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IfNot: A Function-Based Approach for Both Proactive and Reactive Integrations of New Productive Technologies.
Abstract
This paper presents an approach to functional modeling for the integration process of new productive technologies, based on a FBP5 (Function/Behavior/Process/Structure) representation of the new technological solutions. Our approach (called IfNot, i.e. functional integration of new technologies) includes new data processing based on mapping model that allows the compariso~ of new solutions according to company internal expectations, even if information and knowledge about them are incomplete
... For example, developing a con guration of parts from a functional speci cation of a product can be regarded as an instance of synthesis. Many approaches to design synthesis based on function have been reported in the literature 28,33,36,100,127,157]. ...
... 33: Computing the resistance of a design entity. ...
... For example, developing a con guration of parts from a functional speci cation of a product can be regarded as an instance of synthesis. Many approaches to design synthesis based on function have been reported in the literature 28,33,36,100,127,157]. ...
... 33: Computing the resistance of a design entity. ...
Engineering conceptual design can be defined as that phase of the product development process during which the designer takes a specification for a product to be designed and generates many broad solutions to it. This paper presents a constraint-based approach to supporting interactive conceptual design. The approach is based on an expressive and general technique for modeling: the design knowledge that a designer can exploit during a design project; the life-cycle environment that the final product faces; the design specification that defines the set of requirements the product must satisfy; and the structure of the various schemes that are developed by the designer. A computational reasoning environment based on constraint filtering is proposed as the basis of an interactive design support tool. Using such a tool, human designers can be assisted in interactively developing and evaluating a set of schemes that satisfy the various constraints imposed on the design.
In beer production industry, some substandard glass-bottled beer should be recycled considering the economic benefit. The traditional way of recycling the glass- bottled beer totally depends on manpower, which limits the development of the production line. This paper proposes a new method for recycling substandard glass-bottled beer, and a relevant equipment is designed. Based on FBS model, a framework for the glass-bottled beer recycling equipment is proposed. With the implement of CATIA, the mechanical structures are modeled and a virtual assembly is conducted. To verify the feasibility of the product, a motion simulation is conducted. The equipment can coordinate recycling of beer, recycling of bottle and recycling of the cap. It frees the labor force in recycling the substandard glass-bottled beer, removing the obstacle to the development of beer-brewing industry. There exist some further work to verify the practicability of the equipment. A prototype should be made and in service in the production line to test and perfect the design. Keywords-component;Equipment; industry; Glass-bottled beer recycling; Function-Behavior-Structure; Computer Aided Design
Nos travaux concernent la conception de produits dans les phases préliminaires, ou préconception de produits, se trouvant dans la littérature sous l'expression de conceptual design, à la croisée entre les domaines de l'Intelligence Artificielle appliquée à la conception, la conception intégrée et simultanée, les théories de la conception et les méthodologies industrielles du type Analyse de la Valeur.
Dans un premier temps, nous avons proposé des modèles enrichis de cahier des charges. Il s'agit de modèles fonctionnels d'objectifs et de satisfactions (ou préférences) relatifs à un produit, à ses services associés et à son projet de conception-industrialisation, en tachant de tenir compte des aspects : incertitude, contexte, multi-acteurs et évolution.
Dans un deuxième temps, nous avons travaillé à la façon de traduire ces objectifs de produit en concepts de solutions (ou architectures) de manière la plus automatisée qui soit : par des méthodes de synthèse, ou par des méthodes semi-automatiques qui, loin de prendre la place des concepteurs, leur permettent au contraire de disposer d'outils de conception génériques leur donnant les moyens de se consacrer à des taches de créativité. Nous avons notamment contribué à développer une méthode de synthèse de concepts en allocation spatiale (technique de programmation par contraintes) et des méthodes de synthèse de concepts de mécanisme plan (techniques de réseau de neurones, de multi-agents, de conception basée sur les cas).
Dans un troisième temps, lorsque des concepts ont été proposés, il faut savoir évaluer leurs performances, la difficulté résidant d'une part dans la définition grossière d'un concept et donc dans leur aptitude à représenter des classes entières de produits solutions, et d'autre part dans l'absence de conception de détail. Le raisonnement à partir de modèles incomplètement définis occupe une part importante de nos travaux. Des méthodes issues de la physique qualitative ont été développées, et la modélisation des performances a été abordée de manière probabiliste et floue ainsi que de manière approximée par des techniques de métamodélisation.
