Modular Production System Research Articles

Interpretive structural modeling-based framework for mass customisation enablers: an Indian footwear case

In the epoch of open economy and with the emergence of availability of individualised products over the Internet, Indian manufacturing industries are facing an enormous pressure to become more flexible and responsive, to accomplish customer’s varied and increasing demands. Mass customisation (MC) is about developing a customised product on demand for a particular customer after reception of a real order and producing it with the similar operational efficiency as one would anticipate from a mass-produced product. MC takes into account the merits of both the earlier systems of production, i.e. mass production and craft production. The craft production satisfies the personalised demands of customers and the mass production produces a limited variety of products at lower cost. Industries in developing countries such as India confront pressure from several perspectives to adopt MC. This study has been presented in the context of Indian manufacturing industries, and particularly for footwear industries to examine the enablers of MC. Achieving MC, however, require certain enabling technologies and processes in place. Several such enablers have been identified from the research literature. The objective of this study it to key out significantly important enablers for MC using interpretive structural modelling (ISM), and develop a hierarchy of these enablers for the Indian footwear units. ISM results show that modularity-based practices, digital manufacturing practices and supply chain integration are the most important MC enablers. Enhanced flexibility and responsiveness in the footwear production system can be achieved through modular and reconfigurable production system.

CAD-Based Automated Assembly Planning for Variable Products in Modular Production Systems

The paper presents an approach allowing to utilize the flexibility of modular and reconfigurable production systems for the automated assembly of multi-variant products. Required assembly processes as well as valid assembly orders are automatically extracted from the CAD-file of the individual product. Assembly processes are described as skills and are automatically assigned to capable production resources after a simulative verification, generating an optimal assembly plan. The described planning process takes the properties and geometry of production resources, their mutual interactions as well as the layout and feasible material paths of the entire production system into account.

Optimizing Safety Stock Levels in Modular Production Systems Using Component Commonality and Group Technology Philosophy: A Study Based on Simulation

Modular production and component commonality are two widely used strategies in the manufacturing industry to meet customers growing needs for customized products. Using these strategies, companies can enhance their performance to achieve optimal safety stock levels. Despite the importance of safety stocks in business competition, little attention has been paid to the way to reduce them without affecting the customer service levels. This paper develops a mathematical model to reduce safety stock levels in organizations that employ modular production. To construct the model, we take advantage of the benefits of aggregate inventories, standardization of components, component commonality, and Group Technology philosophy in regard to stock levels. The model is tested through the simulation of three years of operation of two modular product systems. For each system, we calculated and compared the safety stock levels for two cases: (1) under the only presence of component commonality and (2) under the presence of both component commonality and Group Technology philosophy. The results show a reduction in safety stock levels when we linked the component commonality with the Group Technology philosophy. The paper presents a discussion of the implications of each case, features of the model, and suggestions for future research.

Vertical Integration and Service Orchestration for Modular Production Systems Using Business Process Models

Individualized production challenges established manufacturing approaches in terms of modularization, flexibility and efficient reconfiguration. Modular production systems with high flexibility, capable of interacting with products and humans, and vertically integrated with the business environment provide new possibilities for overcoming these challenges. Such flexible manufacturing approaches require seamless integration between all involved parties from the enterprise resource planning level down to the shop floor. Service-oriented architectures with standards geared towards automation claim to provide easier development and integration of modular production systems. However, in order to support the desired flexibility and integrability, a coherent modeling approach for manufacturing processes is required, in particular focusing on the orchestration between production tasks, resources, humans and services. To address these challenges, we introduce in this contribution a system-level approach for flexible manufacturing comprised of reconfigurable modular production cells, which can be easily composed into production lines. Reconfigurability is achieved through exchangeable process components, the use of lightweight robot manipulators as versatile handling subsystems as well as a cell control scheme based on executable business process models to allow runtime service orchestration. The systemic approach can be applied to realize a customer specific production down to lot size one and was validated in a vertically integrated production line manufacturing an industrial product with high variability. The resulting system has been exhibited at different trade fairs and demonstrates our interpretation of the SmartFactory paradigm for individualized production.

