Mechanical Engineering Sector Research Articles

Vibration Assisted Machining of Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymers

Carbon fibre reinforced polymers (CFRP) are essential for high performance sectors like the aerospace industry because of their high stiffness, tensile strength and special properties like corrosion resistance and low coefficient of thermal expansion. The most important facts, that reason the light weight potential, are the high specific mechanical properties. Also, the automotive and the mechanical engineering sector attempt to use the advantages of such composites in an economical way. Despite the fact that products made of such materials are produced in a near net shape manufacturing, reasons like assembling make a mechanical finishing like the production of bores and grooves necessary. This paper shows a possibility to reduce fraying, which is one of three major damage types while machining fibre reinforced polymers (FRP). Therefore vibration assisted machining is used. Especially the vibration characteristics like form, frequency and amplitude should be analysed to find out how they affect the fraying behaviour in milling and drilling processes with uncoated solid carbide tools (VHM). Frequencies up to 300Hz and amplitudes up to 4μm are used for the experiments. It is shown that this machining technology can improve the fraying behaviour.

Knowledge Evaluation for PSS Providers

Manufacturing companies being within the transformation process into a product-service system (PSS) provider face the challenge that they have to build up knowledge for successfully providing services. This paper presents an approach for evaluating the knowledge within a company and to specify the required knowledge for providing a specific PSS. Based on that, the knowledge gap can be derived. The basis are Multiple-Domain Matrix (MDM) based knowledge maps that model employees of the companies, their tasks as well as the knowledge required for fulfilling the tasks. This paper contributes furthermore by enhancing the MDM-based knowledge maps by assessing knowledge levels. The approach is illustrated in a case study within a company of the mechanical engineering sector.

‘One for all and all for one’: Cluster, employment, and the global economic crisis. Evidence from the German mechanical engineering industry

AbstractHow regional clusters – and the firms constituting it – respond to major economic shocks has only recently become the centre of attention in regional research. Taking the concept of ‘adaptive resilience’ as a point of departure, and using a mixed methods approach (firm survey, multivariate analysis, expert interviews), this study explores the response of cluster and non‐cluster firms of the German mechanical engineering sector during the initial phase of the crisis (2008–2009). Findings show a significantly more positive employment trend in cluster firms than in non‐cluster firms. Further analyses of the mechanisms that allow cluster firms to exhibit more resilience than other firms suggest that solidarity and altruism among regional actors were of particular importance in the beginning of the crisis.

Accelerated degradation tests for reliability estimation of a new product: A case study for washing machines

Accelerated degradation test is a valuable technique able to provide information on the duration of highly reliable products. It is widely used in electronics, where component life often cannot be estimated in an acceptable time with the classic reliability estimation techniques. In the mechanical engineering sector, however, accelerated degradation tests are not so common. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applicability of accelerated degradation test methodology to a new mechanical subassembly of a washing machine. In particular, we tried to identify which was the most appropriate degradation parameter, choosing among three possible alternatives. The methodology was applied to the new oscillating group of a washing machine, with oversized dimensions and innovative materials. The first selection of elements that could be monitored initially provided three parameters: the drum deformation, the bearing temperature and the vibrations of the rotation shaft. The research allowed the identification of the deformation as the most appropriate parameter for the reliability estimation of the oscillating unit. The originality of this study lies in the fact that accelerated degradation tests of washing machines is not discussed in earlier studies. In addition, the application of such methodology to select the best from three different parameters is not studied earlier. In this study, another peculiarity of accelerated degradation test has been emphasized: it is possible to quickly enrich the know-how on a new product, allowing an in-depth knowledge of new elements, in far more rapid speed than using the traditional approach.