Enfin, nous avons abordé la mesure de l'adéquation des performances d'un concept avec le cahier des charges, pour un produit générique, de manière à développer des fonctionnalités de suivi des performances, des coûts et des risques dans la phase de préconception, ainsi que des fonctionnalités d'aide à la reconception et à l'optimisation des concepts (méthodes basées sur la physique qualitative ou sur une simulation de type Monte-Carlo).
The analysis of the product lifecycle processes is one of the crucial industrial concerns. It highlights the role of knowledge
capitalization and valorization. In this work, a generic model is proposed: the FBS-PPRE model (Function, Behavior, Structure
- Process, Product, Resource, external Effect). The main scientific contribution consists in a conceptual unification making
it possible to increase the homogeneity of the represented objects as well as the completeness of the modeling, when addressing
all the life-cycle situations of the product, the technologies and the enterprise. In order to allow a description of the
various objects handled by the company according to the same formalism, the approach highlights the distinction between the
concepts of nature (material, temporal, software, organizational or energy) and of role. Four different roles are distinguished:
the role of product (object resulting from the process), of resource (means used in a process), of process (temporal, spatial
and hierarchical organization of activities) and of external effect (constraints influencing the course of a process). The
same object can play successively various roles during its lifecycle. In addition, an effective management of behaviors is
proposed: a behavior of an object is always combined with a process element, which makes it possible to define the context.
It then becomes easier to manage the evolution of the object and of its representations, namely their transformational dynamic.
This approach was implemented within the framework of a demonstrator of information system of a company designing and producing
vehicles.
The phases of the life cycle of an industrial product can be described as a network of business processes. Products and informational materials are both raw materials and results of these processes. Modeling using generic model is a solution to integrate and value the enterprise and experts knowledge. Only a standardization approach involving several areas such as product modeling, process modeling, resource modeling and knowledge engineering can help build a retrieval system more efficient and profitable. The Functional-Behavior-Structure approach is mix with the Product Process resources view in a global FBS-PPRE generic model. Comment: Gestion Dynamique des Connaissances Industrielles (2004) Chp 6
The relative significance of conceptual design to basic design or detail design is widely recognized, due to its influential roles in determining the product's fundamental features and development costs. Although there are some general methodologies dealing with functions in design, virtually no commercial CAD systems can support functional design, in particular so-called synthetic phase of design. Supporting the synthetic phase of conceptual design is one of the crucial issues of CAD systems with function modeling capabilities. In this paper, we propose a computer tool called a Function-Behavior-State (FBS) Modeler to support functional design not only in the analytical phase but also in the synthetic phase. To do so, the functional decomposition knowledge and physical features in the knowledge base of the modeler, and a subsystem Qualitative Process Abduction System (QPAS) play crucial roles. Modeling scheme of function in relation with behavior and structure and design process for conceptual design in the FBS Modeler are described. The advantages of the FBS Modeler are demonstrated by presenting two examples; namely, an experiment in which designers used this tool and the design of functionally redundant machines, which is a new design methodology for highly reliable machines, as its application.
This paper reports the results of an exploratory analysis of the actions taken by rivalious firms to create competitive advantage in 13 US product market segments. Twenty-four actions taken by competitors to achieve competitive advantage were identified. These were examined in greater detail through use of a survey that identified the common and unique actions used by the rivals. The findings indicate that a focused approach to the market together with increased use of product and process technology throughout market growth and concentration phases of industry maturity are important elements of successful competition.
The role of technology management in achieving improved manufacturing performance has been receiving increased attention as enterprises are becoming more exposed to competition from around the world. In the modern market for manufactured goods the demand is now for more product variety, better quality, shorter delivery and greater flexibility, while the financial and environmental cost of resources has become an urgent concern to manufacturing managers. This issue of the International Journal of Technology Management addresses the question of how the diffusion, implementation and management of technology can improve the performance of manufacturing industries. The authors come from a large
number of different countries and their contributions cover a wide range of topics within this general theme. Some papers are conceptual, others report on research carried out in a range of different industries including steel production, iron founding, electronics, robotics, machinery, precision engineering, metal working and motor manufacture. In some cases they describe situations in specific countries. Several are based on presentations made at the UK Operations Management Association's Sixth International Conference held at Aston University at which the conference theme was 'Achieving
Competitive Edge: Getting Ahead Through Technology and People'.
