future manufacturing systems

future manufacturing systems

Project Proposal for PROPER Future Manufacturing Systems

Mats Jackson1, Per Petersson2 and PŠr MŒrtensson3

Project Summary

This project proposal concerns the importance of developing competitive manufacturing systems for the future To support the development of such manufacturing systems in Swedish industry, a new project is proposed to be initiated within the Swedish Programme for Production Engineering Education and Research (PROPER) By initiating a national research programme and co-operating with leading Swedish industrial corporations, a base for international leadership within the field can be established

The requirements on the future manufacturing systems can be characterised by three overall requirements: high productivity of the manufacturing process, high quality of the manufactured products (quality in a wide sense), and a considerable agility The research areas in focus for the development of future manufacturing systems range from manufacturing philosophies via manufacturing strategy, manufacturing concepts, system analysis, and system design to the commissioning of the systems There has been a lot of research in the world within this field In Sweden research within manufacturing systems have been done at a couple of research institutions Two of the leading institutions are KTH in Stockholm and LiTH in Linkšping The PROPER requirement of co-operation between universities will be satisfied by this proposed project, since it has connections to at least three existing research programmes/projects: ÒWoxŽn Ð The Umbrella ProjectÓ, the Nutek financed programme for ÒDevelopment of Productive Assembly SystemsÓ, and the PROPER Project ÒMethods, Models and Tools for Analysis and Development of Manufacturing SystemsÓ Thus, the proposed projectÕs link to these programmes ensures that there is a link between Swedish universities

The industrial relevance of the project is secured by the fact that it contains the entire range of activities from the appropriate manufacturing philosophies to the commissioning of the manufacturing systems at companies Two industrial companies are active participants from the beginning of this project; ABB and Scania Together, these two companies are, to date, supporting three industrial Ph.D candidates within the field of manufacturing system development

1

ABB Management Consultants AB and Linkšpings universitet, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, Division of Assembly Technology, e-mail: mats.jackson@semac.mail.abb.com

2

Scania CV AB, Dept of Production Development and Linkšpings universitet, Dept of Mechanical Engineering, Division of Assembly Technology, e-mail: per.petersson@scania.com

3

Scania CV AB, Dept of Production Development and The Royal Institute of Technology, Dept of Manufacturing Systems, Division of Manufacturing Systems, e-mail: par.martensson@scania.com

Background and state-of-the-art

2.1 Project description and background

This project concerns the development of future manufacturing systems An efficient and effective manufacturing system is a prerequisite in order to compete successfully on the manufacturing dimension of competition To develop such a manufacturing system, the success factors must be known and a systems approach towards manufacturing must be adopted The achievement of these success factors should be the common objective of all research efforts striving to develop future manufacturing systems The direction of this development should be driven by market requirements and simultaneously consider product- and manufacturing development

As mentioned previously, market requirements are the most important inputs to the list of requirements on a manufacturing system One can say that market requirements drive the development of manufacturing systems (symbolised by a screwdriver in figure 1) The manufacturing systems to be developed are symbolised by a screw The body of this screw is divided into three overall characteristics that characterise a successful manufacturing system; high productivity of the manufacturing process, high quality of the manufactured products (quality in a wide sense), and a considerable agility As mentioned, the latter two characteristics contribute to the achievement of high productivity over time in a turbulent business environment Apparently, the future manufacturing systems must also be adapted to the products that will be produced in them This is symbolised by a casing (in figure 1) in which the screw is to be tightened

Research activities striving at improving the properties of a manufacturing system should belong to one or more of the six different research areas characterised by an O-ring in figure 1 The various research areas focus on different hierarchical levels and the output from one research area will be the input to the next The six research areas we propose are in hierarchical order: (i) Manufacturing philosophy

