Foivos Psarommatis

Virtual metrology (VM) involves estimating a product’s quality directly from production process data without physically measuring it. This enables the product quality of each unit of production to be monitored in real time, while preserving the process efficiency. Initially developed for the semiconductor industry, VM has recently been examined for use in other industrial fields. VM is enabled by components such as quality estimators and drift detectors. It enhances various industrial… Mehr anzeigen

Virtual metrology (VM) involves estimating a product’s quality directly from production process data without physically measuring it. This enables the product quality of each unit of production to be monitored in real time, while preserving the process efficiency. Initially developed for the semiconductor industry, VM has recently been examined for use in other industrial fields. VM is enabled by components such as quality estimators and drift detectors. It enhances various industrial applications such as machine control and sampling decision systems. The literature lacks a comprehensive summary and a systematic review of the state of the art in VM. To fill this gap, this study followed a systematic methodology to conduct a complete and structured literature review of VM. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the 199 papers that we identified based on our search and selection criteria. Following our methodological framework, we assigned these papers to categories and highlighted shortcomings. Finally, we discussed VM’s use in various industrial fields, underlining its potential for every manufacturing industry. This study and the proposed framework are useful for both practitioners and academicians since they raise crucial theoretical and managerial questions as well as provide suggestions for further research on this critical topic. Weniger anzeigen

Contemporary manufacturing companies pay a lot of attention to product quality as this aspect affects directly their competitiveness, productivity and the reputation of the company. Traditional quality improvement methods such as Six Sigma, Lean etc. seems unable to cope with the market’s quality standards. Contemporary technological advancements allowed the successful implementation of Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) which is replacing traditional quality improvement methods. According to a… Mehr anzeigen

Contemporary manufacturing companies pay a lot of attention to product quality as this aspect affects directly their competitiveness, productivity and the reputation of the company. Traditional quality improvement methods such as Six Sigma, Lean etc. seems unable to cope with the market’s quality standards. Contemporary technological advancements allowed the successful implementation of Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) which is replacing traditional quality improvement methods. According to a recent review article ZDM can be implemented in two ways the product oriented and the process oriented approach, but there is no clear understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. The current research proposes a methodology for quantifying the performance of each approach. To accomplish that a set of ZDM parameters is defined to describe the problem and the proposed methodology is applied on a specific industrial use case in order to enumerate the ZDM parameters. The results from the application of the proposed methodology will assist manufacturers and researchers to select the most suitable approach to their specific case in order to achieve sustainable manufacturing. The results showed that the performance of either product or process oriented approach is heavily depending on the input parameters and use case. Weniger anzeigen

Defects are unavoidable during manufacturing processes, and a tremendous amount of research aimed at improving defect prevention has been conducted by scholars. Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) seeks to eliminate defects in production. In addition, technological advancements now allow the repair of defective products. This creates the need to re-schedule productions more frequently in order to take into account the actions necessary to fix defective parts. This study focuses on detection and… Mehr anzeigen

Defects are unavoidable during manufacturing processes, and a tremendous amount of research aimed at improving defect prevention has been conducted by scholars. Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) seeks to eliminate defects in production. In addition, technological advancements now allow the repair of defective products. This creates the need to re-schedule productions more frequently in order to take into account the actions necessary to fix defective parts. This study focuses on detection and repair-based ZDM strategies. It implements a newly developed, hybrid Decision Support System (DSS) that uses data-driven and knowledge-based approaches to detect defects and then automate the necessary decision-making processes. The system uses an ontology based on the MASON ontology in order to describe the production domain and enrich the available data with contextual information. Real time production data and past knowledge are utilized to analyse defects, identify their type and severity, and suggest alternative repair plans. Possible repair plans are evaluated using a dynamic multi-criteria approach that determines the plan most suited to production conditions at the time of defect detection. To test the efficacy of the DSS developed for this study, it was integrated with a dynamic scheduling tool and was also used in an industrial application in the semiconductor domain. The simulations and the real-world implementation both show that the proposed DSS system can efficiently detect defects and automate the post-detection decision-making process. The multi-criteria approach adopted by this study proves that the DSS can make well-adapted decisions, handle the dynamic nature of a production system, and help manufacturers move closer to Zero Defect Manufacturing. Weniger anzeigen

