings. Yet, even larger litter sizes were favored by the implemented culling policies, as sows having medium and large early life litters had lower risks of removal compared to those with the smallest litters, particularly in younger animals. With regard to piglets born just prior to removal, the smallest litter sizes were associated with the greatest culling risk for sows of that particular parity. In addition, having more than one stillborn piglet in the first and second litter put the sow at higher risk of being removed in all but the last (sixth through eighth) of the studied parity cycles. Investigation of removal patterns revealed a negative linear relationship between parity count and the mean days from farrowing to removal. More specifically, the median (mean) times to removal varied across the parity cycles from 62 (72) in the first to 34 days in both the seventh and eighth (47 and 42, respectively). Moreover, one in every six sows was removed within the first and second parity cycle. The findings especially in the earliest cycles may be a reflection of removal decisions not made according to any clear and pre-determined policy, or of biological issues that prevent farmers from firmly adhering to their policy. Quantitative performance should be linked to overall system functionality and profitability while taking animal welfare into consideration in identifying opportunities to improve herd parity structure and future farm success.

From the editors of the special issue on selected methods and instrumentation of metrology for aerospace

Metrology is the theoretical and experimental interdisciplinary science of the measurement for each research and application field. In the aerospace field, metrology plays a fundamental role both for certification and for calibration of instrumentation. In addition, it drives the ideation and design of innovative instrumentation and experimental setups to reproduce on the ground aerospace environments. In this issue, we try to demonstrate this, highlighting the importance of measurement and instrumentation for all activities involved in aerospace. Aerospace projects need innovative and unique test and measurement solutions throughout the entire product life cycle, from modelling and simulation on a research and development bench to flight testing and operational applications. Innovation in aerospace technologies takes place at an increasingly fast pace, as does the development of test and measurement methodologies and technologies, and this is important for miniaturization and increasingly integrated solutions to minimize the necessary resources. Companies and researchers should focus on the development of the next generations of aerospace equipment and, in the meantime, must ensure their effectiveness before they are used in an operational context

Simulation of Matrix/Fracture Interaction in Low-Permeability Fractured Unconventional Reservoirs

Summary Unconventional reservoirs, such as shale-gas or tight oil reservoirs, are generally highly fractured (including hydraulic fractures and stimulated and nonstimulated natural fractures of various sizes) and embedded in low-permeability formations. One of the main production mechanisms in unconventional reservoirs is the flow exchange between matrix and fracture media. However, because of extremely low matrix permeability, the matrix/fracture exchange is very slow and the transient flow may last several years to tens of years, or almost the entire production life. The commonly used dual-porosity (DP) modeling approach involves a computation of pseudosteady-state matrix/fracture transfers with homogenized fluid and flow properties within the matrix medium. This kind of model clearly fails to handle the long-lasting matrix/fracture interaction in very-low-permeability reservoirs, especially for multiphase flow with phase-change problems. Moreover, a DP model is not adapted for the simulation of matrix/fracture exchange when fractures are described by a discrete-fracture network (DFN). This paper presents an embedded discrete-fracture model (EDFM) dependent on the multiple-interacting-continua (MINC) proximity function to overcome this insufficiency of the conventional DP model.

The UN World Water Development Report 2016, Water and Jobs: A Critical Review

The UN World Water Development Report 2016, <i>Water and Jobs</i>: A Critical Review