(ii) Manufacturing strategy

(iii) Manufacturing concept

(iv) System analysis

(v) System design

(vi) Commissioning of manufacturing systems

Manufacturing philosophy, manufacturing strategy and manufacturing concept are related, but there are some important differences between them A manufacturing philosophy is a set of strategic choices Mass Production, Lean Production and Agile Manufacturing are three examples

of manufacturing philosophies, which are sometimes also viewed as paradigms within the area of manufacturing research According to Edin et al, 1998, a manufacturing philosophy can be seen as:

Ó a vision of what a company wants to achieve, with an overall description of both the structure and the infrastructure within manufacturingÓ [7]

Strategy is an aid for companies to achieve their objectives, and a common interpretation of strategy is that it means actions, or patterns of actions, that are intended to attain goals [21] Strategies can be found on at least three levels [12]:

(i) Corporate strategy; involves the selection of product markets or industries and the allocation of resources among them

(ii) Business strategy; the tailored strategy for each business within a multi-business corporation It should be designed to use the distinctive competencies of a business as competitive weapons

(iii) Manufacturing strategy; forms a part of a cluster of functional area strategies such as marketing strategy, financial strategy etc, which complement higher level business and corporate strategies

Strategies are about supporting markets [11] There are two important roles which manufacturing can offer as a part of the strategic strengths of a company First to provide a manufacturing process that is better than those of the competitors, and second to provide manufacturing support for the essential ways in which products win orders in the market-place [11] Manufacturing strategies can be used to guide decisions on e.g the manufacturing process, capacity, flexibility, organisation and vertical integration

The third research area in figure 1 is manufacturing concept Manufacturing concepts are the outcomes of the use of methods for operational efficiency Examples of such methods used are the SMED method for reducing set-up times [19] and JIT techniques such as Kanban The basic difference between manufacturing concepts and manufacturing strategies is that manufacturing strategies aim at effectiveness, i.e doing the right things, while a certain manufacturing concept

is chosen to achieve high efficiency of operations, i.e doing things right

The fourth research area, system analysis, concerns the complex of problems related to evaluation and determination of requirements on the physical manufacturing system It may take the form of a review of the preconditions such as product design, number of variants, requirements on manufacturing cost, requirements on manufacturing lead time etc In addition, considerations on overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) [18], capacity, productivity, quality, flexibility etc may be part of the system analysis The outcome of the system analysis may take the form of values on various technical or economical parameters The system analysis can also result in a list of requirements on a system to be designed or redesigned

Given a set of requirements from the system analysis, system design (or redesign) aims at creating a system that fulfils these requirements System design range from conceptual design of entire manufacturing systems down to detailed design of subsystems such as machining cells or assembly stations However, the aim should be to design manufacturing systems at a level of detail, where the design is ready to realise in a physical system

The last of the six research areas concerns commissioning of manufacturing systems This research area should cover realisation of specifications, acquisition of equipment and services, installation etc These activities are marred by risks, which are linked to unforeseen technical, logistical or organisational problems in the implementation phase These kinds of problems are important as they may lead to increased costs and delayed implementation of the manufacturing system

To drive the future research in these six areas in the same direction, there should be a set of terms, whose importance and definitions the research society can agree upon In our model we have tried to establish such a set of important terms We have also identified a logical relationship between the terms To be competitive, a manufacturing system should support high productivity, which in turn requires high product quality and a considerable agility Then the question is how these objectives can be achieved

As mentioned in section 2, high productivity of a manufacturing process requires high effectiveness and high efficiency of operations To understand this relationship, it is suitable to study the definition of productivity Productivity (P) can on a generic level be defined as the

Future Manufacturing Systems

Productivity

• Effectiveness

• Efficiency

Quality

• Quality Capability

• Delivery Reliability

Agility

• Flexibility

• Adaptability

Manufacturing Philosophy

Manufacturing Strategy

Manufacturing Concept

System Analysis

System Design

Commissio -ning

Market Requirements

Figure 1: A model for the development of manufacturing systems

value added (Va) in a process divided by the input of production factors (Ipf) to the process [1], i.e.:

I

a pf

=

Added value is a function of effectiveness (i.e revenues), while input of production factors is a function of efficiency (i.e costs) Thus:

V a ~ f(E s ) ~ Revenues

I pf ~ f(E y ) ~ Costs

Input of production factors covers input of physical capital as well as human resources It is important to note that input of production factors means all resources, not only the resources used This implies that a high capacity utilisation is crucial in order to obtain high productivity High capacity utilisation over time will in turn contribute to cost-effectiveness High capacity utilisation requires high efficiency of the process, i.e high availability, utilisation, and quality Thus, one important prerequisite to achieve efficient processes is high quality of equipment, personnel and the parts to be processed This statement leads us into a closer look at the term quality

Quality is the second main characteristic of a successful manufacturing system An established definition of quality is the ISO 8402 definition, which defines quality as:

Ótotality of characteristics of an entity that bear on its ability to satisfy stated and implied needsÓ [5]

This is the definition of quality that best applies to manufacturing [10] The ISO 8402 definition also applies when the term Óstated and implied needsÓ is substituted by ÓspecificationsÓ To a customer, this means getting the right product on time and a product that works according to the specification In order to achieve this, the manufacturing process must have high quality capability Quality capability is a concept that was outlined in the German standard DIN 55350 from 1992 This concept was developed since the concepts of process capability and system capability may not be sufficient to describe the capability of an organisation to manufacture products according to specifications [10] Quality capability means:

Óthe capability of an organisation or its elements to generate an entity which satisfies the stated and implied needsÓ [4]

Delivery reliability is another part of the term quality High delivery reliability, which requires a capable manufacturing process, is necessary for the customer to experience high quality To achieve high delivery reliability despite the uncertain and changing environment in which todayÕs companies compete, some kind of agility is required

Agility is the most recent of the requirements on a manufacturing system Goldman, Nagel and Preiss define agility as:

(1)

Ó a comprehensive response to the business challenges of profiting from rapidly changing, continually fragmenting, global markets for high-quality, high-performance, customer-configured goods and services.Ó [8]

According to Goldman, Nagel, and Preiss, agility has four dimensions [8]:

§ Enriching the customer Ð selling solutions rather than products

§ Co-operating to enhance competitiveness Ð co-operation, internationally and with other companies This can for example be achieved by creating virtual companies or cross-functional teams

§ Organising to master change and uncertainty Ð to be organised in a way that you can thrive on change and uncertainty There is no right way to structure an agile company; it is organised so that people are enabled to apply all the necessary resources to exploit changing market opportunities profitably

§ Leveraging the impact of people and information Ð management nurtures an entrepreneurial company culture that leverages the impact of people and information on operations People Ð what they know, the skills they possess, the initiative they display Ð and information are key factors

Agility is closely related to flexibility There are numerous definitions of flexibility In fact, flexibility seems to be the least understood of the manufacturing objectives [20] One explanation may be that flexibility in the context of the manufacturing system is not a self-contained concept

It has to be applied to other manufacturing objectives, e.g product, quality or volume [9] Linder has defined flexibility as the ability to adapt to changing circumstances [17] Chase and Aquilano define flexibility as the ability to rapidly adapt the process to produce what the customers want when they want it, without wasting manufacturing resources [2]

These definitions of flexibility resemble the adopted term agility in the sense of being able to handle changes in an existing manufacturing system Agility differs by incorporating an aspect of uncertainty and unlimited scope into whatever changes that need to be dealt with Flexibility is a characteristic that is fixed at the time of specification Ð the planned response to anticipated contingencies Agility, on the other hand, means that instead of building something that anticipates a defined range of requirements, it is necessary to be able to deconstruct and reconstruct the system as needed

Kidd points out this distinction between agility and flexibility and the necessity of being flexible in order to be agile:

ÓAgility is defined in dictionaries as quick moving, nimble and active This is not the same

as flexibility, which implies in the manufacturing sense, adaptability and versatility It is now an accepted assumption that flexibility is a requirement for the competitive markets of today, but on its own, will not deliver agility Flexibility should be regarded as a necessary condition, which does not include agility.Ó [16]