Over recent years, the manufacturing industry has seen constant growth and change. From one side, it has been affected by the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). From the other side, it has had to enhance its ability to meet higher customer expectations, such as producing more customized products in a shorter time. In the contemporary competitive market of manufacturing, quality is a criterion of primary importance for winning market share. Quality improvement must be coupled with a… Mehr anzeigen

Over recent years, the manufacturing industry has seen constant growth and change. From one side, it has been affected by the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0). From the other side, it has had to enhance its ability to meet higher customer expectations, such as producing more customized products in a shorter time. In the contemporary competitive market of manufacturing, quality is a criterion of primary importance for winning market share. Quality improvement must be coupled with a concern for high performance. One of the most promising concepts for quality control and improvement is called zero defect manufacturing (ZDM), which utilizes the benefits of Industry 4.0 technologies. ZDM imposes the rule that any event in the production process should have a counter-action to mitigate it. In light of this, the current research developed a methodology the manufacturer can use to correctly select or design appropriate ZDM strategies and equipment to implement at each manufacturing stage. This methodology consists of several steps. The first step is to conduct several simulations using a dynamic scheduling tool with specific data sets to develop a digital twin (DT). The data sets are created using the Taguchi design of experiments methodology. The DT model is created for use in predicting the results of the developed scheduling tool without actually using said tool. Using the DT, multiple ZDM parameter-combination sets can be created and plugged into the model. This process generates ZDM performance maps that show the effect of each ZDM strategy at each manufacturing stage under different control parameters. These maps are intended to provide information for comparing different ZDM-oriented equipment to help manufacturers reach a final decision on correct and efficient ZDM implementation or to assist in the design phase of a ZDM strategy implementation. Weniger anzeigen

Nowadays, the manufacturing industry is constantly changing. Production systems must operate in a highly dynamic environment where unexpected events could occur and create disruption, making rescheduling inevitable for manufacturing companies. Rescheduling models are fundamental to the robustness of production processes. This paper proposes a model to address rescheduling caused by unexpected events, aiming to achieve the zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM) concept. The goal of the model is to… Mehr anzeigen

Nowadays, the manufacturing industry is constantly changing. Production systems must operate in a highly dynamic environment where unexpected events could occur and create disruption, making rescheduling inevitable for manufacturing companies. Rescheduling models are fundamental to the robustness of production processes. This paper proposes a model to address rescheduling caused by unexpected events, aiming to achieve the zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM) concept. The goal of the model is to incorporate traditional and ZDM–oriented events into one methodology to calculate when the next rescheduling will be performed to effectively react to unexpected events. The methodology relies on the definition of two key time parameters for each event type: event response time (RT) and event delay response time (DRT). Based on these parameters, an event management algorithm is designed to identify the optimal rescheduling solution. The DRT parameter is calculated based on a multi-parametric dynamic formula to capture the dynamics of production. Moreover, ANOM, and ANOVA methods are used to analyse the behaviour of the developed method and to assess the level of robustness of the proposed approach. Finally, a case study based on real production scenarios is conducted, a series of simulation experiments are performed, and comparisons with other rescheduling policies are presented. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed event management algorithm for managing rescheduling. Weniger anzeigen

In contemporary manufacturing systems, re-scheduling of the production has become an unavoidable and critical phenomenon. There are many types of unexpected events, which can disrupt the normal operation of manufacturing systems. Therefore, the current research work focuses on identifying the critical reaction time for such events in order to keep productivity and costs at acceptable ranges. The events that are considered are defected part, new order and machine breakdown. Another factor that… Mehr anzeigen