In an effort to produce quality products more quickly and at less cost, Chrysler Corporation has instituted a cross-functional system of platform teams within the organization. Many facets of the organization, including R&D, now benefit from being more directly involved in the production process. Whereas in the past, departments worked as separate entities, specialists from each now come together to work more efficiently within one of the four major platform teams. And, with the success of their new products, Chrysler realizes that limited resources—if focused and organized—do not necessarily have to be a liability. By bridging the gap between those who invent and those who implement, Chrysler is emphasizing the spirit of teamwork along all stages of product development and technological change.
This paper examines the current status of, and suggests some future directions for, research efforts in an area important for computer-integrated manufacturing: computer-aided process planning (CAPP). Rather than discuss a specific aspect of the subject or present details of a particular prototype system, the major emphasis is on the global perspectives of fundamental issues involved in developing computer-based planning systems for various manufacturing tasks. In reviewing the current research, references are made to technical papers presented at the 19th CIRP (International Institution for Production Engineering Research) International Seminar on Manufacturing Systems held at the Pennsylvania State University, June 1-2, 1987, with the major theme of Computer Aided Process Planning. In suggesting future directions, an integrated planning framework as a logical extension of current CAPP activities is proposed. The need for, and challenges of, such an integrated planning approach to manufacturing problems are summarized, and, specifically the potential role of artificial intelligence (AI) based techniques within this framework are explained. The objective of this paper is to promote a better understanding of the nature and potential of manufacturing-related planning tasks by critiquing the present efforts with respect to the ultimate goals of unmanned production in the future.
Simulation is frequently used in design of manufacturing systems. Traditionally it is used to design individual production shops or cells, but manufacturers are becoming aware that the major gains in competitiveness made necessary by the growing challenge of global markets, are available only from integrated design of entire factories. In this context simulation models become unwieldy. Meanwhile metamodelling techniques have been maturing, and may provide a more versatile extension to simulation, and deeper insight into modelled systems. Further, the relative computational simplicity of metamodels offers the prospect of practically modelling more extensive systems. This paper reviews the published development of metamodelling techniques, with particular emphasis on their relevance to manufacturing.
An experiment was conducted to determine how to best represent the information that is used by designers during the product defini tion process—the first step in the product realization process A real-time protocol session between a design engineer and a customer was re corded while they developed product requirements for a new bass-drum pedal From this session, a base-line representation was developed Three additional protocol sessions were recorded to test the base-line representation during which three other engineers designed products where the definition information was presented according to the base-line representation Results from this testing yielded a slightly changed rep resentation scheme which is presented in this paper The categories of information within the representation were also arranged based on the priorities of use from the three sessions, and a case example for the new representation is also presented This representation has become the model upon which we are developing a computer environment which serves as a common database for product definition during concurrent development of products
The research on which this paper is based is the first half of a continuing three-year study on technology strategy in UK firms. The research takes the firm as its focus, rather than the individual innovation or the industry sector. In this context it takes technology as the unit of analysis, looking at the acquisition, management and exploitation of technological sources. We take the view that technology is a concept encompassing different kinds of knowledge concerned with the design, production and delivery of products and services. Thus we can talk about product, process and marketing technologies. This paper concentrates on one aspect of technology acquisition and management: the ways in which companies achieve the assimilation of new technologies. We look at the methods used to relate new technology to the existing activities and resources of the firm, and at the managerial issues raised by the process of new technology introduction. We review briefly some literature concerning company technology strategy and acquisition. It highlights some ways in which the process of assimilation of technology impacts upon, and is affected by, managerial perceptions of technologies and their embodiment in products and processes. Data drawn from six opening case studies are used in the paper to illustrate how these elements can be said to constitute a 'technology system' specific to the firm. Technology assimilation affects and is affected by the nature of this system and the way in which managers perceive it. The case studies involve detailed standardized interviews with senior general and technical managers and with technical specialists. Tentative conclusions are drawn concerning differing company profiles and directions for continuing research.
As a real management tool, the product matrix is defined in all respects of technology, marketing and accounting. From this matrix, innovation is defined as the drivative, resolving the debate between innovation 'technology push' or 'demand pull'. A component matrix is derived from the product matrix, which allowed definition of technology portfolio and four main strategies: sub-contracting, cooperation, networking, and joint research.
