The movement to digitally transform Saudi Arabia in all sectors has already begun under the “Vision 2030” program. Consequently, renovating and standardizing production and manufacturing industries to compete with global challenges is essential. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0) triggered by the development of information and communications technologies (ICT) provides a baseline for smart automation, using decentralized control and smart connectivity (e.g., Internet of Things). Industrial engineering graduates need to have acquaintance with this industrial digital revolution. Several industries where the spirit of Industry 4.0 has been embraced and have already implemented these ideas yielded gains. In this paper, a roadmap containing an academic term course based on the concept of Industry 4.0, which our engineering graduates passed through, is presented. At first, an orientation program to students elaborating on the Industry 4.0 concept, its main pillars, the importance of event-driven execution, and smart product manufacturing techniques. Then, various tasks in developing a learning factory were split and assigned among student groups. Finally, the evaluation of student potential in incorporating the Industry 4.0 concept was analyzed. This methodology led to their professional skill development and promoted students’ innovative ideas for the manufacturing sector.
In recent decades, production in high-volume/low-variety batches is replaced with low-volume/high-variety production type. This type of production demands excessive flows of both material and information. Recent advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), together with the concept of cyber-psychical system (CPS) enable the concept of Industry 4.0 (I4.0). In this paper, the performance of I4.0 related equipment implementation is presented in iterative assembly line balancing (ALB) process of a gearbox assembly line. Largest candidate rule method through spreadsheet simulation was used for tasks reallocations, with the objective to minimize the cycle time when the number of stations is fixed. Utilization of human analysts using snap back method for manual data gathering process still shown advantage over I4.0 equipment utilization in manual ALB. The assembly process is performed in the learning factory environment, and it is considered as very close to real industry process. The major conclusion is that I4.0 is excellent in process data monitoring and product tracking, but activities to be performed to effectively exploit I4.0 is demanding for task reallocations during the balancing procedure. Nevertheless, future enhancements of I4.0 system are listed to bridge this gap and to increase I4.0 system usefulness in the manual assembly line balancing process.
The movement to digitally transform Saudi Arabia in all sectors has already begun under the focused "Vision 2030" programme. Consequently, the task of renovating and standardizing manufacturing and other production industries to compete with global challenges is essential. The fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), triggered by the development of information and communications technologies (ICTs), provides a basis for smart automation using decentralized control and advanced connectivity (e.g., Internet of Things). In the areas where the spirit of Industry 4.0 has been embraced, some industries have already implemented these ideas and yielded gains. Learning the principles of Industry 4.0 and having knowledge of this digital industrial revolution is essential for future engineering graduates. In this paper, a case study on building a learning factory from scratch based on the concept of Industry 4.0 is introduced. The initial achievement of a fully automated production line is presented. In doing so, a system with a smart design having smart control and smart monitoring is developed.
Abstract. Friction Stir Welding (FSW) is solid-state process for joining materials by using frictional heat generated due to rotating tool along the weld line. Since its invention about two decades ago, wide spread use of FSW is still restricted due to very expensive purpose built FSW machines available in the market. As an alternative, a milling machine can be used to carry out the FSW depending on the capabilities of the machine. In cases where milling machines have a fixed head, limitation of zero degree tool tilt angle results in substantial defects (e.g. tunnel defect) in weldments. The objective of this study is to design and fabricate an adjustable-angle fixture to incorporate tool tilting in a CNC milling machine with fixed spindle head. The testing of the fabricated fixture is then carried out by running the FSW experiments at different tilt angles.
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