Thus, for a company to be agile, a certain level of flexibility is required Adaptability is in turn part of the term flexibility, which means that some degree of adaptability is required for a system

to be flexible

2.2 State of the Art within the Research Area

There has been a lot of research around the world within the field of development of manufacturing systems In Sweden there has been research on manufacturing systems at e.g KTH in Stockholm and LiTH in Linkšping

Internationally there are a number of research programmes within this field, examples are:

• IMS (Intelligent Manufacturing Systems) which have formed four clusters:

- Global Manufacturing

- Modelling and Simulation of Manufacturing Life-Cycles

- Autonomous and Co-operative Resource Allocation in Manufacturing Systems

- Autonomous and Co-operative Process Control in Manufacturing Systems

• The Fraunhofer Organisation (the umbrella for 47 Fraunhofer Institutes)

- The Fractal Company

• The Iacocca Institute of Lehigh University

- Agile Manufacturing Enterprise

Project Objectives, results and overview

3.1 Project objectives

Swedish companies are competing in an increasingly competitive business environment We see

a trend of increasing globalisation, increasing customer demands for the best product at the best price with immediate availability, and an ever-increasing rate of technological change All indications point towards that the effect of these trends will increase even further in the future This means that success in manufacturing, and indeed long-term survival, is increasingly more difficult to ensure and it requires continuous development and improvement of the way we produce products Meeting customer demands requires a high degree of flexibility, low-cost/low-volume manufacturing skills, short delivery times, and short time-to-market for new products In the light of this fact, the development of competitive manufacturing systems is indeed an important strategic weapon for Swedish industry

To support the development of competitive manufacturing systems within Swedish industry, a new project is proposed within the Swedish Programme for Production Engineering Education and Research (PROPER)

The Overall Objective of the project is to initiate research projects with the common

objective to develop competitive future manufacturing systems By initiating a national research project and co-operating with leading Swedish industrial corporations, a base for an international leadership within the field can be established

The Partial Objectives of the proposed project are:

• To initiate research co-operation between the fields of production philosophies and system development

• To create a cluster of researchers within Sweden with common research interests

• To initiate co-operation between Swedish industry and academia regarding research and development within the field of manufacturing system development

• To develop a set of similar concepts and definitions within the Swedish research community

3.2 Academic Relevance of the Project

One obstacle for the introduction of new technology in industry is the high integration costs in a large scale and realistic environment Research is therefore important to perform before real world implementations

The research project proposed in this document takes a wide approach aiming at the development of the future manufacturing systems Perhaps the most important aspect of this project is that it emphasises the consideration of the three core characteristics: productivity, quality and agility The research programme emphasises the whole manufacturing system including e.g production concepts and system development

Thus, the preconditions are therefore favourable to successfully develop solutions that can strengthen Swedish industry in a ten-year perspective

3.3 Industrial Relevance of the Project

The industrial relevance of the project is secured by the fact that it contains the entire range of activities from determining the appropriate manufacturing philosophies to the commissioning of manufacturing systems at companies In addition, this project emphasises that the three core characteristics of a manufacturing system, i.e productivity, quality, and agility, must be considered simultaneously Many companies have too many times experienced the problems associated with one single focus when developing a manufacturing system A strong emphasis on one attribute of the manufacturing system has often implied that the other attributes have suffered

There is an increasing interest for these questions in industry, which is shown by the increased number of industrial Ph.D candidates within the field of development of manufacturing systems For example, Scania and ABB have been supporting several doctoral students in this field in recent years

3.4 Contribution to PROPERÕs goals

The PROPER requirement of co-operation between universities will be satisfied by the fact that this project proposal is linked to at least three existing research programmes/projects: ÒWoxŽn Ð The Umbrella ProjectÓ, the Nutek financed programme for ÒDevelopment of Productive Assembly SystemsÓ, and the PROPER project ÒMethods, Models and Tools for Analysis and Development of Manufacturing SystemsÓ Together, these research programmes/projects have links to KTH4, LiTH5, CTH6, LTU7, LTH8 and IVF9