Technology Maturity Assessment of Carbon Composite Components

Models to assess the maturity of a technology are commonly used in the aerospace sector. They give insights about technological risks and help to time the integration of new technologies to ensure their safe usage for society. Those models can also generate benefit for other sectors, such as the general mechanical engineering sector, when it comes to the assessment of new and complex technologies. Despite the big success of maturity models in the aerospace sector the usage of those models in general mechanical engineering lacks far behind its potential. Looking at actual trends as progressive globalisation and increasingly complex technology developments it will become more important to have a standard method for the maturity assessment of complex technologies. Especially for a small and medium-sized enterprise it is essential to have a clear understanding about the potentials and risks related to a new technology. One example of an upcoming technology for general mechanical engineering is the rise of carbon composite materials. They offer big potentials (e.g. light weight and excellent dynamic behaviour) on the one hand, but raise many technological and economic issues (e.g. missing connecting concepts as well as new process chains and costs) on the other. This article presents a method to assess the maturity of carbon composite components for their usage in general engineering applications. Different approaches for the maturity assessment of technologies were analysed. All concepts describe a technology’s maturity using multiple maturity phases. Those phases can either be passed in parallel or sequentially, which means that one phase has to be completed before the next phase can start. Further analysis showed that a technology’s maturity can best be described when stating not only the development risks but also the uncertainties about the future possible performance of a technology. With the described aspects in consideration the approaches were additionally adjusted to the special needs that arise when it comes to assessing materials: Manufacturing processes as well as component design are usually affected by material substitution. This applies in particular for carbon composites, because manufacturing processes and product design play a very important role for the final material characteristics and component performance. In collaboration with technology users, typical components with a generic character for general mechanical engineering applications were defined. To assess the technological maturity of those components the actual state of knowledge in the different necessary disciplines (e.g. conceptual design, dimensioning and computation methods, manufacturing techniques etc.) was consolidated. The research resulted in the creation of a concept to assess the maturity of material technologies in seven parallel phases. Those phases can be visualized as a maturity profile and two indicators can be derived, one indicating the uncertainty about the technology’s real capabilities, the other indicating the risks concerning the efforts necessary to actually develop the technology. Based on this concept a generic method was developed to assess a certain type of carbon composite component, where the specific requirements (e.g. forces, connecting joints, chemical resistance etc.) can be set individually. Those requirements are linked to the actual state of knowledge and define the level of completion in the different maturity phases, thus leading to the actual maturity profile and indicating the risks and uncertainties, which come along with the required carbon composite component. The results show significant differences in the maturity profiles of the different carbon composite components even though the material is the same. This implies that materials cannot be evaluated solely, because the interdependencies with manufacturing techniques and component design have to be taken into account.

The Exchange Rate Susceptibility of Some European Core Industries and the Currency Union

This paper investigates the relationship between real exchange rate changes and the German, French and UK automobile and mechanical engineering sector. In stylized models, exports decline whenever the domestic currency appreciates and vice versa. Strategic firm behavior, however, can obscure the unambiguousness of this relationship, rendering the impact of a strengthening Euro on exports and on overall order volume unclear. To quantify the impact of the EUR/USD real exchange rate on German and French key exporting industries, we estimate a trivariate VAR based on monthly data from 1995 to 2010, respectively. We proceed analogously with the GBP/USD rate and the UK automobile and mechanical engineering sector series. Our findings indicate that an appreciating Euro hampers exports in the German and French core sectors, but does not cause these industries “pain” in the sense of an aggravated business climate. The latter does not apply to the respective time series for the UK. Time varying parameter VAR estimates confirm this immunization for members in the period after installation of the currency union.

Integration of demand forecasts in ABC‐XYZ analysis: practical investigation at an industrial company

PurposeItem classification based on ABC‐XYZ analysis is of high importance for strategic supply and inventory control. It is common to perform the analysis with past consumption data. In this context, the purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that an integration of demand forecasts can improve the performance of item classification, in particular the performance of ABC‐XYZ analysis.Design/methodology/approachFor the study, real data of an industrial enterprise in the mechanical engineering sector (focal company) were analyzed and evaluated.FindingsThe study shows that a comprehensive data analysis of the focal company can recommend a specific implementation of the ABC‐XYZ classification. In contrast to the classic method of making the ABC‐XYZ analysis based on consumption data only, the approach developed in this paper offers considerable advantages. These are quantifiable in respect to an assumed optimal reference classification.Originality/valueThe evaluation of the results is very promising and applicable to other branches besides mechanical engineering.

Uma Contribuição para para a Excelência em Gestão da Qualidade na Indústria Metal Mecânica: Estudo de Múltiplos Casos e Survey

Today is the undeniable importance of certification in state and national awards, but the ISO 9001: 2008 is currently considered a weapon for the organization to enter into the national and international context and thus transform your certification in a competitive differentiator. The main objective of this study is to determine what were the gains that had the 2008 version over the 1994., Conducted a survey using a structured questionnaire survey in 72 companies in the mechanical engineering sector, whose largest concentration was in Rio Grande do Sul (17% ) and Sao Paulo (63%).Specifically, it will use the Bayesian inference for comparative analysis of the benefits and impacts of the implementation of the 1994 and 2008 versions. The research method involves the quantitative descriptive analysis Survey and participant observation with multiple cases., The instruments used were questionnaires and structured interviews. For data analysis, we used the Bayesian inference to provide a set of key processes, which when processed, causes the company to a level of excellence of quality management system. The results show that in most cases the requirements of ISO were positive for businesses, but some were found to complicate the implementation of a quality management system, but when overcome potentiated the results of its implementation, resulting in 6 marks for raise the level of excellence of companies as evidenced in multiple cases.

