Rapid Production Changes through the Coordination of Factory Layout Models and Activities

Abstract

Factory layout design is a multidisciplinary, knowledge-intensive task that is vital for the survival of manufacturers in today's globally competitive environment. The need to design and construct a new factory or reconfigure the current one has increased largely because of the fast changes in customer demands both from a product quantity and a product variety aspect. Further, the factory design process affects not only the effectiveness of the project phase but also the subsequent production efficiency, in terms of the material flows, space utilization, energy consumption, working environment, and safety.When designing a factory, the consolidation and integration of different models is of particular interest since the design of a factory involves many different stakeholders. These stakeholders, who come from the building, media, manufacturing and machine design domains, typically utilize different models and CAX systems from different system vendors.The problem is that information is inconsistent: it resides in various systems and applications, in different formats and with various levels of detail and viewpoints. This is especially troublesome when companies who collaborate use software from different vendors using different data structures. To facilitate the communication and sharing of information between these applications, it is necessary to use common formats. There are many existing system neutral standards, but they are developed for different and more or less specific purposes, and are not harmonized with other aspects of the manufacturing domain.For implementing an integrated information environment, OMG has worked on developing 'PDM Enablers' . PDM Enablers provide standard interfaces to PDM systems [1]. Another study has focused on data exchange between heterogeneous PDM systems using PLM Services [2,3] proposed an integrated data model, which is referred as a STEP schema, and JPDM (Joint Product Data Management), besides an approach for implementing a PDM system that uses STEP as a standard for the exchange of product data [3]. For implementing Collaborative Product Commerce in a virtual enterprise, [4] defined product metadata through STEP PDM and then applied it to the integration of AbstractChanging the design of a factory in practice involves the change of a number of parallel and interdependent systems such as the machining resources and robot cells, the supply systems for electricity, water, air, heat and cooling, pneumatics and hydraulics, the systems for chip and waste handling, process fluid, communication networks, sprinkler systems, as well as the building construction. Thus the coordination of information and models, as well as of the design work activities, is of utmost importance to achieve a fast and flexible development process. This paper presents the results from a research project focusing on computer aided work processes and the communication of models between various stake holders in layout design. The primary objective was to provide methods for a coordinated factory developm...