CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is a management philosophy in which the functions of design and manufacturing are rationalized and coordinated using computer, communication, and information technologies In todays increasingly competitive environment, companies are under constant pressure to not only design new products faster, but also to ramp up production of them with minimal time-to-market, predictable cost, and required quality. Improving the Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) business process is essential to hitting these challenging cost, time, and quality targets.

Definition of Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) represents a huge step in the quest to link product design with production electronically, in order to improve information quality and reduce time-to-market. Major strides have been made in recent years with the deployment of commercial applications capable of integrating the complicated and configurable BOM (Bill of Material. MPM applications provide the analytical and data management abilities necessary for companies to improve management, accuracy and access of engineering information.

MPM also entails giving early feedback from manufacturing to engineering based on preliminary versions of the manufacturing processes. Additionally, the MPM process communicates with production systems (ERP/MES), delivering optimized routings, and manufacturing bills of materials (MBOMs) and work instructions, including all supporting documents needed by production operators to build the product.

There are four key areas where companies can typically improve their MPM process.

1. Define the Manufacturing Process During the Product Design Phase. Generally, designers throw the design over the wall to manufacturing engineers. However, if manufacturing engineers have direct access to the ever-evolving design information, they can 1

define the manufacturing process in parallel with product design. Furthermore, with this information, manufacturing becomes better equipped to handle concurrent product development and is able to adapt to in-process engineering changes.

2. Provide Manufacturing Engineers with Access to Engineering Data. Accurate manufacturing process definition requires that manufacturing engineers be able to directly use engineering data, including parts, classification, drawings and other manufacturing requirements. Yet, typically, manufacturing engineers lack direct access to this information.

3. Eliminate Manual Processes. Today, most process plans are defined using a spreadsheet program, and work instructions are created using a word processor. This use of manual tools leads to a variety of issues: slow execution of the process, data duplication and inaccuracy, and chaos whenever a change occurs to the engineering definition of the product.

4. Improve enterprise collaboration. Since manufacturing environments typically span multiple plants and time zones, and with manufacturers seeking to implement design anywhere, build anywhere strategies, its difficult for manufacturing engineers to capture and share their knowledge, and ensure consistency across the enterprise.

Companies have invested heavily in enterprise systems to control product information and to control financial information and order flow. These systems, known commonly as CAD, PDM, MRP, and ERP systems address only the top-level need. Typically the production environment relies on the groups in control of these enterprise systems to share bits of information with those responsible for the manufacturing process. The systems they use for manufacturing are typically incompatible, standalone, and non-scalable. The result of this paradigm is the intense pressure faced by those responsible for manufacturing to expedite production, improve quality, and improve efficiency. These are daunting tasks that can be likened to giving someone only a hammer and nails and asking them to build you a house. It can be done, but there are much better tools and technology available to make it faster and more efficient.

The challenges faced by manufacturing have driven the need for a new methodology in managing all of the systems and information used in bringing a product to fruition on the manufacturing floor. This methodology is known as MPM, or Manufacturing Process 2

Management. MPM is a mechanism for tying all the information involved in effectively planning, simulating, optimizing, and executing the manufacturing process and allowing for its share and re-use throughout the manufacturing value chain, extending not only from the shop floor, but to other factories within the enterprise as well as trading partners such as suppliers and even customers.

Figure 1.1: MPM position within the enterprise environment.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this project is to introduce a MPM system at Bosch Special Purpose Machine Assembly Unit. The system is proposed keeping in mind the amount of man hours, the miscommunication that arise due to lack of digital data on the shop floor and the amount of paper wasted. The focus is to provide assembly engineers with access to accurate engineering data on the shop floor and to eliminate manual process as much as possible.

The project work was carried out at Bosch Special Purpose Machine Assembly Unit. Special Purpose Machines (SPM) are those machines which are used only for special purpose. These are not covered in standard manufacturing programs. Therefore they have to be designed and tailor made as per the customers specific requirements.

Always in the production process, there is a long felt need to improve the quality of the product, minimize rejection and increase the productivity, to cater to the pressing circumstances in the GLOBALISED WORLD ECONOMY. The SPM are generally product specific & they are required to be designed & developed for each specific requirement. Sometimes it may be possible to cater to the jobs having similar features but differing in dimensions by using change tooling concept.