Generic strategies and performance – evidence from manufacturing firms

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between business‐level strategy and organisational performance and to test the applicability of Porter's generic strategies in explaining differences in the performance of organisations.Design/methodology/approachThe study was focussed on manufacturing firms in the UK belonging to the electrical and mechanical engineering sectors. Data were collected through a postal survey using the survey instrument from 124 organisations and the respondents were all at CEO level. Both objective and subjective measures were used to assess performance. Non‐response bias was assessed statistically and it was not found to be a major problem affecting this study. Appropriate measures were taken to ensure that common method variance (CMV) does not affect the results of this study. Statistical tests indicated that CMV problem does not affect the results of this study.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that firms adopting one of the strategies, namely cost‐leadership or differentiation, perform better than “stuck‐in‐the‐middle” firms which do not have a dominant strategic orientation. The integrated strategy group has lower performance compared with cost‐leaders and differentiators in terms of financial performance measures. This provides support for Porter's view that combination strategies are unlikely to be effective in organisations. However, the cost‐leadership and differentiation strategies were not strongly correlated with the financial performance measures indicating the limitations of Porter's generic strategies in explaining performance heterogeneity in organisations.Originality/valueThis study makes an important contribution to the literature by identifying some of the gaps in the literature through a systematic literature review and addressing those gaps.

Innovation and export activities in the German mechanical engineering sector: an application of testing restrictions in production analysis

Since Solow (Q J Econ 70:65–94, 1956) the economic literature has widely accepted innovation and technological progress as the central drivers of long-term economic growth. From the microeconomic perspective, this has led to the idea that the growth effects on the macroeconomic level should be reflected in greater competitiveness of the firms. Although innovation effort does not always translate into greater competitiveness, it is recognized that innovation is, in an appropriate sense, unique and differs from other inputs like labor or capital. Nonetheless, often this uniqueness is left unspecified. We analyze two arguments rendering innovation special, the first related to partly non-discretionary innovation input levels and the second to the induced increase in the firm’s competitiveness on the global market. Methodologically the analysis is based on restriction tests in non-parametric frontier models, where we use and extend tests proposed by Simar and Wilson (Commun Stat Simul Comput 30(1):159–184, 2001; J Prod Anal, forthcoming, 2010). The empirical data is taken from the German Community Innovation Survey 2007 (CIS 2007), where we focus on mechanical engineering firms. Our results are consistent with the explanation of the firms’ inability to freely choose the level of innovation inputs. However, we do not find significant evidence that increased innovation activities correspond to an increase in the ability to serve the global market.

Business‐level strategy and performance

PurposeThis study aims to examine the moderating effects of external environment and organisational structure in the relationship between business‐level strategy and organisational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe focus of the study is on manufacturing firms in the UK belonging to the electrical and mechanical engineering sectors, and respondents were CEOs. Both objective and subjective measures were used to assess performance. Non‐response bias was assessed statistically and appropriate measures taken to minimise the impact of common method variance (CMV).FindingsThe results indicate that environmental dynamism and hostility act as moderators in the relationship between business‐level strategy and relative competitive performance. In low‐hostility environments a cost‐leadership strategy and in high‐hostility environments a differentiation strategy lead to better performance compared with competitors. In highly dynamic environments a cost‐leadership strategy and in low dynamism environments a differentiation strategy are more helpful in improving financial performance. Organisational structure moderates the relationship of both the strategic types with ROS. However, in the case of ROA, the moderating effect of structure was found only in its relationship with cost‐leadership strategy. A mechanistic structure is helpful in improving the financial performance of organisations adopting either a cost‐leadership or a differentiation strategy.Originality/valueUnlike many other empirical studies, the study makes an important contribution to the literature by examining the moderating effects of both environment and structure on the relationship between business‐level strategy and performance in a detailed manner, using moderated regression analysis.