In contemporary manufacturing systems, re-scheduling of the production has become an unavoidable and critical phenomenon. There are many types of unexpected events, which can disrupt the normal operation of manufacturing systems. Therefore, the current research work focuses on identifying the critical reaction time for such events in order to keep productivity and costs at acceptable ranges. The events that are considered are defected part, new order and machine breakdown. Another factor that is studied and is linked with the reaction time is the number of re-schedules per day, because those can cause confusion and loss of productivity. Weniger anzeigen

In the competitive market of manufacturing, quality is a criterion of primary importance in order to win market share. Quality improvement must be coupled with performance point of view. Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Theory of Constraints, and their combination are philosophies dedicated to this goal. This study is a literature review on the implementation of these philosophies to improve quality of processes and products in a system, and also covers… Mehr anzeigen

In the competitive market of manufacturing, quality is a criterion of primary importance in order to win market share. Quality improvement must be coupled with performance point of view. Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma, Total Quality Management, Theory of Constraints, and their combination are philosophies dedicated to this goal. This study is a literature review on the implementation of these philosophies to improve quality of processes and products in a system, and also covers the commonalities and differences with Zero Defect Manufacturing (ZDM) philosophy. In this study, 45 articles have been analyzed. These articles have been selected by a research on several scientific libraries with specific keywords. The methodology is based on a list of information extracted from each paper. The data searched are on the tool selections, critical factors of implementations and the benefits obtained from them. Based on the review and analysis of the literature and practices, we provide the top 10 main components of the tools used for quality improvement, enabling factors, benefits, and barriers to implementation. Moreover, we present and discuss categorization of quality improvement methods and the way toward ZDM. The need of standardized toolkits for different levels of maturity in quality management systems and a better education have been enlightened. Thanks to technological improvement in information flow management, ZDM seems close to be achieved even though some new risks and wastes have to be taken care of within the implementation. Weniger anzeigen

In the past two decades, the use of ontologies has been proven to be an effective tool for enriching existing information systems in the digital data modelling domain and exploiting those assets for semantic interoperability. With the rise of Industry 4.0, the data produced on assembly lines within factories is becoming particularly interesting to leverage precious information. However, adding semantics to data that already exists remains a challenging process. Most manufacturing assembly lines… Mehr anzeigen

In the past two decades, the use of ontologies has been proven to be an effective tool for enriching existing information systems in the digital data modelling domain and exploiting those assets for semantic interoperability. With the rise of Industry 4.0, the data produced on assembly lines within factories is becoming particularly interesting to leverage precious information. However, adding semantics to data that already exists remains a challenging process. Most manufacturing assembly lines predate the outbreak of graph data, or have adopted other data format standards, and the data they produce is therefore difficult to automatically map to RDF. This has been a topic of research an ongoing technical issue for almost a decade, and if certain mapping approaches and mapping languages have been developed, they are difficult to use for an automatic, large-scale data conversion and are not standardized. In this research, a technical approach for converting existing data to semantics has been developed. This paper presents an overview of this approach, as well as two concrete tools that we have built based on it. The results of these tools are discussed as well as recommendations for future research. Weniger anzeigen

The contemporary manufacturing landscape is characterized by increased volatili-ty shortened product life cycles and increased degree of product customization. Manufacturing companies are continuously facing the challenge of operating their manufacturing processes and systems in order to deliver the required production rates of high quality products, while minimizing the use of resources. They can achieve this with a concept named Zero Defect Manufacturing. This concept im-plies that inspection… Mehr anzeigen