4

The Royal Institute of Technology

5

Linkšpings Universitet

6

Chalmers University of Technology

The other PROPER requirement of co-operation between companies and universities will be satisfied by the previously mentioned industrial Ph.D candidates as well as by other co-operation within specific research projects conducted in industry

The establishment of a Swedish research group, or cluster, dealing with the development of future manufacturing systems, ensures the educational co-operation and research co-operation

3.5 Connection to other Projects

The overall purpose of this project is to link present and future research programmes and projects concerning the development of future manufacturing systems The intended programmes/projects are ÒWoxŽn - The Umbrella ProjectÓ, the Nutek financed program for ÒDevelopment of Productive Assembly SystemsÓ, and the PROPER project ÒMethods, Models and Tools for Analysis and Development of Manufacturing SystemsÓ

The difference between these two programmes and the research project proposed in this document is that this project takes a wider approach in striving for the development of the future manufacturing system Perhaps the most important aspect of this project is that it emphasises that

no matter at which stage of the development of a manufacturing system research is performed, it must consider the three core characteristics; productivity, quality and agility

Preliminary project work-plan

4.1 Participating Companies

At this stage, three part projects are suggested within the proposed PROPER research project These three part projects involve two leading Swedish industrial corporations; Scania and ABB The part projects will be performed by industrial PhD candidates, employed by Scania and ABB respectively The projects are presented in appendix A, B and C respectively

4.2 Academic Partners

The following academic partners will initially participate:

§ Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), WoxŽncentrum

§ Linkšping University, Assembly Technology

4.3 Main work packages, milestones and deliverables

Each PhD student, together with his or her supervisor, will define a sub-project that will consist

of one or more work packages This work will result in one or more jointly authored publications (reports and papers), as well as individual publications such as PhD theses

7

LuleΠTechnical University

8

Lund University

9

The Swedish Institute of Production Engineering Research

4.4 Preliminary time table

Phase 1: Initiation of three PhD graduates Ð September 1998

Phase 2: Case studies in industry will be carried out until June 2000

Phase 3: Two PhD exams December 2000

Phase 4: One PhD exam December 2002

4.5 Project management

The project will be managed by a steering group consisting of representatives from the academic and industrial partners Main project leader will be Professor Christer Johansson, LiTH

4.6 Knowledge dissemination and technology transfer

Publications, Industrial co-operation, undergraduate student courses

Graduate student plans

Two PhD exams are planned to December 2000 and one to December 2002

6 Budget

The project is planed for three PhD-students All of the three students will be employed by industry

It is expected that PROPER will contribute 300 kkr/year and student to both LiTH and KTH until December 2000

Additional funding:

The remaining financing is planned to come from the participating companies

7 References

1 Aspen, U., BrŒthen, A-M., Cassel, P.G., Ericsson, P., Marelius, M., Produktivitetsutveckling inom svenskt

nŠringsliv Ð En studie baserad pŒ nationalrŠkenskaperna (In Swedish), In: Hur mŠta produktivitet?, Expertrapport nr 1 till produktivitetsdelegationen, AllmŠnna fšrlaget, Stockholm, Sweden (1991)

2 Chase, R., Aquilano, N., Production and Operations Management Ð A Life Cycle Approach, Irwin Inc.,

Homewood, USA (1989)

3 Clark, K., Fujimoto, T., Product Development Performance Ð Strategy, Organization, and Management in the

World Auto Industry, Harvard Business School Press, Boston (1991)

4 DIN 55350, Teil 11, Begriffe zu QualitŠtsmanagement und Statistik, Beuth Verlag, Berlin (1993)

5 DIN EN ISO 8402, QualitŠtsmanagement, Begriffe, Beuth Verlag, Berlin (1995)

6 Drucker, P., 1990, ÒThe Emerging Theory of ManufacturingÓ, Harvard Business Review, May-June 1990, pages

94-102.