Inefficiency in the German Mechanical Engineering Sector

This paper aims to examine the relative efficiency of German engineering firms using a sample of roughly 23,000 observations between 1995 and 2004. As these firms had been successful in the examination period in terms of output- and export-growth, it is expected that a majority of firms is operating quite efficiently and that the density of efficiency scores is skewed to the left. Moreover, as the German engineering industry is dominated by medium sized firms, the question arises whether these firms are the most efficient ones. Finally an increasing efficiency gap between size classes over time is important since that would be a signal for a structural problem within the industry. The analysis - using recently developed DEA methods like bootstrapping or outlier detection - contradicts the two first expectations. The firms proved to operate quite inefficiently with an overall mean of 0.69, and efficiency differs significantly with firm size whereas medium sized firms being on average the least efficient ones. When looking at changes in efficiency over time, we find a decreasing efficiency gap between size classes.

From mechatronics to self-optimizing concepts and structures in mechanical engineering: new approaches to design methodology

The products of mechanical engineering and related sectors will be based increasingly on a close interaction of mechanics, electronics, control engineering and software engineering. Furthermore, these products will demonstrate inherent partial intelligence, which will allow them to adjust independently to changing environmental conditions. This is referred to as self-optimization. It is evident that the development of such products demands new ways and means of communication and cooperation between the experts involved from the relevant disciplines. This article addresses mechatronic and self-optimizing products and explains how such products can be developed in an integrative way. The integration of the four mentioned specialized disciplines is crucial for successful product development. The development process for mechatronic and self-optimizing products takes place in a virtual three-dimensional space for designing. Owing to the high complexity of self-optimizing products and their development process, a sophisticated development environment supporting the design process needs to be provided. This environment supports the product design process by offering an explorative way of designing, i.e. it is possible for the developer to create the principle solution and to test its behaviour in a virtual environment. Examples are chosen from the area of vehicle technology because information technology has a fundamental impact on it. In a next step, the scope will be extended towards smart units in the context of manufacturing systems.

Ecological modernisation of small firms in Japan

This research explores the environmental practices of small-firm owners in Japan using the ecological modernisation (EM) theory as an analytical tool. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 small firm owners from the restaurant and mechanical engineering sectors of Tokyo, and 10 “key informants” in relevant industrial organisations and local governments. The EM theory states that firms in industrialized nations are restructuring along ecological lines in response to market signals, that business actors are increasingly viewing economic and environmental interests as harmonious, and that environmental governance structures are becoming increasingly negotiated and participative. The findings suggest that although some environmental reform is occurring in the sample market dynamics and changing ideologies are not pushing this reform in the way we might have expected under the EM theory. There is little pressure from customers or suppliers to restructure ecologically; economic and environmental interests are often perceived as conflicting; and there is little evidence that business agendas are being refashioned to reflect sustainability objectives. Moreover, small firms are perceived to be marginalized from environmental policy networks dominated by political, bureaucratic, and business elites. The article concludes by questioning whether it is this lack of institutional disenfranchisement that is hampering processes of ecological modernisation among small firms in Japan.

Achieving lean supply through agile manufacturing

Drawing on results from supply chain modelling and dynamic simulation, presents four material flow principles which can be employed to reduce the bullwhip effect. A case study from the precision mechanical engineering sector is employed to illustrate the effect of rapid response manufacturing and supply chain integration. Analysis of six years of time‐series data indicates bullwhip reduction of up to 58 per cent. These results serve to validate the four material flow principles of selecting appropriate control systems, time‐compression, information transparency, and echelon elimination. They also raise interesting questions concerning the relationship between manufacturing agility and lean supply. For, by attenuating bullwhip the studied company was able to reduce their global inventory by 45 per cent. Thus, by viewing manufacturing in the context of the supply chain as a whole, it is possible to see how agile manufacturing can eliminate sources of variability induced waste; particularly inventory. In this way it is argued that agile manufacturing can subsume the paradigm of lean production.