The contemporary manufacturing landscape is characterized by increased volatili-ty shortened product life cycles and increased degree of product customization. Manufacturing companies are continuously facing the challenge of operating their manufacturing processes and systems in order to deliver the required production rates of high quality products, while minimizing the use of resources. They can achieve this with a concept named Zero Defect Manufacturing. This concept im-plies that inspection is performed to all the parts and therefore they can achieve zero defects. The problem is that inspection can be either time consuming process or a very expensive process. The goal of the current research work is a method-ology for the identification of the acceptable inspection specification in order for the production system to stay efficient and at the same time produce non-defected products. In other words the outcome of this paper will be a set of maps that de-picts which can be the acceptable inspection characteristics such as inspection time and inspection cost. Weniger anzeigen

In this paper a hybrid framework is illustrated, with a software and hardware integration strategy, for an industrial platform that exploits features from a Relational Database (RDB) and Triplestore using the blackboard architectural pattern, ensuring efficient and accurate communication concerning data transfer among software applications and devices. Specifically, “Raw Data Handler”, manages unstructured data from IoT devices that are kept in an Apache Cassandra instance, while “Production… Mehr anzeigen

In this paper a hybrid framework is illustrated, with a software and hardware integration strategy, for an industrial platform that exploits features from a Relational Database (RDB) and Triplestore using the blackboard architectural pattern, ensuring efficient and accurate communication concerning data transfer among software applications and devices. Specifically, “Raw Data Handler”, manages unstructured data from IoT devices that are kept in an Apache Cassandra instance, while “Production Data Handler” acts on structured data, persisted in a MySQL database. Filtered data is transformed into knowledge and persisted into the Triplestore database (DB) and can be retrieved by expert systems at any time. The proposed framework will be tested and validated within Z-Fact0r project. Weniger anzeigen

This paper provides a literature review on zero defect manufacturing based on the content analysis performed for 280 research articles published from 1987 to 2018 in a variety of academic journals and conference proceedings. The review summarises the state-of-the-art, highlights shortcomings and further directions in research. Accordingly, we investigated how zero defect manufacturing was implemented and evaluated the main research patterns in the sample by analysing key factors. Based on the… Mehr anzeigen

This paper provides a literature review on zero defect manufacturing based on the content analysis performed for 280 research articles published from 1987 to 2018 in a variety of academic journals and conference proceedings. The review summarises the state-of-the-art, highlights shortcomings and further directions in research. Accordingly, we investigated how zero defect manufacturing was implemented and evaluated the main research patterns in the sample by analysing key factors. Based on the extensive review of the zero defect manufacturing literature, we identified and highlighted four distinctive strategies based on overarching themes for zero defect manufacturing, i.e. detection, repair, prediction, and prevention. Evaluation of current research and descriptive analysis highlighted six major shortcomings of current research in zero defect manufacturing: (i) focus on a single strategy instead of a holistic approach for global optima; (ii) certain industries are under-researched; (iii) full potential of industry-academia collaboration is not achieved; (iv) not enough focus on the beginning of manufacturing lifecycle; (v) cost–benefit comparative analysis is not evident; (vi) standard and clear definition of terms are missing. Finally, we presented four further directions in which an advance of the topic would stimulate scholarly and practical needs: (i) shift from local to global solutions; (ii) investigate pros and cons; (iii) role of people and human activities in manufacturing; (iv) new business models for zero defect manufacturing. Weniger anzeigen

Contemporary manufacturing landscape has changed and has become highly vol-atile and demanding. Product Life Cycle has significantly decreased because of the consumers’ need for personalized products in shorter period of time. This need forced the manufacturers to produce smaller batches of highly diversified products instead of producing huge batches of the same product. These newly imposed production requirements made the manufacturers struggle to optimize their productions in such short… Mehr anzeigen