Argues that technology management must go beyond a strategic approach to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage. The execution paradigm (EXP) builds on the strategic framework to find a sustainable competitive advantage through superior technology acquisition and deployment. Under EXP, organizations will continuously refine their abilities to acquire and deploy relevant technologies that are already an integral part of corporate strategies. Instead of focusing on specific technologies to gain a competitive advantage, attention will be directed on the capabilities of an organization. The sustainable competitive advantage provided by EXP is a strategic edge that is neither easily observed nor quickly duplicated by competitors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
We analyze the diagnosis task in the context of adaptive design and redesign of physical devices. We identify three types of diagnosis tasks that differ in the types of information they take as input: the design does not achieve a desired function of the device, the design results in an undesirable behavior, and a specific structural element in the design misbehaves. We describe a model-based approach for solving the diagnosis task in the context of adaptive design and redesign. This approach uses functional models that explicitly represent the device functions and use them to organize teleological and causal knowledge about the device. In particular, we describe a specific kind of functional model called structure—behavior—function (SBF) models in which the causal behaviors of the device are specified in terms of flow of substances through components. We illustrate the use of SBF models with three examples from Kritik2, a knowledge system that designs new devices by retrieving, diagnosing, and adapting old device designs.
Recently there has been an increase in the number of computer aided design systems developed explicitly representing knowledge about the functionality of engineering designs. Reviewing these systems provides an understanding of the methods workers use to encapsulate knowledge of functionality within their systems. A number of issues are addressed to reveal the nature of their approaches. The developers' perception of functionality is discussed to identify variations in understanding of function and to establish the existence of any consensus. Methods of representing this knowledge are examined, thereby identifying representation types or combinations used and the advantages to be gained from any single representation. Illustrations of the manipulation of function shows how this type of knowledge can be used to support reasoning during early stage design. A survey of relationships with other design characteristics as a testimony to the manipulation of functionality is used to impact other aspects of a design. Through knowledge of relationships some models of the design process are posited by workers. A study of these bears evidence of the role of function in design and the stages at which its use is significant.
Conceptual design is an early phase in the design process, which involves the generation of solution concepts to satisfy the functional requirements of a design problem. There can be more than one solution to a problem; this means that there is scope for producing improved designs if one could explore a solution space larger than is possible at present. Computer support to conceptual design could be effective to this end, if an adequate understanding of the required design knowledge and subsequent tools for its representation and manipulation were available.
This three-part series of articles describes one approach to synthesis of solutions to a class of mechanical design problems; these involve transmission and transformation of mechanical forces and motion, and can be described by a set of inputs and outputs. The approach involves(1) identifying a set of primary functional elements and rules of combining them, and(2) developing appropriate representations and reasoning procedures for synthesising solution concepts using these elements and their combination rules; these synthesis procedures can produce an exhaustive set of solution concepts, in terms of their topological as well as spatial configurations, to a given design problem.
Part I provides an overview of the scope and the approach, adopted in the entire series, to identify the design knowledge required for synthesis, and a method for its validation. It specifically focuses on the extraction and representation of this knowledge. Part II describes synthesis of topological (graph structure) descriptions of possible solutions to a given problem. Part III describes a procedure for producing spatial configurations of these solutions.
Design representation of parts during conceptual design stage has been a challenging task because of the incompleteness of the information available. Traditional geometric design requires too much information on the geometric attributes, and does not consider the functionality of the part any more than that provided by individual features. Functional design in the form of verb, noun representation does not have adequate correlation with the geometric design. In this article, we propose a new form of the design representation of parts during conceptual design. The representation is calledsketching abstraction. In this representation, the discretionary geometry of the part that has functional relevance is captured using functional features, while the non-discretionary geometry is represented using a linkage mechanism. The functional features are related to the part function using data structures calledfunction-form matrices. The sketching abstraction is annotated with a set of primitives, and a grammar has been developed that parses the sketch to extract a set of canonical relationships between the functional features. These relationships can be used to extract part designs that are functionally similar but geometrically dissimilar. The sketching abstraction has a relationship with the solid model of the part as well. Thus we attempt to bridge the gap between function and form representations and provide the designer with a tool that can be used for generating design alternatives. We illustrate the theory developed in the domain of stamped metal parts.
This chapter discusses a theory of representation of causal processes and uses the representational framework for problem solving of various sorts. It presents a framework for thinking about human reasoning about the physical world, and describes the role played by causal process packages in this framework. The chapter gives an informal overview of functional representation (FR) and mentions that FR for a device has three parts: a description of intended function, a description of the structure of the device, and a description of the way the device achieves the function. It lists the component names and their functions and indicates the way the components are put together to make the device. The basic idea in describing the way a device achieves its function is that of a causal process description (CPD). Various applications of FR are reviewed. The organization of a functional representation gives both forward and backward reasoning capability. The chapter describes an algorithm that demonstrates the forward simulation potential.
