Networked Manufacturing Environment Research Articles

Research on Material Workshop System under Intelligent Sorting Manufacturing in Digital Workshop

With the continuous development of science and technology level and management thought, the current manufacturing enterprises are also undergoing a change involving technological processes and management methods. With the rapid introduction of scientific and technological means, it is transforming from the traditional experience-based management mode to the information-based management mode, that is, the integration mode of two industries supported by informationization, pursuing sustainable development and adhering to scientific development. Digital workshop technology is one of the key technologies of digital manufacturing technology, which is an important application of digital manufacturing technology in manufacturing field, and has become the realization basis of advanced manufacturing technology in the actual manufacturing process. In this paper, an integrated management system structure of digital manufacturing workshop under networked manufacturing environment is proposed. According to the management requirements of modern digital workshop, wireless mobile communication technology is introduced, and a digital workshop intelligent sorting and manufacturing cutting workshop system is constructed.

Integrated process planning and scheduling in networked manufacturing systems for I4.0: a review and framework proposal

Integrated process planning and scheduling in networked manufacturing systems plays a crucial role nowadays and in the forthcoming context of Industry 4.0 to enable effective and efficient decisions, and to improve the business market, based on collaboration, along with computer-based distributed manufacturing and management functions. In this paper some insights regarding a literature review carried out about this main subjects analysed are presented and discussed. Moreover, a framework for integrated process planning and scheduling in networked manufacturing systems is proposed and briefly described, along with some main underlying issues, which are further discussed. Thus, the main purpose of this research consists on presenting a proposed methodology, based on the study conducted, to enable to further assist either academia or industry to develop new tools, techniques and approaches for integrated process planning in networked manufacturing environments. The findings and contributions of this research can help in the implementation and improvement in distributed manufacturing environments, to be linked with small and medium enterprises, to further expand their potentialities through well suited integrated process planning and scheduling decision making processes.

A collaborative manufacturing execution system oriented to discrete manufacturing enterprises

The study aims to present architecture and technology solution for collaborative manufacturing execution system oriented to discrete manufacturing enterprises. Under the networked manufacturing environment, the enterprises are facing challenges including the increasing manufacturing process complexity, the shorter product delivery, the higher customer satisfaction requirements, and so on. To deal with these challenges, the manufacturing enterprises must implement information management, while collaborative manufacturing execution system is one of the key technologies to realize informationization. Thus, in this study, the authors analyze production characteristics, typical production flow, and collaborative management requirements of multi-workshop production in the discrete manufacturing enterprise and propose an architecture of collaborative manufacturing execution system oriented to discrete manufacturing enterprises. The main functions of this system and key technologies to realize the system is also analyzed. Finally, a prototype system is developed and a case study is executed in Henan Pingyuan Optics Electronics Co., LTD in OPTO-Electronic Group to demonstrate the implementation and potentials of the system.

Integration of process planning and scheduling using mobile-agent based approach in a networked manufacturing environment

Effective and efficient implementation of intelligent and/or recently emerged networked manufacturing systems require an enterprise level integration. The networked manufacturing offers several advantages in the current competitive atmosphere by way to reduce, by shortening manufacturing cycle time and maintaining the production flexibility thereby achieving several feasible process plans. The first step in this direction is to integrate manufacturing functions such as process planning and scheduling for multi-jobs in a network based manufacturing system. It is difficult to determine a proper plan that meets conflicting objectives simultaneously. This paper describes a mobile-agent based negotiation approach to integrate manufacturing functions in a distributed manner; and its fundamental framework and functions are presented. Moreover, ontology has been constructed by using the Protégé software which possesses the flexibility to convert knowledge into Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema of Web Ontology Language (OWL) documents. The generated XML schemas have been used to transfer information throughout the manufacturing network for the intelligent interoperable integration of product data models and manufacturing resources. To validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, an illustrative example along with varied production environments that includes production demand fluctuations is presented and compared the proposed approach performance and its effectiveness with evolutionary algorithm based Hybrid Dynamic-DNA (HD-DNA) algorithm. The results show that the proposed scheme is very effective and reasonably acceptable for integration of manufacturing functions.