Unraveling Value Capture Strategies from Modular Products: The Case of Automotive Industry

Are suppliers capable of increasing industry value capture by investing in modular components? Despite the abundant research on product modularity and modular production systems, the understanding ...

The research for flexible product family manufacturing based on real options

Purpose: The goal of this paper is to find the best production strategy for product mix, which means the largest value of the options. And finally, give a case and find the solution of the optimal production strategy for product mix. Design/methodology/approach: This article, based on the production with characteristics of a call option and 0-1 integer programming model, build new-products mix strategy, and through case demonstrate that traditional method underestimates the value of the products mix. Finding: According to market being volatility and uncertainty and the production can being delayed, firms can flexibly arrange the best time for products to manufacture. Use real options theory to analyze product decision and the best production timing decision. Find the total options value is higher than the traditional methods. Research limitations/implications : We are not applied to real option pricing theory in modular flexible production system. We just applied real option pricing theory to the product platform. The basic model needs to improve. While the thinking of this paper provides some research ideas for flexible production systems based on real option in further research. Practical Implications: The introduction of the real option make the company can achieve dynamic planning and flexible management for production of products mix and get the better benefit. Originality/value : The central contribution of this paper is to introduce the option mechanism in the production timing for the product mix.

Remote Access for Education and Control of Mechatronics Systems

Applied training is important in mechatronics engineering, a multidisciplinary science. Laboratory practice should be done theoretical training to be efficient. Expert trainers are required for mechatronics education which is a complex science. In this study, a network infrastructure is made for education and control of modular production system which is a mechatronics system. The structure was applied to mechatronics laboratory where is Trakya University İpsala Vocational School. In this way, an educator will provide the education of trainees, from any location with internet. Also, a modular production system can be controlled remotely.

Safety stock levels in modular product system using commonality and part families

Despite the importance and potential for companies to minimize costs by reducing the safety stock levels using the modular product system, this has not been extensively studied; its study has been limited by the inherent complexity of the production system. The modular product system arises to try meeting the increasing demand of customized products, which are products manufactured with virtually the same costs, lead times and high quality of products made with mass production. This paper develops a new method to calculate and to reduce the safety stock levels for modular product system under the Make to Order strategy, where, besides considering its reduction using commonality in modules and components, it also considers a substitutability factor devised from Group Technology theory. The results show that with the application of the proposed model in a basic example, the safety stock levels in modular product system has been reduced.

Flexible and Modular Control and Manufacturing System

The trend in production industry is going away from mass-produced products, towards individual products, which are adapted to the customer requirements. Thus flexible, modular production systems that can be adapted to individual use-cases are necessary. Within this paper, a flexible and modular control for a modular production system with the ability to use manufacturer-independent functions and modules is proposed. A new approach for a standardized description and an open interface for functions and modules is developed. This includes a decentralized control system architecture. The self-configuring control system identifies all functions and modules automatically and a specifically defined memory set (the CIMory data) is used to enable the self-configuration of the control system. Combining a real-time bus system and a SOA-based communication enables the decentralized approach of a future cloud based control system architecture.

Towards Industry 4.0 - Standardization as the crucial challenge for highly modular, multi-vendor production systems

The vision of the 4th industrial revolution describes the realization of the Internet of Things within the context of the factory to realize a significantly higher flexibility and adaptability of production systems. Driven by politics and research meanwhile most of the automation technology providers in Germany have recognized the potentials of Industry 4.0 and provide first solutions. However, presented solutions so far represent vendor-specific or isolated production system. In order to make Industry 4.0 a success, these proprietary approaches must be replaced by open and standardized solutions. For this reason, the SmartFactoryKL has realized a very first multi-vendor and highly modular production system as a sample reference for Industry 4.0. This contribution gives an overview of the current status of the SmartFactoryKL initiative to build a highly modular, multi-vendor production line based on common concepts and standardization activities. The findings and experiences of this multi-vendor project are documented as an outline for further research on highly modular production lines.

