Rapid Application Development of Process Capability: Supplier Models
Rapid changes and specialization in technology make it increasingly difficult for designers to keep track of the current capabilities of manufacturing processes and choose the appropriate one. Improper process selection leads to higher costs, lower quality and wrong choice of the supplier. Currently, there is no software advisory system to help the design/procurement personnel in process and supplier selection. The complexity involved in building an application encompassing the capabilities of dozens of processes and its associated suppliers acts as a deterrent for application service providers. This paper discusses a technique to rapidly develop web applications to identify a suitable manufacturing process and supplier/s using Rapid Application Development (RAD). RAD refers to a new computing paradigm to develop software applications within a short time frame. The technique has been verified by developing an advisory system to identify a suitable plastic process and supplier/s. The methodology is currently limited to common manufacturing methods such as castings, forgings, sheet metal and plastic/composite manufacturing. Benefits realized using RAD include shorter design and development times, code reusability and standardization.