Explaining innovative efforts of SMEs.: An exploratory survey among SMEs in the mechanical and electrical engineering sector in The Netherlands

Innovations are among the most important means through which small and medium sized enterprises contribute to increased employment, economic growth and economic dynamics. A lot of research has been carried out to determine which factors enhance innovative efforts of SMEs. This study uses a regression-based methodology to examine the importance of each factor, controlling for the other factors. The study is based on data collected through telephone interviews with managers of Dutch SMEs in the metal-electro-sector. In the analyses innovative efforts are used as the dependent variable. Out of 14 potentially independent variables, three appear to contribute significantly to innovative efforts: using innovation subsidies, having links with knowledge centres, and the percentage of turnover invested in R&D. This article suggests that innovativeness is the result of a deliberately chosen and pursued policy. If governmental and or sectoral institutions want to stimulate SMEs to become and remain innovative, they should encourage these companies to implement an innovation directed policy. Without such a policy, SMEs seem unable to digest successfully stimulating measures and subsidy schemes.

Manufacturing and supplier roles in product development

The increasingly competitive markets of the 1990s are generally perceived to be demanding higher-quality and higher-performing products, in shorter and more predictable development cycle-times, and at lower cost. Product development must therefore increasingly be managed as a concurrent, multi-disciplinary process. In terms of the manufacturing function and suppliers this is reflected in recommendations for the formal representation and active involvement of both manufacturing and suppliers on project teams, and a strategic approach to suppliers based on partnership sourcing arrangements and supplier development programmes. However, findings of a recent research study of the UK electrical and mechanical engineering sector, involving comparative analysis and benchmarking against a model of best practice of 12 in-depth case studies, followed by an interview survey of 46 companies, has shown that the diversity in the competitive environment and the characteristics of companies, their strategic policies, and their development projects, give rise to different requirements vis-à-vis the roles of manufacturing and suppliers in product innovation. Also, the study has shown that some features of `best-practice’ are inappropriate to some companies operating in the low-volume industries. It is concluded that, rather than adopt a prescriptive model of `best-practice', companies need to develop procedures which more adequately reflect their inherent needs and the types of project they undertake.

Internationalization of corporate R&D: a study of Japanese and Swedish corporations

Based on a questionnaire survey of large corporations in Japan and Sweden, representing chemical, electronic and mechanical engineering sectors, this paper probes three research issues: (1) the level, pace and possible nation-specific mode of internationalization of R&D, (2) the relative roles of demand and supply side factors, and (3) the possible internationalization of industry–university collaborations. The results show a general growth of international R&D across sectors and countries and a particular Japanese mode of internationalization of R&D with a high pace although starting from lower levels, a strong supply-led component, and a strong emphasis on collaborations with US universities. The concept of psychic distance was found to be of limited relevance as an explanatory concept. The paper argues that due to, e.g., technology diversification and emerging technology market conditions, internationalization of R&D will in general become increasingly supply-led, and as industry–university collaborations internationalize, competitive US universities will become increasingly important and internationalize themselves, some conceivably becoming genuine multinational universities.

Project organization: Change in the work atmosphere for engineers

Project organization is often used to increase organizational efficiency and flexibility as a means to meet the demands of the environment. This exploratory study was carried out in order to investigate how working conditions changed when project organization was introduced into new product development work. Forty-five members of five product development projects in the mechanical engineering sector were interviewed. Two of the projects were carried out within the functional organization of the companies concerned, while three took place in a project matrix organization and were supervised by a project manager. The interviews revealed that commitment, dynamism, support, solidarity and communication increased when a project organization was introduced, and that these aspects were positively valued by the project members. However, time pressure and the risk of conflicts also increased with the introduction of a project organization, sometimes with negative repercussions for the individuals concerned. Individual project members also surrendered some of their autonomy to the project group. All members of a project group jointly took some of the decisions that were earlier taken by individuals. Critical issues for the individual member in a project organization are workload, time schedules, and risk of conflict.

Engineering design and product development and its relationship to manufacturing: A programme of case study research in British companies

This paper describes a programme of research into product development and design in engineering and its interface with manufacturing, an area which is currently of considerable interest for companies under increasing pressure to reduce lead time whilst retaining product range and variety. The objective of this research is to develop procedures to enable companies to evaluate the organisation of the design function within the product development process and to identify best practice principles for defined company types. The research to date has concentrated on the mechanical engineering sector, with a variety of companies ranging from engineer/make-to-order to make-to-stock activities. The research has been undertaken by an interdisciplinary team involving engineers and social scientists. The project involves detailed case studies of companies through structured interviews with key participants in the product design and development process. The relationship between this group and other company functions such as marketing, business strategy and manufacturing is also being explored. These detailed studies in the participating companies are being compared to identify both generic and specific features which may then be related to company characteristics. The paper describes the nature of these investigations and presents some preliminary findings and key issues that are arising.