Contemporary manufacturing landscape has changed and has become highly vol-atile and demanding. Product Life Cycle has significantly decreased because of the consumers’ need for personalized products in shorter period of time. This need forced the manufacturers to produce smaller batches of highly diversified products instead of producing huge batches of the same product. These newly imposed production requirements made the manufacturers struggle to optimize their productions in such short period of time and therefore, these production re-quirements created the need for more efficient, productive and eco-friendly plan-ning and scheduling. The solution to this problem can be given partially by a con-cept named “Zero Defect Manufacturing” (ZDM). The goal of ZDM is to elimi-nate defected parts and therefore achieving higher efficiency, eco-friendliness and lower production costs. There are four ZDM strategies that are interconnected with each other: detection, repair, prediction and prevention. The current research work focuses on the Beginning of Life of the product and considers the devel-opment of a dynamic Scheduling tool combined with an intelligent Decision Sup-port System (DSS) that takes into consideration the ZDM strategies for eliminat-ing defected parts during production. The elimination of defected parts would be done mainly by creating specific algorithms for predicting when a defect may oc-cur and for taking the right decisions in order to prevent the defect occurrence. Finally, an industrial example is presented in order to illustrate the potential bene-fits of such an approach. Weniger anzeigen

The task of design, planning and operation of manufacturing networks is becoming more and more chal-lenging for companies, as globalisation, mass customisation and the turbulent economic landscape create demand volatility, uncertainties and high complexity. In this context, this paper investigates the performance of decentralised manufacturing networks through a set of methods developed into a software framework in a toolbox approach. The Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing metaheuristic… Mehr anzeigen

The task of design, planning and operation of manufacturing networks is becoming more and more chal-lenging for companies, as globalisation, mass customisation and the turbulent economic landscape create demand volatility, uncertainties and high complexity. In this context, this paper investigates the performance of decentralised manufacturing networks through a set of methods developed into a software framework in a toolbox approach. The Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing metaheuristic methods areused together with an Artificial Intelligence method, called Intelligent Search Algorithm. A multi-criteriadecision making procedure is carried out for the evaluation of the quality of alternative manufacturing network configurations using multiple conflicting criteria including dynamic complexity, reliability, cost,time, quality and environmental footprint. A comparison of the performance of each method based onthe quality of the solutions that it provided is carried out. The statistical design of experiments robust engineering technique is used for the calibration of the adjustable parameters of the methods. Moreover,the impact of demand fluctuation to the operational performance of the alternative networks, expressed thorough a dynamic complexity indicator, is investigated through simulation. The developed frame work is validated through a real life case, with data coming from the CNC machine building industry. Weniger anzeigen

The currently widespread mass customisation paradigm greatly affects the planning and operation of
manufacturing networks. The increasing need towards customised products in combination with the
volatile product demand calls for efficient ways to design and plan manufacturing network
configurations. The work discussed in this paper aims at enabling a mass customisation and
personalisation implementation, by engaging the customer in the design of unique products and by
enabling… Mehr anzeigen

The currently widespread mass customisation paradigm greatly affects the planning and operation of
manufacturing networks. The increasing need towards customised products in combination with the
volatile product demand calls for efficient ways to design and plan manufacturing network
configurations. The work discussed in this paper aims at enabling a mass customisation and
personalisation implementation, by engaging the customer in the design of unique products and by
enabling the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) to efficiently plan manufacturing and
transportation activities of highly customised products by exploiting an innovative decentralised
manufacturing approach. The suggested method, which is implemented into a web-based platform
consists of (a) the ‘‘User Adaptive Design System’’ (UADS), focused on providing user-friendly design
tools that allow unique product design changes, in a constrained way, (b) the ‘‘Decentralised
Manufacturing Platform’’ (DEMAP) that allows the generation, evaluation and selection of manufactur-
ing/transportation network alternatives, and (c) the ‘‘Environmental Assessment Module’’ (EAM) that
assesses through simulation the environmental footprint of the alternative network configurations. The
applicability of the suggested architecture is validated through its pilot installation to a European
automotive manufacturer and a CNC machine building company. Weniger anzeigen

The increasing need towards higher product customisation in combination with demand volatility require efficient ways to design manufacturing network configurations. The vast number of alternative design configurations, however, affects production planners that cannot longer rely on experience in order to plan the network. This article presents a method for supporting decision-making in realistic manufacturing network design problems, which investigates the performance and viability of… Mehr anzeigen