A low-cost PackML-based control solution for a modular production line

The contribution deals with an implementation of discrete control logic for a modular production line, with two main objectives pursued. Firstly, the basic ideas of PackML standard should be implemented, in particular the behaviour of the machine from the operational state viewpoint, and secondly, the implementation should be based on low-end programmable logic controllers, with limitations on the available memory and processing speed. The paper presents a general idea of the implementation with discussion of its relation to PackML standard, and provides relevant details of the implementation case study on a laboratory scale modular production system.

Development of modular manufacturing systems—a review

Manufacturers throughout the world are facing major new challenges, including shorter product life cycles and increasing competition. As companies strive to rationalize engineering design, manufacturing, and support processes and to produce a large variety of products at lower costs, modularity is becoming a focus. This paper reviews the methodologies for determining modular manufacturing systems while considering cost and performance. The manufacturing concept, termed modular production systems and modular manufacturing systems are aimed specifically at “hard” low to medium technology products, as typified by goods such as children’s toys and kitchen appliances. It was proposed to increase the flexibility of the manufacturing operation in terms of its range of function, product, and service by modularizations and its ability to be easily reconfigured in the face of changing conditions.

Improving the Performance of Modular Production in the Apparel Assembly: A Mathematical Programming Approach

We construct the mathematical models to find the optimal allocation of the module’s capacity (module members) to different assembly operations in a module for given garment assembly tasks in a modular production system. The objectives of the models are minimizing the holding cost for work in process (WIP) inventories in the module and the total deviation of the WIP inventories from their corresponding target values in the module during a specific time interval. The solutions of the models can be used as reference to achieve better allocation of the module members to different operations in a module to fulfill the given garment assembly tasks.

Recombinant Albumin-Partnering Technology: Development Of Balugrastim, a Novel Long-Acting Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor

IntroductionVarious strategies have been used to extend the half-life of therapeutic proteins, including genetic fusion with carrier proteins. One such carrier protein is human serum albumin (HSA), a benign protein with minimal intrinsic biologic activity that is naturally present in the circulation at a high concentration. It has a long half-life (≈19 days in humans) and is highly soluble. Recombinant HSA produced from yeast retains the beneficial stabilizing properties of HSA while minimizing the potential disadvantages of a serum-derived product. Balugrastim, a novel, long-acting recombinant protein composed of HSA and human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), was developed for once-per-cycle subcutaneous (SC) administration to provide a novel option for the prevention of severe neutropenia in patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. The rational design of balugrastim, differences in its protein chemistry compared with pegfilgrastim, and the clinical and practical implications are presented here. MethodsDuring the design phase of balugrastim, HSA was deemed an ideal candidate as a carrier protein because of its wide distribution in the body, long half-life, and low potential for affecting biological activity of G-CSF. A highly engineered proprietary yeast strain was chosen to achieve high levels of expression and quality. Balugrastim is manufactured using recombinant DNA technology in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae in contrast to pegfilgrastim, which is a PEGylated form of a G-CSF expressed in the bacterium Escherichia coli and then modified by chemical conjugation to polyethylene glycol. Balugrastim was purified using a combination of ion exchange and affinity and chromatography techniques. For clinical testing, sensitive immunogenicity and serum concentration assays were developed for the product. ResultsThe manufacturing process produces balugrastim, a 759-amino-acid monomeric protein with a molecular mass of ≈85 kDa. It is a single continuous polypeptide chain in which residues 1–585 correspond to HSA and residues 586–759 correspond to the amino acid sequence of human G-CSF, connected via a peptide bond. The purified protein is >95% pure as determined by N-terminal sequencing. The result is a highly homogeneous product. The manufacturing process is straightforward, requiring no reformulations, additional chemical modifications, or secondary manufacturing, and is a scalable, modular production system. Balugrastim has a pharmacodynamic profile comparable to that of pegfilgrastim. In a clinical trial comparing balugrastim with pegfilgrastim in patients with breast cancer, the half-life of balugrastim 40 mg SC administered once per cycle was 37.7 hours, maximum plasma concentration was 875 ng/mL, and mean area under the concentration–time curve over 144 hours was 60321 h•ng/mL, providing sustained activity in the therapeutic window and stable blood levels (Pukac, MASCC/ISOO, 2012). Corresponding values for pegfilgrastim 6 mg SC were 47.1 hours, 164 ng/mL, and 11554 h•ng/mL, respectively. In this study, and in a randomized phase III trial in patients with breast cancer, balugrastim was noninferior to pegfilgrastim, with a safety profile similar to that of pegfilgrastim and low incidence of immunogenicity (Gladkov, ASCO, 2011). ConclusionsAlbumin partnering is an established technology used to generate innovative, half-life extended products. This technology formed the basis for the rational design for balugrastim, a novel once-per-cycle G-CSF for the prevention of severe neutropenia in patients with cancer receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy. The technology provides balugrastim with several advantages, including a consistent, high-quality product with low immunogenic potential and an extended half-life that permits once-per-chemotherapy cycle administration. The low viscosity of balugrastim permits small needle size (29 gauge). Balugrastim, developed as an alternative to pegfilgrastim, has been shown to be noninferior to pegfilgrastim in clinical trials. Disclosures:Avisar:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Pukac:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Adar:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Barash:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Clark:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Liu:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Bock:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment. Shen:Teva Pharmaceuticals, Inc: Employment.

