Product Lifecycle Simulation Research Articles

On the Impact of Digitalization on R&D

OVERVIEW:Digitalization and Its Implications for R&D Management is an IRI Research platform established to consider the likely impacts of three distinct sets of digitalization technologies—virtual experimentation and simulation, virtual collaboration, and big data—on R&D in the next five years. In October 2016, as a preliminary step in defining its work, platform participants conducted a workshop to gain broad input about the potential impacts of digitalization in the three focus areas. As a result of small-group brainstorming about how each area of digitalization could inform, enable, or disrupt a specific aspect of research and technology management, the research teams identified a number of possible effects of digitalization, including increased consumer and customer intimacy, greater speed to market, broader use of open innovation, leveling of the information playing field across companies, and the growth of true cradle-to-grave product lifecycle simulation.

Research on Multi-scale Product Design and Lifecycle Simulation System

It is important for product designer to get the forecast of the performance and the influence on the environment of the designing product by computer simulation quickly and easily. Multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation (MPDLS) system is proposed as a new type of CAD system for the future product designer. MPDLS system is consists of multi-scale product design sub-system and product lifecycle simulation sub-system. A prototype system of MPDLS system is made using MPI-2.

Multi-scale Product Design and Lifecycle Simulation System

It is important for product and material designers to forecast the performance and nature of the designing product early in the design process by computer simulation. The multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation (MPDLS) system proposed here is a kind of multi-scale CAD system. The MPDLS system is designed to design the product or material across the micro-scale to the macro-scale continuously. Also, the MPDLS system includes product lifecycle simulation to estimates the ecological and economic efficiencies of the product. A MPDLS system prototype has been implemented using MPI-2.

Industrial open source solutions for product life cycle management

AbstractThe authors go through the open source for product life cycle management (PLM) and the efforts done from communities such as the open source initiative. The characteristics of the open source solutions are highlighted as well. Next, the authors go through the requirements for PLM. This is an area where more attention has been given as the manufacturers are competing with the quality and life cycle costs of their products. Especially, the need of companies to try to get a strong position in providing services for their products and thus to make themselves less vulnerable to changes in the market has led to high interest in product life cycle simulation. The potential of applying semantic data management to solve these problems discussed in the light of recent developments. In addition, a basic roadmap is presented as to how the above-described problems could be tackled with open software solutions.

Multi-Scale Product Design and Lifecycle Simulation System for Nano Product Design

Product designer is demanded to harmonize technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects of designing product. It is important for product designer to get the overview and the forecast of the property and the influence of the designing product by computer simulations. In order to support product designer and material designer, multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation system is proposed. The multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation system consists of multi-scale product design and simulation (MPDS) sub-system and product lifecycle simulation (PLS) sub-system. Concept of MPDS sub-system is an expansion of concept of current CAD/CAE system. Multi-scale products from micro/nano scale level to human scale level are designed continuously in the MPDS sub-system. Concept of PLS sub-system is an expansion of concept of current LCA system. PLS sub-system carries out product lifecycle simulation and evaluation of designing product. PLS sub-system is designed from the point of view of the interactions of subjects. The information of designing product is projected into PLS sub-system as a structured token including product information made by MPDS sub-system. Then, PLS sub-system carries out product lifecycle simulation.

G220011 マルチスケール製品の設計と評価のためのソフトウェアーツールの設計と開発

Product designer is demanded to harmonize technical, economic, social, and environmental aspects of designing product. It is important for product designer to get the overview and the forecast of the property and the influence of the designing product by computer simulations. In order to support product designer and material designer, multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation system is proposed. The multi-scale product design and lifecycle simulation system consists of multi-scale product design and simulation (MPDS) sub-system and product lifecycle simulation (PLS) sub-system. Concept of MPDS sub-system is an expansion of the concept of current CAD/CAE system. Multi-scale products from micro/nano scale level to human scale level are designed continuously by MPDS sub-system. Concept of PLS sub-system is an expansion of the concept of current LCA system. PLS sub-system carries out product lifecycle simulation and estimation of designing product.