The increasing need towards higher product customisation in combination with demand volatility require efficient ways to design manufacturing network configurations. The vast number of alternative design configurations, however, affects production planners that cannot longer rely on experience in order to plan the network. This article presents a method for supporting decision-making in realistic manufacturing network design problems, which investigates the performance and viability of centralised and decentralised production networks under heavy product customisation. Simulation models of automotive networks are developed and their performance is evaluated. Two methods are used in the decision-making process, namely an exhaustive search and an intelligent search algorithm. Multiple conflicting user-defined criteria are used for the evaluation of the alternative manufacturing and transportation schemes, including lead time, production cost, flexibility, annual production volume and environmental impact. In addition, the performance of the intelligent search method is investigated using statistical design of experiments (SDoE). Moreover, a calibration procedure for the intelligent algorithm is presented. An assessment of the examined approaches, with respect to their responsiveness and suitability for highly customer-driven environments, is provided and can be used as a guideline for the manufacturing network planning. The proposed method is validated by utilising realistic data provided from a European automotive manufacturer. Weniger anzeigen

Manufacturers around the globe are presented with the evident need to successfully capture and efficiently satisfy the increasing demand towards highly customised products. The trend for higher levels of customisation increases the operational costs, affects delivery times and worsens the environmental footprint of production. Moreover, the feasible alternative manufacturing network configurations increase together with the exploding product variety and the large pool of cooperating suppliers… Mehr anzeigen

Manufacturers around the globe are presented with the evident need to successfully capture and efficiently satisfy the increasing demand towards highly customised products. The trend for higher levels of customisation increases the operational costs, affects delivery times and worsens the environmental footprint of production. Moreover, the feasible alternative manufacturing network configurations increase together with the exploding product variety and the large pool of cooperating suppliers. The proposed research work describes an intelligent method that utilises three adjustable control parameters and can be used for the identification of efficient globalised manufacturing network configurations capable of carrying out the production of mass customised products. The decision support system presented allows the generation of alternative manufacturing network configurations and their evaluation, through a set of multiple conflicting user-defined criteria of cost, time, quality and environmental impact. The suggested approach, which is implemented into a web-based software tool, is investigated through a probabilistic analysis for guiding the decision-maker when selecting the values of the adjustable control parameters, in order to obtain high quality manufacturing network designs. The applicability of the method is validated through a real-life pilot case, using data acquired from an automotive manufacturer. Weniger anzeigen

The mass customisation paradigm, in combination with the volatility of globalised heterogeneous
markets, directly affects industries towards realising efficient manufacturing network configurations.
This research work aims to support the design and operation of manufacturing networks based on a multi objective decision-making and simulation approach. The alternative network designs are evaluated through a set of multiple conflicting criteria including dynamic complexity, reliability… Mehr anzeigen

The mass customisation paradigm, in combination with the volatility of globalised heterogeneous
markets, directly affects industries towards realising efficient manufacturing network configurations.
This research work aims to support the design and operation of manufacturing networks based on a multi objective decision-making and simulation approach. The alternative network designs are evaluated through a set of multiple conflicting criteria including dynamic complexity, reliability, cost, time, quality and environmental footprint. Moreover, the impact of demand volatility to the operational performance of these networks is investigated through simulation. The proposed approach is validated through a real life case acquired from the CNC machine building industry. Weniger anzeigen

Manufacturers are nowadays highly affected by the ever-increasing number of product variants, under the product personalization trend. The large number of cooperating manufacturing network partners leads to enormous search spaces of alternative manufacturing network configurations. This obstructs effective decision-making towards configuring efficient network structures, a nonetheless crucial decision for a company. Exact methods guarantee that the identified solution is the optimum, with… Mehr anzeigen