Manufacturers have many part tracking needs. They need to create multiple bills of materials (BOM), work orders and manufacture orders for all of their manufacturing projects. Manufacturers also have the added challenge of working with a large number of parts in addition to products, whereas other businesses, such as retailers, work mostly with alreadybuilt products. Working with large number of parts usually results in a lot miscommunication and confusion. To avoid this, a precise data needs to be maintained at different stages.

The floor consists of more than a dozen machines being assembled at a time and hence a lot of data is required and too little data is available to the assembly engineers. The proposed system intends to hold all the necessary data associated to assembly be at the disposal of the assembly engineers. The system will also hold the data of the machines that were previously built, with these details all the costly mistakes committed earlier can be avoided and result in a more efficient way to build the machines and also deliver it to the customer quickly, which in turn improves the companies relation with their customers.

The system would be installed on a thin screen (a computer) stationed on the shop floor. This would largely benefit the engineers, as many of the data related to the machine is at their disposal. This will also help other workers like the foremen to have a better insight into the whole assembly process. The system is more efficient to implement, and will help prevent confidential business documents and data files that are embedded in the software from unauthorized access and tampering.

Figure 1.2 : Flow of information from the top level to bottom

Benefits of MPM
Benefits can be seen with improved access, management, and accuracy of production engineering information for downstream applications such as MES, MRP, and ERP systems. By providing detailed manufacturing process information throughout the organization as well as to downstream applications, the organization now has the ability to distribute best practices quickly and accurately throughout the global organization, and to react intelligently to concurrent changes in products and processes.

The other benefits are: 1. Accelerating new product introductions 2. Accelerating time-to-market and time-to-customer 3. Improved Efficiency of Manufacturing Engineers 4. Reduced Cost of Changes 5. Reduce Scrap and Rework 6. Facilitating communication across the enterprise 7. Implementing best practices and reuse of information

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction
Society in its daily endeavors has become so dependent on automation that it is difficult to imagine life without automation engineering. It's easy to forget in a world where things are moving at internet speed.

As manufacturing became increasingly important, the race to find newer and faster ways to produce products began. The computer revolutionized manufacturing, and manufacturers quickly grasped the advantages that Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) offers.

Today the computer monitors the complete enterprise. Automation has become a complete operational form. From the time the first piece of raw material enters the system to the time the finished product departs the system, it is tracked

What does it take to keep such a manufacturing process going? Most of what goes on in todays manufacturing companies is driven by a system of computers networked to provide seamless movement of information from raw materials to finished product. That system is called Computer-Integrated Manufacturing (CIM). An understanding of how the CIM system works is important to the enterprise system. Without the use of computers, todays manufacturing enterprise could be well out of business.

In the late 80s an integration of the automated factory and the electronic office began. Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) combines flexible automation (robots, numerically controlled machines, and flexible manufacturing systems), CAD/ CAM systems, and management-information systems to build integrated production systems that cover the complete operations of a manufacturing firm, including purchasing, logistics, maintenance, engineering, and business operations. CIM emphasizes horizontal links between different organizational units of a firm and provides the possibility of sharing data and computing resources, making it possible to break the traditional institutional barriers between

departments and create flexible functional groups to perform tasks more speedily and efficiently.

CIM provides the tools to enable the use of organizational programs such as Total Quality Management, Continuous Improvement, Concurrent Engineering, and Design for Manufacturability, Design for Assembly, and back-to basics concept of Do it right the first time. Integrating information and organizations will decrease the logistical size of a company, making it appear to be small again-at least from the management, administration, and information-sharing viewpoints. The goal of CIM is to provide the computer applications and communications needed to bring about the integration (with matching organizational changes) that will allow a company to take advantage of these new capabilities. The CIM technologies may include:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Computer-aided design Manufacturing resource planning Management information systems Computer-aided manufacture Computer numerically controlled machines Flexible manufacturing systems Robotics Automated material handling systems Group technology