Collaborative Framework for Dynamic Scheduling Supporting in Networked Manufacturing Environments

Scheduling continues to play an important role in manufacturing systems. It enables the production of suitable scheduling plans, considering shared resources between several different products, through several manufacturing environments including networked ones. High levels of uncertainty characterize networked manufacturing environments. Processes have specific and complex requirements and management requisites, along with diversified objectives, which are dynamic and often conflicting. Dynamic adaptation and a real-time response for manufacturing scheduling is still possible and is critical in this new manufacturing environments, which have a flexible nature, where disturbances on working conditions occur on a continuous and even unexpected basis. Therefore, scheduling systems should have the ability of automatically and intelligently maintain a real-time adaptation and optimization of orders production, to effectively and efficiently adapt these manufacturing environments to the inherent dynamic of markets. In this paper a collaborative framework for supporting dynamic scheduling in networked manufacturing environments is proposed, based on a hyper-organization model and on hyper-heuristics, in order to obtain feasible and robust scheduling plans.

A service network for the support of manufacturing operations

This article discusses service-based manufacturing operations support in manufacturing networks. The concept of a manufacturing-oriented service network (MOSeN) is introduced. A MOSeN consists of service units and autonomous work systems; the service units provide manufacturing-oriented services and the autonomous work systems consume manufacturing-oriented services. This approach aims to improve the performance of manufacturing systems by increasing their productivity, availability, responsiveness and agility, while maintaining product quality, all of which increase competitiveness. The MOSeN concept is adopted in a framework for manufacturing operations support (FMOS), which includes all of the elements necessary for its appropriate development and implementation. The use of the approach is illustrated in a case study of service-based quality monitoring. It is implemented as a web service, and its use in two different manufacturing plants is examined. The case study clearly demonstrates how manufacturing-oriented services can be effectively employed and integrated into manufacturing operations within a networked manufacturing environment.

The Development of Web-Based Parts Library for Typical Mechanical and Electric Industries

In order to share and reuse the abundant standardization and serialization parts resource in typical mechanical and electric industries, it is an efficient option to develop a pats library management system in networked manufacturing environment. Therefore, the framework of web-based parts library is discussed based on B/S mode and .NET framework. Especially, key technologies for developing this system are studied, including methods for parts resource classifying and encoding, database design and access, no-refresh browsing of 3D part model, and system security mechanism and so on. At last, a prototype system is present.

Web-based Technologies Integration for Distributed Manufacturing Scheduling in a Virtual Enterprise

Today’s manufacturing enterprises face enormous competitive pressures stemming from the current dynamic and open business context. Global competition and market demand for customized products and services, delivered ‘just in time’, exert real stress on businesses. Recently, new production paradigms, such as the extended enterprise, as well as agile, virtual and networked manufacturing, have appeared in response to the increasingly dynamic conditions of the marketplace. These new concepts prompt geographically dispersed manufacturers to build alliances with their suppliers and customers in order to work more closely with them. They need to work to build manufacturing networks which bridge large sections of the supply chain. In this context distributed scheduling problems are challenging tasks to researchers and practitioners that have been gaining increasing popularity over the years. This is partly attributed to the fact that multi-site production and networked manufacturing environments are increasing as a consequence of globalization. In this paper a web based system for technologies integration for supporting distributed scheduling in a Virtual Enterprise, by combining a simulation-based approach, with the Hungarian algorithm, for solving job-shop scheduling problems is presented, in order to show how the authors can benefit from this technologies integration for supporting collaborative distributed manufacturing scheduling.

A visualization system for integrating maintainability design and evaluation at product design stage

Thoughtful consideration of products maintenance features early in design stage can reduce or eliminate maintenance costs, reduce downtime, and improve safety. As such, the effective collaboration of product designers and maintenance technicians throughout the product design process is becoming much more important for the most advanced competitiveness. To address this need, a visualization system that enables maintainability-related technicians cooperated with product designers in a networked manufacturing environment is proposed in this study. This paper presents a systematic approach to implementation of a Web-based visualization system by using virtual reality technology. The system aims at providing a simulated environment and concurrent engineering processes to facilitate communication, coordination, control, and integration of product maintainability validation and improvement activities. The result of this research will help increase product maintainability, reduce development cycle time and cost, and hence increase product marketability.