Real-Time Monitoring Station for Production Systems

Real-time monitoring of the flow of materials, semi-completed and completed products during production process is necessary practice for every company because of need for optimal production management. Identification of technological operations, parts, products and persons responsible for any production stage is possible using means of processes control devices and automatic identification systems. Paper describes the in-line monitoring station designed for tests of real-time production monitoring methods. Available sources of information are RFiD, bar codes, and vision system. These data sources are integrated into the in-line production monitoring station. Modular production system model or small production system can be placed under the In-line station as an object of monitoring. Advanced PLC integrates control over subsystems and allows communication between hardware and software components of data acquisition system. Data acquired from the in-line research station is stored in a dedicated database, then processed and analysed using MES (Manufacturing Execution System) software.

국내 유닛 모듈러(Unit Modular) 주택생산시스템 적용을 위한 기반 구축에 관한 연구

정부에서는 국가정책 아젠다인 '저탄소 녹색성장'을 실현시키기 위한 노력들을 전산업부문에 걸쳐 진행하고 있다. 건설산업 부문도 예외가 아니어서 에너지 및 온실가스 배출저감을 위한 기술개발이 활발히 이루어지고 있으며 특히, 건축물은 국가 총에너지소비의 20% 이상을 차지하고 있어 주거건물의 에너지 효율화 및 이산화탄소 배출량 저감은 국가적으로 시급한 과제라 할 수 있다. 또한 최근 사회적으로 이슈화되고 있는 주택전세난으로 서민들의 고통이 가중되고 있어, 시장수요에 능동적으로 신속하게 대응할 수 있는 주택생산시스템이 요구되고 있다. 이에 본 연구에서는 친환경적이고 시공 효율성을 극대화시킬 수 있는 시스템을 구축하기 위해 국내 유닛 모듈러 주택생산체계를 조사 분석하여 문제점을 찾아내고 이에 대한 개선안을 제시함으로써 유닛 모듈러 주택의 활성화 기반을 위한 제시하고자 한다. The government has made a lot of efforts to realize 'low-carbon green growth', one of the national policy agendas, throughout the whole industries. The construction sector is not an exception, and technological developments are active to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission. In particular, buildings occupy more than 20% of the total national energy consumptions. Thus, it can be said that increasing energy efficiency of the residential buildings and reducing CO2 emission are the urgent national agenda. Moreover, as ordinary people find it more and more difficult to get a lease on housing, which has become an important social issue recently, a housing production system that can actively respond to market demands is in urgent need. To build an eco-friendly system that can maximize efficiency in construction, this study attempts to examine and analyze the modular housing production system in the county and to find its problems. By suggesting the ways to improve the system, it aims to prepare for the base to revitalize the unit modular housing production system.