A method for component-oriented toughness analysis of modern multiphase steels

Steel is still the most important construction material for private and utility vehicles. The saving of fuel based on crude oil is therefore always associated with a reduction in weight of the components made of steel. The dimensioning of these components plays an important role for the weight reduction of modern vehicles. If components are particularly efficient, they are able to withstand the loads occurring with minimum material usage throughout the entire product life. For efficient components, considering the toughness of modern multiphase steels is a main factor. So far, there is no suitable method to investigate sheets with small thicknesses in an experiment that is comparable to the Charpy impact test. Therefore, a new test procedure for steels with sheet thicknesses below 2 mm has been developed in recent years at the Steel Institute of RWTH-Aachen. This procedure can be used to avoid over-dimensioning with unnecessary reserves, which lead to inefficient vehicles with high fuel consumption.The method proposed in this article for the investigation of these materials is the tensile impact test. This enables the toughness examination of thin sheets and provides information about their behavior in relevant stress situations.In the presented study, the experiment is presented and a procedure for the quantitative estimation of necessary material properties in special stress situations is described. Numerical simulations can be used to identify highly stressed regions and define stress states that characterize these regions. In a sample catalogue created for the tensile impact test, a sample can be selected that matches the stress state in the component. Thus, the potential of the material can be checked quickly and without great effort. The article shows the test procedure and presents the sample catalogue. In addition, an outline of a procedure to link experiments and simulation-based investigations will be presented.

Automated Manufacturing Technology

Advanced manufacturing technology (advanced manufacturing technique, acronym AMT, specifically refers to the technology equipment and system which are produced by the integration of mechanical engineering technology electronic technology automation technology information technology and so on. Mainly include: computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing, integrated manufacturing systems. Advanced manufacturing technology is not a process method of a single processing process, but it spans many disciplines and encompasses all the relevant technologies throughout the entire product life cycle, from product design, processing and manufacturing to product sales and customer service. Involved in design, process, processing automation, management and special processing and other areas, and gradually integration and integration. And advanced manufacturing technology mainly includes the following three technology groups: (1) Main technology group: is the core of manufacturing technology, it includes two basic parts: related product design technology and process technology. (2) Support technology group: A. Information technology: interface and communication, database technology, integration framework, software engineering artificial intelligence, expert system and neural network, decision support system. Standards and frameworks: data standards, product definition standards, process standards, inspection standards, interface frameworks. C. Machine tools and tools technology. D. D. Sensor and control technology: single machining unit and process control, actuator, sensor and sensor combination, production scheduling. Others; (3) Manufacturing technology infrastructure. Elements include training and education of workshop workers, engineers and managers in various advanced production technologies and programs.

Towards a socio-inspired multiagent approach for new generation of product life cycle management

The main goal of this paper is to describe new integrated methodology: Agent-based Recon-figurable Generic Organzation. This is an integrated approach which allows designing future product life cycle organizations as a class of learning, self-learning or adaptive distributed systems using high-level, sign-based communications across entire product life cycle environment named Product Related Semiosphere (PRS). The definition of PRS is a fundamental question of developing a new class of distributed semiotic systems with ability to communicate, identify and manufacture engineering artifacts with prescriptive characteristics.The paper analyses different types of product life cycle management approaches and suggests overall approach for integration of business and engineering knowledge during the whole product life-cycles. It allows to understand the interrelationships of different life-cycle stages for acquiring and manipulating concurrent engineering knowledge. The authors proposed the idea of using socio-inspired framework based on applied semiotics and distributed artificial intelligence.

Applications of pharmacogenomics in regulatory science: a product life cycle review.

With rapid developments of pharmacogenomics (PGx) and regulatory science, it is important to understand the current PGx integration in product life cycle, impact on clinical practice thus far and opportunities ahead. We conducted a cross-sectional review on PGx-related regulatory documents and implementation guidelines in the United States and Europe. Our review found that although PGx-related guidance in both markets span across the entire product life cycle, the scope of implementation guidelines varies across two continents. Approximately one-third of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs with PGx information in drug labels and half of the European labels posted on PharmGKB website contain recommendations on genetic testing. The drugs affected 19 and 15 World Health Organization Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical drug classes (fourth level) in the United States and Europe, respectively, with protein kinase inhibitors (13 drugs in the United States and 16 drugs in Europe) being most prevalent. Topics of emerging interest were novel technologies, adaptive design in clinical trial and sample collection.