The manufacturing companies today have faced intensive market competition, major changes are being experienced with respect to resources, markets, manufacturing process and product strategies. Manufacturing companies must respond to the rapidly changing market and to the new technologies being implemented by their competitors. Furthermore, manufacturing, which has been treated as an outcast by corporate planning and strategy, must become directly involved in these critical long range decisions. Manufacturing can indeed be a formidable competitive weapon, but only if we plan for it and provide the necessary tools and technologies. Besides the traditional competition requirements for low cost high quality, the competition pressure for todays manufacturing companies are more complex products, shorter product life cycle, shorter delivery time, more customized products and fewer skilled workers. 8

Todays products are becoming much more complex and difficult to design and manufacture. One example is the automobile that is becoming more complex with computer controlled ignition braking and maintenance systems. To avoid long design time for the more complex products, companies should develop tools and use new technologies.

Figure 2.1: Decomposition of CIMS

Three kinds of decisions should be made for any manufacturing company: (1) what kinds of products will be made, (2) what resource is needed to make the products and (3) how to control the manufacturing systems. It should be pointed out that these decisions cannot be made separately. If the company wants to make a decision at a certain level, for example, at business level, it should also get access to the information at other levels. In the whole processes of decision making, the core concept is integration. This is the fundamental requirements for the research and development of CIM.

Figure 2.2: A seven level manufacturing hierarchy

2.3. Benefit from CIM The integration of the technologies brings the following benefits: 1. Creation of a truly interactive system that enables manufacturing functions to communicate easily with other relevant functional units. 2. Accurate data transferability among the manufacturing plant or subcontracting facilities at in plant or diverse locations. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Faster responses to data-changes for manufacturing flexibility. Increased flexibility towards introduction of new products. Improved accuracy and quality in the manufacturing process. Improved quality of the products. Control of data-flow among various units and maintenance of user-library for systemwide data. 8. 9. 10. Reduction of lead times which generates a competitive advantage. Streamlined manufacturing flow from order to delivery. Easier training and re-training facilities 10

The unprecedented growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) driven by microelectronics, computer hardware and software systems has influenced all facets of computing applications across organizations. Simultaneously the business environment is becoming increasingly complex with functional units requiring more and more interfunctional data flow for decision making, timely and efficient procurement of product parts, management of inventory, accounting, human resources and distribution of goods and services. In this context, management of organizations needs efficient information systems to improve competitiveness by cost reduction and better logistics. It is universally recognized by large and small-to medium- size enterprises (SME) that the capability of providing the right information at the right time brings tremendous rewards to organizations in a global competitive world of complex business practices.

The need for integration has evolved in response to the problems faced by the traditional manufacturing process of industrial automation. Individual automation in each functional unit created islands of automation. These islands of automation did not facilitate communication between the functional units. Errors in data sharing and other mismatches with these islands of automation continually plagued the Manufacturing industry. The complexity of new manufacturing technologies, economics, increasing human limitations, computer

developments, and competition from abroad has forced the initiation of computer integrated manufacturing (CIM).

In late 1970s and early 1980s, as CIM advanced quite rapidly, disillusionment with automation has surfaced. Frequently, top executives viewed CIM as just technology a master computer controlling many robots and automated machines. They are wrong; if CIM were just technology, there would not have been as many companies having difficulty implementing it. CIM is the management of technology rather than a technology itself. It is the integration of people and functions utilizing the computer and communication networks to transform automation into interconnected manufacturing systems. CIM requires a new perspective on the part of management maybe even a new philosophy. Top management, manufacturing and industrial engineers must change their way of thinking and develop new skills. Critical problems in industrial automation: 1) Information could not be controlled by users. 2) Changes were too costly and time consuming. 11

3) Systems were not integrated. 4) Data quality was not suitable for integration.

Manufacturing managers consider and adopt innovative and advance technologies due to the global competition, which exists today, not only from Japan and Europe, but also form low labour cost countries such as China. The manufacturing engineer today must understand and be able to plan for these new technologies to survive in the present world condition. They should have a clear concept of automating the manual and semiautomatic machinery to reap the benefits of these emerging technologies. Implementation of CIM could help companies achieve their competitive goals to survive in the global market environment as long as the technologies chosen are appropriate to meet their objectives.

