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ABSTRACT
Manufacturing industry is on the verge of a major paradigm shift. This shift will
take us away from mass production, way beyond lean manufacturing, into a
world of Agile Manufacturing. Agile Manufacturing enterprises will be capable
of rapidly responding to changes in customer demand. They will be able to
take advantage of the windows of opportunities that appear in the market
place.
interacting with our customers and suppliers. Our customers will not only be
able to gain access to our products and services, but will also be able to easily
assess and exploit our competencies, so enabling them to use these
competencies to achieve the things that they are seeking. The current paper
focuses on two technologies i.e. Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Tooling and two
philosophies i.e. Reverse Engg. & Concurrent Engg, that can really make Agile
manufacturing a success.
Introduction:
While Lean or world class manufacturing is being very good at doing the things we can
control, Agile manufacturing deals with the things you can NOT control. Agility is the
ability to thrive and prosper in an environment of constant and unpredictable change.
Here are a few of the reasons that the manufacturing paradigm is changing from mass
production to agile manufacturing:
Very short product life cycles, development time, and production lead
The swift trend towards a multiplicity of finished products with short development and
production lead times has lead many companies into problems with inventories,
overheads, and inefficiencies. They are trying to apply the traditional mass-production
approach without realizing that the whole environment has changed. Mass production
does not apply to products where the customers require small quantities of highly custom,
design-to-order products, and where additional services and value-added benefits like
product upgrades and future reconfigurations are as important as the product itself.
Approaches such as Rapid prototyping (RP), Rapid tooling (RT), Reverse engineering
and Concurrent engineering are helping to solve some of these problems.
management silos
at will.
manufacturing nodes.
knowledge.
1.
2.
2.
Make the break with the things that are wrong with the way we do things
today.
Explore and understand the nature of the mass production paradigm and
the nature of the cultural and methodological difficulties involved in the transition
to Agile Manufacturing.
enterprise.
Rapid Prototyping:
Rapid prototyping is a relatively new class of technology used for building physical
models and prototype part from 3D computer-aided design (CAD) data. Unlike milling
machines (which are subtractive in nature), RP systems join together liquid, powder and
sheet materials to form complex parts. Layer by layer, RP machines fabricate plastic,
wood, ceramic, and metal objects based on thin horizontal cross sections taken from a
computer model.
Although several rapid prototyping techniques exist, all employ the same basic five-step
process. The steps are:
Thus at the time of need for changing or modifying the product, parts can be rapidly
produced with the help of rapid prototyping for analysis, improvement and research.
Rapid Tooling:
Rapid tooling falls into two categories:
1. Advanced methods of making tools using RP technology, an additive process
2. Advanced methods of making tools using milling technology, a subtractive
process.
Both are driven from a digital database, which is the key to making it rapid. RP-driven
RT accelerates the tool-making process using RP masters that are, in turn, used to
produce molds.
Tooling time is much shorter than for a conventional tool. Typically, time
Tooling cost is much less than for a conventional tool. Cost can be below
Master pattern can be made for the tools with the help of Rapid Prototyping, which can
be used to make tools of H.S.S. etc. and meeting rapid requirement of tool design change.
Reverse Engineering:
Reverse engineering is the dismantling and inspecting of a competitors product to
discover product improvements.
Product dissection is examining the way in which products and machines work: their
physical operation, the manner in which they are constructed, and the design and societal
considerations that determine the difference between success and failure in the
marketplace.
The primary objective is to learn about engineering and product design by:
how they function, how they were made and how they might be improved
principles
graphic
The design of the part is defined by drawings, specifications, dimensions and tolerances,
materials and processes.
Learn how to build them ourselves (without paying royalties for the
design)
Another reason for reverse engineering - need to replace a part for which
new ways of interacting with our customers and suppliers. Our customers will not only
be able to gain access to our products and services, but will also be able to easily assess
and exploit our competencies, so enabling them to use these competencies to achieve the
things that they are seeking. It is also concluded that the effective use of the technology
and philosophy discussed in the paper will make the agile manufacturing approach more
popular and successful.
REFERENCES:
1.
2.
3.
4.
http://www.partnersforexcellence.com/95art3.htm
5.
http://www.llnl.gov/str/Burleson.html
6.
7.
http://www.technet.pnl.gov/dme/agile/index.stm
8.
http://www.cheshirehenvury.com/publications/ammaterial.html.