Manufacturers are nowadays highly affected by the ever-increasing number of product variants, under the product personalization trend. The large number of cooperating manufacturing network partners leads to enormous search spaces of alternative manufacturing network configurations. This obstructs effective decision-making towards configuring efficient network structures, a nonetheless crucial decision for a company. Exact methods guarantee that the identified solution is the optimum, with regards to the objectives set in the specified problem. However, in real life cases the magnitude of the solution space is such that these methods cannot be utilized due to computational constraints. For tackling such NP-hard problems, meta-heuristics can be utilized that provide a trade-off between the quality of solution and the computation time. This research work describes the modeling and solving of a manufacturing network design problem using the metaheuristic methods of simulated annealing and tabu search. The quality of the results identified by these methods is compared with the results obtained from an intelligent search algorithm and an exhaustive enumerative method, which are implemented into a web-based platform for the design and planning of manufacturing networks. The approach is validated through its application to a real life case study with data acquired from the automotive industry. Weniger anzeigen

The volatile globalised markets and mass customisation greatly affect modern industries. In this context, the timely and accurate manufacturing network design is an important strategic decision. However, this proven NP-hard problem cannot be approached byexhaustive methods. This research work aims to support the decision-makers by introducing a Genetic Algorithmfor the identification
of near optimummanufacturing network configurations. The examined problem tackles the multi-stage… Mehr anzeigen

The volatile globalised markets and mass customisation greatly affect modern industries. In this context, the timely and accurate manufacturing network design is an important strategic decision. However, this proven NP-hard problem cannot be approached byexhaustive methods. This research work aims to support the decision-makers by introducing a Genetic Algorithmfor the identification
of near optimummanufacturing network configurations. The examined problem tackles the multi-stage manufacturing network designfor single customised products, through satisfaction of multiple objectives. The performance of the alternative designs deriving from the GA is compared to the results of an intelligent search algorithm with adjustable control parameters, and with an exhaustive search
method. The conflicting criteria for evaluating the alternative configurations include cost, time, quality and environmental parameters. The applicability of the proposed method is validated through a case study, utilising data acquired from the automotive sector. Weniger anzeigen

This paper presents an investigation on the performance and viability of centralized and decentralized
production networks, under heavy product customization. Discrete-event simulation models of
automotive manufacturing networks were developed, for evaluating their performance under highly
diversified product demand. Multiple conflicting user-defined criteria were used for the evaluation,
including lead time, final product cost, flexibility, annual production volume and… Mehr anzeigen

This paper presents an investigation on the performance and viability of centralized and decentralized
production networks, under heavy product customization. Discrete-event simulation models of
automotive manufacturing networks were developed, for evaluating their performance under highly
diversified product demand. Multiple conflicting user-defined criteria were used for the evaluation,
including lead time, final product cost, flexibility, annual production volume and environmental impact
due to product transportation. An assessment of the examined approaches, with respect to their
responsiveness and suitability for highly customer-driven environments is provided, and can be used as a guideline for the production network design. Weniger anzeigen

In today’s era of customer-driven markets, manufacturers throughout the globe realize that the efficient collaboration with their supply chain partners is amongst the most crucial factors for improved profits. The necessity to coordinate the activities of the independent partners and to align their objectives towards a common goal is evident. This research work, presents a methodology for the identification of efficient supply chain schemes in decentralised and centralised manufacturing… Mehr anzeigen

In today’s era of customer-driven markets, manufacturers throughout the globe realize that the efficient collaboration with their supply chain partners is amongst the most crucial factors for improved profits. The necessity to coordinate the activities of the independent partners and to align their objectives towards a common goal is evident. This research work, presents a methodology for the identification of efficient supply chain schemes in decentralised and centralised manufacturing environments. The methodology allows the generation of feasible alternative production and transportation schemes, using exhaustive and intelligent search methods. The schemes are evaluated against multiple user-defined criteria such as cost, time, environmental impact and quality. The derived alternatives can be used for the planning and coordination of geographically dispersed facilities that carry out the production of highly customized products. The approach is implemented to a tool and is applied on a automotive case study. Weniger anzeigen