2.2 WHAT IS MPM?

Manufacturing Process Management addresses the area of manufacturing that has historically been most neglected area of the industrial process the actual planning and creation of the manufacturing process. While CAD and PDM address what to manufacture, and MES and ERP address when and where, MPM addresses how. MPM is an enterprise-wide strategy that enables multiple users to collectively plan manufacturing processes and to communicate this information to everyone in the organization.

Three primary tasks govern the processes in a factory from product design through production. Manufacturers design what they will make, they design how they will make the product, and they plan when they will make it

Figure 2.3: Manufacturing Process Management. 12

The what and when in manufacturing have evolved into multi-billion-dollar software and service industries. Few companies design their products or plan their manufacturing schedules on paper anymore. However, the same cannot be said for the design of how products are made.

A recent survey of Midwest manufacturers with facilities that employ 250 to 2,500 workers found that the vast majority of them do all their planning manually, on forms reproduced by copy machines. These companies then use file cabinets for the storage and management of this valuable process information. One company recently hired a librarian to manage and distribute this paper-based information to engineers at their multiple facilities.

Those companies surveyed that do rely on computers use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets stored on local computers, lacking integration to other systems. Most of these spreadsheets are fairly sophisticated, involve hundreds of hours of development time by process engineers, and require considerable regular maintenance. Finally, the few companies that were found to use integrated and networked computer systems used DEC VAX systems most of which were last updated nearly fifteen to twenty years ago.

The most common workflow for passing product design information to production planning relied on paper forms of independent spreadsheets with the information manually entered into the production-planning (MRP/ERP/MES) systems by low-wage clerks. This manual process has led to process-time delays as well as to inconsistencies in the detailed information, especially as it relates to model-mix and optional-work content. The downstream implication of these information delays and inaccuracies is that the production planning systems cannot accurately plan and manage production. Thus, the payback from the significant investment in these systems cannot be realized.

Computerized MPM systems can solve these problems. MPM systems can take the engineering bill of materials (eBOM) from Product Engineering electronically, and provide the information to industrial and manufacturing engineers, who can design and document the manufacturing processes at high levels of detail, while mapping the processes to manufactured and consumed components. These MPM systems can then determine the time and resource requirements for both equipment and people at the production locations including plants, workstations, and machines, and can then generate the shop floor work 13

instructions. In addition, the important attributes of production sequence and precedence are documented, manufactured activity based costs are calculated and value-added work content is determined.

Finally, these engineers can now reconcile the manufacturing process with the product, complete with model-mix and option-content variations. Most importantly, this manufacturing bill of material or mBOM, as well as the bill of process or BOP, can now be electronically sent to the production planning systems (MRP/ERP/MES), where production can be planned accurately, in detail, from the first day of new product launch.

The MPM process is generally characterized by the following steps:

1. Define Manufacturing Strategy. In this step, manufacturing engineers evaluate both the design requirements and the manufacturing capabilities and capacities necessary to support the manufacturing strategy. They identify which partners will be required, and any long lead items that will need immediate attention. 2. Advanced Manufacturing Planning. (Advanced, in this context, means early) In this step, manufacturing engineers work concurrently with engineering, as early as possible in the design process, using preliminary design information. Together, they create preliminary versions of the manufacturing bill of material (mBOM) and process plans, initiate new tooling requests, and produce time and cost estimates. Factual feedback or requests for change are also provided to engineering in the early stages of product design to improve manufacturability.

3. Optimize Process Plan. In this step, manufacturing engineers create several manufacturing process alternatives to compare and optimize the manufacturing process. Manufacturing process alternatives can represent either different alternatives in one plant, alternatives between different plants, or make-versus-buy options. Optimization methods typically include line balancing, but can also involve more specialized types of simulation, such as work centre simulation or whole factory discrete event simulation.

4. Document Process Plan. Once the process plan and product design are mature, the manufacturing engineer must detail and document the manufacturing processes that have 14

been selected from the previous optimization step. Work instructions are produced for the operator, and typically include images of the product which are dynamically generated from the process definition with MPM Link. These images can be associatively defined, so that they may easily be kept up-to-date.

