The factory - A159
| The factory | |
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| Document Type | Article |
| Document Identifier | 159 |
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Overview
A factory is the aggregation of all objects, physical spaces (factory cells), and process steps that exist/occur within the manufacturing workflow. It is not enough to simply describe a factory as a physical building with rooms. This is only one part of the factory layout. To fully define the factory, all process steps must be defined along with where those process steps will occur, what objects will flow between the different areas of the factory, and how the movement of these objects will occur. This includes the transportation of tooling/parts around the factory as well as the movement of people. An efficient factory flow not only ensures part quality and improves throughput, but also makes for a safer working space for floor operators. Moreover, for each process step, the material, part shape, tooling and consumables, and equipment required should be defined. Breaking down a factory in such a way allows for a systematic approach to composites manufacturing.
To learn more about the individual aspects of a factory, click on the appropriate link below:
- Objects: The "What" - The material (M), part shape (S), tooling & consumables (T), and equipment (E) (known collectively as the MSTE classes) describe the physical assets within the factory.
- Process steps: The "How" - The individual steps within the factory that describe how the MSTE classes come together to process the part.
- Factory cells: The "Where" - The areas of the factory where process steps are grouped together and carried out simultaneously or consecutively.
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- The factory - A159
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Welcome
Welcome to the CKN Knowledge in Practice Centre (KPC). The KPC is a resource for learning and applying scientific knowledge to the practice of composites manufacturing. As you navigate around the KPC, refer back to the information on this right-hand pane as a resource for understanding the intricacies of composites processing and why the KPC is laid out in the way that it is. The following video explains the KPC approach:
Understanding Composites Processing
The Knowledge in Practice Centre (KPC) is centered around a structured method of thinking about composite material manufacturing. From the top down, the heirarchy consists of:
- The factory
- Factory cells and/or the factory layout
- Process steps (embodied in the factory process flow) consisting of:
The way that the material, shape, tooling & consumables and equipment (abbreviated as MSTE) interact with each other during a process step is critical to the outcome of the manufacturing step, and ultimately critical to the quality of the finished part. The interactions between MSTE during a process step can be numerous and complex, but the Knowledge in Practice Centre aims to make you aware of these interactions, understand how one parameter affects another, and understand how to analyze the problem using a systems based approach. Using this approach, the factory can then be developed with a complete understanding and control of all interactions.
Interrelationship of Function, Shape, Material & Process
Design for manufacturing is critical to ensuring the producibility of a part. Trouble arises when it is considered too late or not at all in the design process. Conversely, process design (controlling the interactions between shape, material, tooling & consumables and equipment to achieve a desired outcome) must always consider the shape and material of the part. Ashby has developed and popularized the approach linking design (function) to the choice of material and shape, which influence the process selected and vice versa, as shown below:
Within the Knowledge in Practice Centre the same methodology is applied but the process is more fully defined by also explicitly calling out the equipment and tooling & consumables. Note that in common usage, a process which consists of many steps can be arbitrarily defined by just one step, e.g. "spray-up". Though convenient, this can be misleading.
Workflows
The KPC's Practice and Case Study volumes consist of three types of workflows:
- Development - Analyzing the interactions between MSTE in the process steps to make decisions on processing parameters and understanding how the process steps and factory cells fit within the factory.
- Troubleshooting - Guiding you to possible causes of processing issues affecting either cost, rate or quality and directing you to the most appropriate development workflow to improve the process
- Optimization - An expansion on the development workflows where a larger number of options are considered to achieve the best mixture of cost, rate & quality for your application.