A Production Planning and Scheduling Architecture for Networked-Manufacturing System Based on Available-to-Promise

In the practical application of push-pull based production planning and scheduling architecture, the manufacturing system was found lacking of collaborative mechanism, especially for a networked-manufacturing environment, which requires each individual manufacturer interact and cooperate with each other for a collaborative manufacturing. This paper presents a production planning and scheduling architecture for networked-manufacturing system based on available-to-promise, which can effectively merge forecast-driven production activity with order-driven production activity, thus ensures the steady and prompt supply of material, and also cooperation and mutual benefit of individual manufacturer. This architecture consists of 1) an ATP-based order management and decision-making system, 2) a push-pull based multi-plant master production schedule collaboration model, 3) a pre-reactive collaborative replenishment model, 4) a production scheduling model of unrelated parallel machine and 5) the corresponding production planning and scheduling methods for each model. By combining the concept of ATP, this architecture can not only provide resource planning for networked-manufacturing system, but also offer quick response and promise to customer requests.

Optimal configuration of manufacturing resources based on transportation factors in networked manufacturing

Concerning the optimal configuration of manufacturing resources in networked manufacturing environment, the transportation time and cost were considered based on process time, process cost and other factors in order to increase practicability of the configurated result. The comprehensive optimization model was built. The problem was solved by using a genetic algorithm which included the elitist strategy. The proposed model and algorithm were proved through an application case. The research shows that the total transportation time and cost have been decreased by taking transportation factors into account, and the result becomes more practicable.

Study on Supplier Selecting System Oriented Networked Manufacturing

This paper analyzes the characteristics of supplier selection base on network manufacturing environment. The requirements of supplier evaluation and selection function of the system were analyzed too. Supplier evaluation and selection of system architecture and workflow was studied oriented networked manufacturing environment. Base on the theoretical study a prototype system was developed and the main function modules were introduced. This paper provides a theoretical and technical reference to develop efficient and practical supplier evaluation and selection system to meet the requirements of networked manufacturing.

The Manufacturing Resource Modeling of Multistage Manufacturing System Based on the Capacity Manufacturing Unit

The manufacturing capacity-oriented manufacturing resource model of multistage manufacturing system was presented to achieve the manufacturing resource sharing among the enterprises. This model abstracted various resources as capacity manufacturing unit to accommodate the manufacturing resource sharing. The manufacturing process extraction and graphical description methods based on resource were put forward, which solved the disjointedness problem between resource model and application through related information integration. This model achieves effective equipment state monitoring, personnel configuration and product man-hour tracking in the enterprise and realizes the manufacturing resource sharing based on manufacturing capacity in networked manufacturing environment, so that to make the capacity of enterprises clear and maximum.

The Multidimensional Manufacturing Resource Modeling and Integration of Multistage Manufacturing System Based on Meta-Model

In order to achieve the manufacturing resource sharing inside and outside the enterprise in the multistage manufacturing system, the multidimensional manufacturing resource concept model was presented from two aspects. The manufacturing resource application integration model faced application systems and the capacity manufacturing unit model faced manufacturing capacity were established respectively. The structure and modeling method of multidimensional manufacturing resource model based on meta-model was presented. The meta-model consisted of information layer, model layer and meta-model layer and unified the multidimensional model in the same model frame. Finally, the integration method of the model based on eXtensible Markup Language(XML) was established. The presented multi-dimensional manufacturing resource model can achieve the internal and exterior sharing in the networked manufacturing environment.

Collaborative Manufacturing Unit Selection Using a Sorting Adaptive Genetic Algorithm in Networked Environment

In order to solve the collaborative manufacturing unit (CMU) selection problem in the networked cooperative manufacturing environment, a sorting adaptive genetic algorithm is proposed. To obtain the optimal executive manufacturing process, the objective function is constructed considering manufacturing cost and product load rate of candidate CMUs under time-sequence constraint. The embedded subtask scheduling procedure in sorting adaptive genetic algorithm is used to ascertain the penalty cost for the tardiness of the task. Finally, a case study is implemented to verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. The results show that the proposed model and algorithm can obtain satisfactory solutions.