The current trend of globalisation and decentralisation of the production
activities has created a series of environment related issues. The increase of
transportation distances, the escalated consumption of natural resources, and toxic
emissions are among the generated challenges. Additionally, the manufacturing
complexity, due to high product variety leads to increased energy consumption.
Nevertheless, natural resources are limited and emission levels must be kept under
the… Mehr anzeigen

The current trend of globalisation and decentralisation of the production
activities has created a series of environment related issues. The increase of
transportation distances, the escalated consumption of natural resources, and toxic
emissions are among the generated challenges. Additionally, the manufacturing
complexity, due to high product variety leads to increased energy consumption.
Nevertheless, natural resources are limited and emission levels must be kept under
the limits. This paper presents a methodology, implemented through a software
tool, for the investigation of the environmental impact caused by centralised and
decentralised manufacturing networks, under heavy product customisation. Simulation
models of automotive manufacturing networks were developed, utilising
real life industrial data, for the investigation of the impact of the production
networks under highly diversified product demand, on environmental aspects.
Multiple user-defined criteria have been used for the evaluation of the environmental
footprint, including CO2 emissions and energy requirements in terms of
depletion of natural resources. This paper aims at identifying optimal configurations
of centralised and decentralised production networks, characterised by
reduced energy requirements, low consumption of natural resources and reduced
toxic emissions. Weniger anzeigen

This paper presents a method for the design of manufacturing networks focused on the production of personalised goods. The method, which is implemented to a software tool, comprises of a mechanism for the generation and evaluation of manufacturing network alternative configurations. An
exhaustive search and an intelligent search algorithm are used, for the identification of efficient configurations. Multiple conflicting user-defined criteria are used in the evaluation, including cost, time… Mehr anzeigen

This paper presents a method for the design of manufacturing networks focused on the production of personalised goods. The method, which is implemented to a software tool, comprises of a mechanism for the generation and evaluation of manufacturing network alternative configurations. An
exhaustive search and an intelligent search algorithm are used, for the identification of efficient configurations. Multiple conflicting user-defined criteria are used in the evaluation, including cost, time, CO2 emissions, energy consumption and quality. Discrete Event Simulation models of manufacturing
networks are simulated for the calculation of performance indicators of flexibility, throughput and work-in-process, and are used for assessing the performance of centralised and decentralised networks. The results obtained through the exhaustive and intelligent search methods are compared. The
applicability of the method is tested on a real-life industrial pilot case utilising data from an automotive manufacturer. Weniger anzeigen

The currently promoted mass customization paradigm generates complexity in manufacturing and
high costs, issues that manufacturers need to address. The work discussed in this paper aims at
bridging the gap between mass production and mass customization, by engaging the customer in the
design of unique products and by enabling the OEMs to efficiently handle the production by
exploiting the benefits of decentralized manufacturing. The conceptual framework presented in this
paper is… Mehr anzeigen

The currently promoted mass customization paradigm generates complexity in manufacturing and
high costs, issues that manufacturers need to address. The work discussed in this paper aims at
bridging the gap between mass production and mass customization, by engaging the customer in the
design of unique products and by enabling the OEMs to efficiently handle the production by
exploiting the benefits of decentralized manufacturing. The conceptual framework presented in this
paper is a web-based collaboration platform that consists of a) the user design system which focuses
on providing user-friendly design tools that will allow the customer to perform unique design
changes, in a controlled way, b) the decentralized manufacturing decision making tool, which
allows the systematic generation, evaluation and selection of cost-efficient and eco-friendly
manufacturing/supply procedures for the manufacturing of the product and c) the network
infrastructure for providing and maintaining the interoperability among the aforementioned systems.
The software implementation tools are presented and the expected results from the exploitation of
the platform are indicated. Weniger anzeigen