5. Pre-Production and Production. In this step, the manufacturing process definition is electronically released to production systems (ERP/MES). Work instructions are made available to the shop floor in electronic format. Electronic work instructions can also be used to collect feedback from the actual execution of the process, including results of inspections, deviations, and as-built BOMs.

Figure 2.4: MPM process flow 15

2.3 MPM CONNECTION TO LEAN

What is Lean? Lean is a philosophy and set of management techniques focused on continuous elimination of waste so that every process, task or work action is made value adding as viewed from customer perspective. Lean waste elimination targets the Eight Wastes namely:

Overproduction: Producing more than the customer demands. The corresponding Lean principle is to manufacture based upon a pull system, or producing products just as customers order them. Anything produced beyond this (buffer or safety stocks, work-in-process inventories, etc.) ties up valuable labour and material resources that might otherwise be used to respond to customer demand. Over-processing: Doing more to a product/service (but not perceived as value by customer) Waiting: For information, material, people, equipment, procedures, approvals and more.

Transportation: Material should be delivered to its point of use. Instead of raw materials being shipped from the vendor to a receiving location, processed, moved into a warehouse, and then transported to the assembly line, Lean demands that the material be shipped directly from the vendor to the location in the assembly line where it will be used. The Lean term for this technique is called point-of-use-storage (POUS).

Defects: Production defects and service errors waste resources in four ways. First, materials are consumed. Second, the labour used to produce the part (or provide the service). Third, labour is required to rework the product (or redo the service). Fourth, labour is required to address any forthcoming customer complaints.

Rework and Scrap: Products, transactions or outputs not meeting specifications and have to be fixed, redone, rectified, marked down or scrapped / unusable.

Motion: Mainly people, document movement, searching etc. Unnecessary motion is caused by poor workflow, poor layout, housekeeping, and inconsistent or undocumented work methods. Value Stream Mapping is also used to identify this type of waste. 16

Inventory: Buffer stocks or resources (Raw, Work in process, FG, Bench staff etc).

Unused Creativity: People knowledge and skills that are not utilized by the company.

Wastes make the organization slow, inefficient and uncompetitive. Lean methods help to remove / reduce waste and contributes to driving business agility (velocity) through smooth work flow across the organization resulting in rapid fulfilment of customer needs in an optimum manner.

Figure 2.5: Lean manufacturing

MPM CONNECTION TO LEAN

Historically, it was believed that software was not an important part of Lean. Early advocates of Lean believed software would become a non value add piece of a lean initiative. Times have changed and technology has changed. This way of thinking is rapidly dwindling and many are finding that the use of software tools that map to the Lean methodology are of great 17

benefit and actually help not only to effectively implement a Lean strategy, but perhaps even more importantly, to sustain one.

A recent AMR Research report detailed the importance of adequate software tools in Lean. Companies outgrow the approach of using Microsoft Excel to support lean programs, and are increasingly searching for lean-specific software.

The AMR report goes on to detail the key elements of Lean software tools: Model: The ability to graphically represent a value stream, perform simulations, and instantiate product family tracking. Calibrate: The ability to calculate and adjust appropriate lean control points, including TAKT time, Kanban sizes, Super markets. Operate: Support of the requisite data collection, as the actual product flows through the value stream. Improve: The ability to identify points of high variability and the root causes in order to adjust and improve.

Fundamentally, it is clear that a cornerstone to Lean is the ability to effectively create, document, and execute an efficient, demand driven, process. These are key elements of MPM also. In terms of supporting, as opposed to constraining, lean manufacturing principles, this is where software applications really shine. The ability to model, promulgate, monitor, and manage workflows is vital to capturing the benefits of better process planning. Says AMR