We analyze Junctional models in the wide spectrum of model types. Our premise is that, in order to identify the merits of model types, their perceptions of reality are important. We classify modeling approaches into two categories, the kernel and the interpretative. The kernel approach, which assumes that the world can be modeled by a composition of predefined primitives, suffers from important drawbacks. The interpretative approach, to which the functional models belong, assumes that we know how things work. We investigate the characteristics of this approach from a diagnostic point of view and show that, although it provides a powerful tool for describing devices, it is hindered by serious disadvantages when used in isolation. We advertise the use of multiple models as a solution and provide an ontological semantic network as a framework for the integration of multiple model types.
Knowledge of how a device works is important for many tasks. Yet, systems that attempt to base their reasoning on the use of a functional model fail to capture such knowledge or only capture it implicitly. Instead they rely solely on the knowledge of the purpose of the system and provide causal explanations of how this purpose is achieved. This type of model only represents knowledge of what the system is for, not how the system works. However, engineers also rely on knowledge of how a device works to complete tasks successfully. One such task is failure mode effects analysis (FMEA). FMEA involves investigation and assessment of the effects of all possible failure modes on a system. This process is both tedious and time consuming, and it requires detailed expert knowledge of the system under consideration, including information about the structure of the system and its purpose or function. This means that any attempt to automate the whole of the FMEA process must involve both the structural and functional levels. This paper reviews the FMEA process and considers the requirements of an automated FMEA system. It outlines a prototype FMEA system and presents a functional modeling system that relies on the results produced by an underlying structural simulator.
We propose function for candidate discrimination, i.e., suspect ordering during model-based diagnosis. Function offers advantages over structure and fault probabilities currently being used for candidate discrimination. It is readily available from device design, unlike fault probabilities, which are hard to obtain. Function-based discrimination is not dependent on the topology of the device, unlike structure-based discrimination. We propose classes as a scheme for representation of function. As part of classes, we define a set of function primitives and provide a framework for identifying the functions of components and subsystems of a device. The representation scheme is domain independent. We propose a function-based technique for candidate discrimination called the default order technique, and outline a diagnosis algorithm that applies the technique to the class model of a device. Function-based diagnosis is in addition to and as a supplement for model-based diagnosis based on behavior and structure. We demonstrate by qualitative analysis that function-based discrimination is at least as effective as fault probabilities for candidate discrimination of simple devices. In complex devices, function facilitates explanation generation based on causality, which is a desirable feature of diagnosis systems. Our discrimination technique provides a functional basis for partitioning components in the practicable version of the minimum entropy technique proposed by deKleer.
Extensive data from the largest R&D-performing companies in the United States, Western Europe and Japan reveal several key factors that influence technological effectiveness and R&D performance. For example, European firms are less involved with their customers in carrying out product development than are U.S. or Japanese companies. Timeliness of technical results and newness of the company's technology portfolio strongly affect overall R&D performance and, more specifically, new-product revenues. Company sales growth is statistically related to overall R&D managerial capability as reflected in R&D meeting its multiple project-level objectives of schedule, technical performance and budgeted cost. These and other findings on strategic management of technology (many presented in Part 1 of this article, in the January-February issue of Research · Technology Management) arise from a global benchmarking study of the 244 companies that account for approximately 80 percent of the R&D expenditures in Europe, Japan and the United States.
The paper proposes an approach to functional reasoning for
diagnosis, based on an ontology that is aimed at providing a more formal
physical foundation to functional knowledge. The approach (called FDef,
i.e. functional diagnosis with efforts and flows) is analysed from
several perspectives: reasoning strategy, modelling, formalisation of
the reasoning activities and of the entities involved, architecture,
comparison with related work, main assumptions and limitations.
Furthermore, the paper shows in detail how the minimum entropy approach
to measurement prescription can be simplified and used in FDef. Several
diagnostic examples are considered and discussed in the paper
A representation strategy that uses knowledge of both device purpose and structure is presented. The representation is described mainly as it relates to design evaluation. The design evaluation task, which checks that the structural design describes a device that will achieve its stated purpose, becomes difficult with even a small increase in complexity. A way to automate this aspect of device understanding, thus providing a systematic mechanism for evaluating the logical aspects of designing mechanical causal systems, is given. Implementation of these ideas in the Doris system is discussed
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