Component-Based Method for the Modeling and Control of Modular Production Systems

Control software systems for manufacturing plants reveal common system architectural elements. This suggests taking advantage of a development paradigm based on reusable components. Creating and upgrading a repository of reusable components suitable for many systems that share common characteristics present a challenge for engineers, especially if composition mechanisms must be founded on control theories of discrete event systems and if formal synthesis tools must be integrated into well-accepted component-based software development processes. This paper explores a component model and a pragmatic method for the development of control software systems. The method, along with the underlying component model, fills the gap between a hierarchical control theory and component-based software engineering. A detailed case study developed around a Festo didactic learning modular production system demonstrates the relevance of the proposed approach to industrial application.

Research on Communication Design of Modular Production System

Touch screen is monitoring equipment used in industrial field, whose applications in industrial control will be more and more widely. With the continuous development of PC technology, the traditional man-machine interface will gradually be replaced by the man-machine interface as touch screen and so on. This paper studies structure and function of modular production system (MPS). It emphasizes on how MPS is reformed based on EV touch screen configuration and PROFIBUS-DP Field Bus. S7-300PLC as master communications with S7-200 PLCS through PROFIBUS-DP Field Bus and touch screen communications with S7-300PLC through the MPI adapter constitutes a control network. The touch screen is configured by EV5000 Configuration software, to complete the dynamic process monitoring of MPS system module, and improve the monitoring software so that it will have a simple user login management, production management, production information display and alarm functions.

Production and Associated Economics of Fingerling‐to‐Stocker and Stocker‐to‐Grow‐Out Modular Phases for Farming Channel Catfish in Commercial‐Size Ponds

AbstractA 2‐year study was conducted to evaluate two phases (phase 2: fingerling to stocker; phase 3: stocker to grow out) of a three‐phase modular production system for Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus in commercial‐scale ponds. Fingerlings (mean = 14.3 kg/1,000 fish; 11.9 cm TL) were stocked into each of six 1.62‐ha earthen ponds at a density of 123,500 fish/ha and were fed a 35% crude protein floating feed daily to satiation. After 142 d, the mean weight of harvested stockers ranged from 108.9 to 158.8 g and survival ranged from 38.8% to 62.0%. These fish were subsequently stocked (at either 12,350 or 16,055 fish/ha) into 1.62‐ha ponds for grow out to food‐size fish (≥567.5 kg) and were fed a 35% crude protein floating feed to satiation. A partial (selective) harvest was conducted at 105–130 d poststocking by using an in‐pond grader, and a final harvest was conducted at 207–245 d poststocking. Combined production means were 7,124 kg/ha for the 12,350‐fish/ha treatment and 7,210 kg/ha for the 16,055‐fish/ha treatment. Survival (range = 84.3–105.5%) and feed conversion ratios (range = 2.25–2.65) were not significantly different. Mean weight (659.5 g) and length (41.8 cm) of fish harvested from the 12,350‐fish/ha treatment ponds were significantly greater than those of fish harvested from the 16,055‐fish/ha treatment (474.8 g; 38.4 cm). Cost of producing a 142‐g stocker was $0.409. For the economic analysis, phase‐2 production area was based on producing sufficient stockers for all phase‐3 ponds within a representative 445‐ha operation. Enterprise budgets were developed for the 12,350‐ and 16,055‐fish/ha treatments; the incomes above variable cost were $1,450 and $108 per hectare, respectively, and net returns to land were $399 and −$943 per hectare, respectively. Low survival in phase‐2 stocker production reduced the returns. The three‐phase modular system should provide additional management benefits that were not valued in this analysis.

Fault diagnosis on production systems with support vector machine and decision trees algorithms

In this study, the operation of the didactic modular production system of the Festo Company was monitored by using eight sensors. The output of the linear potentiometer, magazine optic sensor, vacuum analog pressure sensor, material holding P/E switch, material handling arm pressure sensor, vacuum information P/E switch, optic sensor, and pressure sensor of main system were recorded while the system was operating in the perfect condition and various problems were artificially created. Some of these defects were empty magazine, zero vacuum, inappropriate material, no pressure, closed manual pressure valve, missing drilling stroke, poorly located material, not vacuuming the material and low air pressure. In all cases, one or more sensors clearly indicated the defect. The results indicated that the system support vector machine (SVM) and decision tree algorithm correctly identified all the presented cases.