Computer-Integrated Process Planning and Scheduling (CIPPS): Intelligent support for product design, process planning and control

To shorten product development lifecycles for machined powertrain components, it is necessary to develop technologies around integrated product design, process planning and system design. This integration should enable information once created to be readily available across all activities of the lifecycle. A key to achieving this is the creation of an information model for capturing and relating this information. This model should be comprehensive and easily navigable to enable, for instance, manufacturing engineers to trace tasks on the stations in a machining line to specific surfaces on in-process states of the workpiece. Also of importance are strategies that specify how instances of this model are created and how it is to be maintained. This paper presents information models created specifically for powertrain machining. These models have been implemented as a database within a framework for integrated product design, process planning and system design. An XML (eXtensible Markup Language) application based on the model has also been developed to standardize interfaces and facilitate communication within product development teams and with suppliers.

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Triple-Helix Structured Model Based on Problem-Knowledge-Solution Co-evolution for Innovative Product Design Process

Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering ◽

10.1186/s10033-020-00519-2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Qian Hui ◽

Yan Li ◽

Ye Tao ◽

Hongwei Liu

Keyword(s):

Product Design ◽

Design Process ◽

Design Problem ◽

Triple Helix ◽

Problem Solution ◽

Innovative Product ◽

Innovative Design ◽

Structured Model ◽

Knowledge Spaces ◽

Product Design Process

AbstractA design problem with deficient information is generally described as wicked or ill-defined. The information insufficiency leaves designers with loose settings, free environments, and a lack of strict boundaries, which provides them with more opportunities to facilitate innovation. Therefore, to capture the opportunity behind the uncertainty of a design problem, this study models an innovative design as a composite solving process, where the problem is clarified and resolved from fuzziness to satisfying solutions by interplay among design problems, knowledge, and solutions. Additionally, a triple-helix structured model for the innovative product design process is proposed based on the co-evolution of the problem, solution, and knowledge spaces, to provide designers with a distinct design strategy and method for innovative design. The three spaces interact and co-evolve through iterative mappings, including problem structuring, knowledge expansion, and solution generation. The mappings carry the information processing and decision-making activities of the design, and create the path to satisfying solutions. Finally, a case study of a reactor coolant flow distribution device is presented to demonstrate the practicability of this model and the method for innovative product design.

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