Coordination of Product Life Cycle with Product Usage Mode

For achieving better environmental performance of products or product systems, it is essential to manage total product life cycle. This paper describes a method for supporting product life cycle management by comprehensive product life cycle simulation, which is a basis for designing and evaluating total product life cycle. For life cycle evaluation, it is important to seek for the better product services, at the same time to seek for lower environmental burden and life cycle management costing. For this purpose, a product usage model is proposed, where customer satisfaction is measured by offered product functionality. The same level of customer satisfaction can be achieved by various different life cycle management options. By taking examples of technologically immature short-life products, like mobile phones, effect of difference of required product service quality is investigated, and appropriate product management strategy is discussed for improving product service quality.

Life Cycle Management for Improving Product Service

For achieving better environmental performance of products or product systems, it is essential to manage total product life cycle. This paper describes a method for supporting product life cycle management by comprehensive product life cycle simulation, which is a basis for designing and evaluating total product life cycle. For life cycle evaluation, it is important to seek for the better product services, at the same time to seek for lower environmental burden and life cycle management costing. For this purpose, a product usage model is proposed, where customer satisfaction is measured by offered product functionality. The same level of customer satisfaction can be achieved by various different life cycle management options. By taking examples of technologically immature short-life products, like mobile phones, effect of difference of required product service quality is investigated, and appropriate product management strategy is discussed for improving product service quality.

Functional Product Life-cycle Simulation Model for Cost Estimation in Conceptual Design of Jet Engine Components

As functional (total care) products emerge in the jet engine industry, the need for product life-cycle models capable of definition and evaluation of life cycle properties increases, since functional products (FP) includes both hardware and service. Recent life-cycle models are intended for hardware products and mostly handle design and manufacturing knowledge. The aim of this article is to present a design approach that extends the evaluation capabilities beyond classical hardware design and manufacturing evaluation. The focus has been to introduce evaluation of manufacturing and post-manufacturing activities in evaluation of conceptual designs. For this purpose, a model has been proposed to handle the information flow between teams when developing structural jet engine components. A case study, in which the proposed model was used in cooperation with a jet engine component manufacturer, is presented. Aspects concerning design, manufacturing, performance, and maintenance of jet engine flanges were included in the example by means of a knowledge based engineering (KBE)-system coupled to databases and spreadsheets. The model is more suitable than recent work for the development of hardware parts of functional products (HFP), since knowledge from more product development disciplines is included. As the engineer changes the design and directly assesses the life-cycle cost (LCC) and how the changes impact the interface to other jet engine components, more knowledge on the impact of design decisions is available at hand for the engineering designer than without the model.

Polychromatic sets and its application in simulating complex objects and systems

In recent years, polychromatic sets have emerged as a promising approach for simulation modeling. The theory, techniques and approaches of polychromatic sets can play an important role in product life-cycle simulation, product conceptual design, concurrent engineering, and virtual manufacturing for product modeling, process modeling, and process optimization. In this paper, the concept of polychromatic sets is introduced. After discussing the concept of polychromatic sets, the mathematical aspects of the theory and the relationship between the unified pigmentation and individual pigmentation is discussed. An application example is also given in the paper.

The Virtual Maintenance System: A Computer-Based Support Tool for Robust Design, Product Monitoring, Fault Diagnosis and Maintenance Planning

Digital (geometric) product models can be used for maintainability analysis and maintenance planning. It is not feasible to build digital product models for maintenance purposes only, but if a digital product model is available, it may be used to support many maintenance-related engineering tasks. Examples are: Product life cycle simulation (the influence of product use on product performance), deterioration analysis (the influence of wear on product function), Failure Mode Effect Analysis (FMEA), product model-based monitoring (to relate sensor signals to failure modes), failure diagnosis, disassemblability analysis (for repair and replacement), maintenance ergonomic analysis (to ease the work of maintenance personnel), etc. At the University of Tokyo, a Virtual Maintenance System has been developed to support the activities mentioned above. The system makes it possible to relate predicted product behaviour and specific signals, which can be detected by sensors and can be used to avoid catastrophic failure. This creates better possibilities for condition-based maintenance and Design for Maintainability. Future CAD systems should support product life cycle issues right from the start of the design process.