Automatic configuration of a powertrain assembly line layout based on a KBE approach

Abstract

Design of assembly lines is a knowledge intensive process relying significantly on experience and associated with high costs, long lead times and high probability of risks and reworks. This paper presents a methodology to support the early stage design of assembly lines through Knowledge Based\ud Engineering (KBE). In this introductory paper the authors discuss the methodology to implement the KBE approach. A set of system engineering rules is extracted from direct interviews and domain best practices and knowledge about product and process is formalized. These rules will be implemented in a user-friendly platform allowing the design of first phase line layout by taking the defined system requirements (e.g. cycle time) as input.\ud Then, the KBE approach is extended to a specific case study taken from the powertrain sector

Virtual Reality-Based Engineering Education to Enhance Manufacturing Sustainability in Industry 4.0

“…modification of their routing and sequencing on production equipment [17,54,55]. Moreover, the reconfiguration of plant layout is related to flexibilities involving dynamic modification and organization of locations of machines (e.g., series, parallel, or hybrid configurations), storage buffers, manufacturing cells, and circulation paths for transportation equipment and personnel within the plant [56][57][58][59]. Finally, the reconfiguration of software and control can be correlated with the ability of the control system to allow integration of new equipment, increase the equipment interfacing and communication capabilities, adapt information storage and retrieval capabilities for the plant, and allow integration of new technologies and removal or updating of old ones [60,61].…”