Access Control for Manufacturing Process in Networked Manufacturing Environment

The deficiencies of current access control techniques in solving the problems of manufacturing process access conflict in networked manufacturing environment were analyzed. An information model of manufacturing process was con-structed, and a case XML Schema of manufacturing task model was given. Based on the characteristic analysis of the access control for the information model, an improved access control model of manufacturing process was constructed, and the access control model based on manufacture tasks, roles and time limits and the relationships among the ele-ments were defined. The implementation mechanisms for access control model were analyzed, in which the access case matching strategy based on manufacture tasks and time limits, the authorization assignment mechanism based on manufacture tasks, roles, correlation degrees and time limits, XML based access control for transaction security and integrity were included. And the two-level detection architecture of transaction conflict was designed to find the con-flicts both in application and in the database. Finally the prototype system was developed based on these principles. Feasibility and effectiveness of the method were verified by an enterprise application.

A game-theory approach for job scheduling in networked manufacturing

This paper presents a new kind of scheduling solution for jobs in networked manufacturing environments. The main contributions of this study can be focused on three points: The first is to distinguish the concepts and requirements of job scheduling in the networked manufacturing environment form those in the traditional manufacturing environment. The second is to construct a game-theory mathematical model to deal with this new job scheduling problem. In this presented mathematical model, this new job scheduling problem is formulated as an N-person non-cooperative game with complete information. The players correspond to the jobs submitted, respectively, by related customers and the payoff of each job is defined as its makespan. Each player has a set of strategies which correspond to the feasible geographical distributive machines. Therefore, obtaining the optimal scheduling results is determined by the Nash equilibrium (NE) point of this game. In order to find the NE point, the last point is to design and develop a genetic algorithm (GA)-based solution algorithm to effectively solve this mathematical model. Finally, a numerical example is presented to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.

Multi-objective optimization of collaborative manufacturing chain with time-sequence constraints

To realize the sharing and optimization deployment of manufacturing resources, a concept of collaborative manufacturing chain (CMC) is proposed for the manufacturing of complex products in a networked manufacturing environment. To acquire the optimal CMC, a multi-objective optimization model is developed to minimize the comprehensive cost and the whole production load with time-sequence constraints. Non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) is applied to solve optimization functions. The optimal solution set of Pareto is obtained. The technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) approach is then used to identify the optimal compromise solution from the optimal solution set of Pareto. Simulation results obtained in this study indicate that the proposed model and algorithm are able to obtain satisfactory solutions.

R&D task programming of electromechanical product in networked manufacturing environment

An interface matrix based on coarse programming and Design Structure Matrix (DSM) based on fine programming, integrated two phases programming framework, is put forward. Interface matrix based on coarse programming defines an interface matrix according to the interface relation of parts, and then transforms interface matrix based on the rule of interface number first, so as to aggregate interacted parts together. DSM based on fine programming transforms interacted interface matrix into DSM according to the time constraint of tasks, and then partitions DSM, so as to decompose task group into independent tasks, decoupled tasks and coupling tasks. Simulation and case study indicate that when the density of unclear interfaces is low, such a programming method can lessen the size of part group evidently.

A framework of order evaluation and negotiation for SMMEs in networked manufacturing environments

In the context of enhancing the manufacturing abilities of Chinese small- and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises (SMMEs), the present paper reports on a framework of order evaluation and negotiation of collaborative manufacturing for SMMEs in networked manufacturing environments. First, the background and problem domain are introduced. Then the information required to evaluate and negotiate orders is examined in a collaborative manufacturing process. Based on this information, a framework of order evaluation is built on the profit and due date, and then an order negotiation model framework, combined with an order evaluation model, is also presented. At the same time, a standardized negotiation process is described in more detail. Finally, a case study is presented to illustrate how business-to-business SMMEs evaluate and negotiate an order with a business-to-customer SMME to obtain the best profit-due date trade-off.