Main goal of this study is to describe and design manufacturing system which is using Additive manufacturing technology for production of semi-finished products and conventional machining technology for finishing operations, then demonstrate requirements of such production on simulation model on production planning and then analyze and summarize the outputs of the production model. The model is made with aid of modern Digital Factory tools. The main purpose of the model is to provide a complex tool for this study in order to analyze and optimize the fictive production system in needed range and complexity. The topic of Rapid Prototyping and Additive manufacturing technologies is very recent topic in industry. But still, there are only few examples of production systems, which are really using Rapid Prototyping technologies as a part of the production or production line. The advantage of these technologies is their versatility, but on the other hand, as a part of production system, they can have different demands on for example production planning, area consumption or maintenance, that can affect whole production system.

An aerodynamic investigation of the influence of outlet stator part (vaneless diffuser and return channel) surface roughness on aerodynamic performance of a very low flow coefficient centrifugal stage has been carried out. The stage with design inlet flow coefficient 0.007 was tested within the range of stage Mach number Mu2=0.5–1.1. Then the surface quality of outlet stator part was improved and the tests have been repeated. Aerodynamic performance and losses in both vaneless diffuser and return channel with de-swirl vanes were investigated. The values of isentropic head coefficient increased while those of loss coefficient decreased nearly in the whole range of characteristics in the stage with improved surface quality. The detailed pressure recovery in vaneless diffuser in vicinity of design point measured and calculated by the performance prediction method is compared and discussed. The nonsteady flow phenomena were also investigated. The change of dynamic stability limit by improving of surface quality was observed.

As a result of globalization the aspects of raising productivity and speed of production with extreme requests on the flexibility of the production systems are gaining importance. These aspects of production are affected by type of product and production and mainly by the capability of companies to correctly manage the manufacturing process. Manufacturing process is globally quicker than it was and the areas of logistics and production planning are still gaining more importance. Gradual changes are also in complexity of production. Without modern tools for production planning it would be very hard to manage production effectively. These tools are part of digital factory concept. Because of those tools the effective planning of production and utilizing the production facilities capacity to its fullest is possible. This paper describes development and implementation of the digital factory concept and its tools in our partner company and is built on previous paper dedicated to common implementation principles of digital factory tools. The main goal of digital factory implementation was optimization of the Tricanter production planning process, elimination of bottle-necks of production system and optimization of manufacturing facilities capacities utilization.

The article deals with the use of Siemens digital factory concept for production capacity planning. In the increasing competitive environment of globalized world economy, pressure to grow effciency of production pro-cesses and systems greatly increases. In addition the increasing cmplexity of product requires appropriate as well as-sembly and logistic processes as production process planning and control. These requirements in the production process planning and cotrol may be due to its complexity filled only with appropriate instruments provided by comprehesive concept of the digital factory, which allow effective use of information on production, promote collaboration between departments and provide relevant data to anyone who needs it. This paper describes implementation of digital factory simulation tools for the production process planning and control at our industrial partner. This approach to production capacity planning using the digital factory concept is unique in the Czech Republic.

This paper deals with the optimization of the production process of vibrocasted refractory products. The main goal is to make efficient and automate the production of moulds for refractory blocks. A theoretical research was followed by an expert analysis of the current state of the manufacturing process at an industrial partner. The next step was to analyze complete portfolio of refractory vibrocasted products, which results in choosing a representative sample whose dimensions most correspond to majority of the moulds produced. Subsequently, a design was done, to make the production process more effective with respect to time, technology and construction aspects, focusing on increasing productivity, reducing human labour and increasing production modernization. In the end, the design options were evaluated in terms of time and cost, and the ideal process of the manufacturing production was recommended with respect to the latest technology. It includes a solution for material composition and optimized design of moulds for vibrocasted refractory materials to increase production efficiency moulds and cost reduction while maintaining mould accuracy and quality. These products are subject to high demands in terms of material quality and precision, and at the same time costly to produce due to manual manufacturing.