|
Future Enterprise- Virtual Manufacturing
|
| Written by David Hunter Tow |
Using real-time simulations, manufacturers are working out problems in their processes and plant operations, without building costly prototypes. Computer simulation and collaboration technologies, known collectively as digital or virtual manufacturing, are being used by car, drug and aerospace companies to test product concepts and experiment with manufacturing techniques; replacing the building of costly and time-consuming physical prototypes.
The idea behind digital manufacturing is to apply IT methods to collaboratively develop the manufacturing plan simultaneously with production of the end product. This allows design flaws, manufacturing problems and inefficient processes to be diagnosed and rectified earlier in the manufacturing cycle, creating minimal disruption to critical time-to-market schedules. The potential cost savings are huge. While the concept isn't entirely new (early iterations were known as concurrent engineering or design for assembly), this virtual process has only recently been widely adopted.
Companies such as electronics manufacturers, that have applied virtual manufacturing techniques, improved time to market on average by 30 percent, reducing the number of design changes by 65 percent, cutting the manufacturing planning process time by 40 percent and increasing average production throughput by 15 percent.
At Pratt & Whitney Canada for example, virtual manufacturing saves the company $500,000 for each new engine it produces- eliminating physical prototypes and avoiding seventy percent of potential design and layout conflicts between component parts.
Smulations also help verify whether an engine can be maintained cost-effectively in the future. Instead of building expensive wood or plastic mock-ups to determine if maintenance workers can easily access parts, engineers use simulated mannequins to test ergonomic factors and estimating and optimising maintenance time more accurately.
The pharmaceutical industry has traditionally concentrated its use of computer technology on the drug discovery process rather than production methods. But as drug discovery processes become more virtualised, manufacturers are also starting to shift their emphasis to digital manufacturing techniques, to shorten cycle times.
Historically engineers have aplied CAD tools to innovate product designs, then pass the resulting prototype to manufacturing engineers, who use their own set of tools and techniques to determine if it can be produced economically. Next an iterative process of refining the prototype is implemented, testing its manufacturability, reworking and retesting it and so on. This physical iteration process leaves project downtime gaps in the time-to-market cycle, as well as significant costs associated with the scrapping and reworking of new prototypes.
In virtual manufacturing, coordination between engineering and manufacturing groups happens concurrently in simulations and without any physical prototypes. After engineers create a design, manufacturing engineers review the same digital representation to pinpoint possible problem areas, which are then adjusted before any digital prototypes are produced. The digital representation of a product can also be simulated on a virtual manufacturing line to see for example if weld points work, or if a robotic arm is operating without interference.
Future Trends
Virtual manufacturing represents a major step forward beyond the previous CAD revolution in the design and engineering of manufactured systems.
Its major value lies in minimising both the risk of error in meeting design specifications as well as product quakity and performance; dramatically reducing production and delivery times.
Virtual manufacturing therefore represents a major step towards the complete automation and continuous optimisation of production and engineering processes. It also represents a merging of the engineering of products and services, including software and IT services, which will increasingly use similar techniques of workflow, componentisation and evolutionary design.
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
| [ Back ] |