HOW MPM FACILITATES LEAN

Most companies today would not consider doing business without the help of a PDM (Product Data Management) or Bill of Materials centralized control system. These tools are viewed as mission critical elements in providing consistent access to product data. Yet, oddly, the vast majority of manufacturers choose to do business without a central control system for production process information. If you consider the fact that each piece of product data yields a multiple of associated process data, it would appear that our priorities need to be reviewed. After all, the best product design in the world is nothing more than a wasteful data file unless it can be manufactured. And the ability to manufacture it effectively, on time, and at a 18

reasonable cost is the difference in that great product design becoming a hit or miss. Again this is the domain of MPM. Value Stream Mapping is a fundamental practice of Lean. Many companies and consultants today make this a key part of Lean training and Lean documentation. It often becomes something of an art project that shows very well hanging in the corporate hallways or at the side of the boardroom. The inherent problem with this is the fact that the information is outdated by the time the double-sided tape is applied to the back of the masterpiece and hung on the wall. The factory is, and for good and desirable reasons, a rapidly changing place. Frequent changes occur to products, as well as changes to the technology available to assemble them. The ability to effectively map the Value Stream is important. The ability to rapidly adapt this model to product and process changes is more important. The inability for companies to adapt to these changes after the Lean consultants have left is one of the primary reasons.

Lean initiatives die on the vine, lacking proper care and feeding. MPM gives companies that have Lean initiatives the tools needed to not only effectively implement a Lean strategy, but more importantly, to make it live on. How do we know its Lean? After the Lean initiative has begun and Value Stream has been mapped it is time to try it in a real-life scenario. A manual guess and check method is the most common way to test and validate the new initiatives. This is an inherently wasteful process. Another key element to MPM is the ability to tie the Lean production plan directly to a simulation tool. The ability to not only plan for a Lean process, but to validate and test it via simulation is critical in the effort to implement changes quickly and at the lowest cost.

Integrated tools are key MPM seeks to improve the implementation of Lean strategies by providing an integrated set of process planning and collaboration tools. One of the challenges most companies face today is the disparate systems and groups that each have their own level of subject matter expertise and their own unique set of tools for accomplishing their tasks. Any Lean initiative should include the following integrated MPM capabilities to: 1. 2. Analyze throughput and bottlenecks Map/Improve factory/line layout and production flow 19

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Reduce set-ups via better process analysis Analyze workplace design logistically/ergonomically Calculate and optimize Kanban sizes, supermarkets etc. Analyze drivers of process cost Optimize movement and placement of all resources Create and publish electronic work instructions that meet CFR part 11 specifications. Optimize throughput via simulation and task management

Having an integrated set of tools for modeling and calibrating Lean functions is itself a reduction of waste and very much Lean thinking.

2.2 History
Computer Integrated Manufacturing (CIM) is considered a natural evolution of the technology of CAD/CAM which by itself evolved by the integration of CAD and CAM. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, USA) is credited with pioneering the development in both CAD and CAM. The need to meet the design and manufacturing requirements of aerospace industries after the Second World War necessitated the development of these technologies. The manufacturing technology available during late 40s and early 50s could not meet the design and manufacturing challenges arising out of the need to develop sophisticated aircraft and satellite launch vehicles. This prompted the US Air Force to approach MIT to develop suitable control systems, drives and programming techniques for machine tools using electronic control.

The first major innovation in machine control is the Numerical Control (NC), demonstrated at MIT in 1952. Early Numerical Control Systems were all basically hardwired systems, since these were built with discrete systems or with later first generation integrated chips. Early NC machines used paper tape as an input medium. Every NC machine was fitted with a tape reader to read paper tape and transfer the program to the memory of the machine tool block by block. Mainframe computers were used to control a group of NC machines by mid 60s. This arrangement was then called Direct Numerical Control (DNC) as the computer bypassed the tape reader to transfer the program data to the machine controller. By late 60s mini computers were being commonly used to control NC machines.

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At this stage NC became truly soft wired with the facilities of mass program storage, offline editing and software logic control and processing. This development is called Computer Numerical Control (CNC). Since 70s, numerical controllers are being designed around microprocessors, resulting in compact CNC systems. A further development to this technology is the distributed numerical control (also called DNC) in which processing of NC program is carried out in different computers operating at different hierarchical levels - typically from mainframe host computers to plant computers to the machine controller. Today the CNC systems are built around powerful 32 bit and 64 bit microprocessors. PC based systems are also becoming increasingly popular. Manufacturing engineers also started using computers for such tasks like inventory control, demand forecasting, production planning and control etc. CNC technology was adapted in the development of co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs) which automated inspection. Robots were introduced to automate several tasks like machine loading, materials handling, welding, painting and assembly. All these developments led to the evolution of flexible manufacturing cells and flexible manufacturing systems in late 70s.

Evolution of Computer Aided Design (CAD), on the other hand was to cater to the geometric modelling needs of automobile and aeronautical industries. The developments in computers, design workstations, graphic cards, display devices and graphic input and output devices during the last ten years have been phenomenal. This coupled with the development of operating system with graphic user interfaces and powerful interactive (user friendly) software packages for modelling, drafting, analysis and optimization provides the necessary tools to automate the design process. CAD in fact owes its development to the APT language project at MIT in early 50s. Several clones of APT were introduced in 80s to automatically develop NC codes from the geometric model of the component. Now, one can model, draft, analyze, simulate, modify, optimize and create the NC code to manufacture a component and simulate the machining operation sitting at a computer workstation. If one reviews the manufacturing scenario during 80s they will find that the manufacturing is characterized by a few islands of automation. In the case of design, the task is well 21

automated. In the case of manufacture, CNC machines, DNC systems, FMC, FMS etc provide tightly controlled automation systems. Similarly computer control has been implemented in several areas like manufacturing resource planning, accounting, sales, marketing and purchase. Yet the full potential of computerization could not be obtained unless all the segments of manufacturing are integrated, permitting the transfer of data across various functional modules. This realization led to the concept of computer integrated manufacturing. Thus the implementation of CIM required the development of whole lot of computer technologies related to hardware and software.

Figure 2.6: Evolution of Computer Integrated Manufacturing

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The Evolution of MPM

MPM is not a completely new manufacturing trend. MPM is an evolution and accumulation of many years of technology and proven experience. MPM is the maturation of simulation and off-line programming solutions of the 80s and computer-aided production engineering (CAPE) systems of the 90s.

Part of the process of understanding the importance of MPM requires an appreciation of the changes currently taking place in manufacturing. Historically, manufacturers have been monolithic organizations where the objective was to turn out as many units of a limited number of products as inexpensively as possible. Production workers were evaluated on how many units they could install per hour and assembly lines were an accumulation of repetitive operations. Beginning in the early 1980s, faced with fierce competition, manufacturers began to recognize that this model was no longer viable. The Birth of CAPE While the world at large was trying to understand the impact of new manufacturing strategies that were being touted, such as lean manufacturing, agile manufacturing, just-in-time manufacturing, design for assembly, etc., some innovative companies were implementing Computer-Aided Production Engineering (CAPE). These applications provided engineers with a virtual 3D environment to design, simulate and off-line program a wide range of manufacturing processes including, assembly, machining, quality inspection, welding and painting, and for assembly and ergonomics studies. By the early 90s most leading automotive, electronics and aerospace companies were using CAPE tools and reporting significant improvements in production time, costs and quality.

Islands of Information By the mid 90s, with significant proven success, it was only natural that manufacturers would want to implement CAPE technology earlier on in the development process. Companies realized that to have a real impact on time-to-market, their main concern at the time was that they needed the ability to make more reliable and efficient decisions up front and to better plan and manage the industrial process from concept to production. Some companies were using CAPP (Computer-Aided Process Planning) and MES (Manufacturing Execution Systems) applications and others had developed a multiplicity of home grown 23

databases to store manufacturing process information such as tool and resource data, time standards, and operation/process sheet and routing databases. While offered a growing array of diverse tools on the market, manufacturers were aware that it was not just a case of missing technology. As Richard Rieff, Director of the Ford C3P Program, eloquently summed it up: Dont give us any more tools. Just make those that we already have work together

The Digital Factory The Digital Factory expanded the capabilities of CAPE, adding integration and planning capabilities and a process database to contain a companys manufacturing assets, including machines, tools, human models, programs processes and methods. Digital Factory solutions provided a powerful environment that allowed manufacturers to reuse data to plan, design, simulate, envision and manage the entire development of a manufacturing process. Using Digital Factory tools, users could immediately evaluate design decisions intended to accelerate new product introductions, increase production and volume, optimize throughput, and improve worker safety and comfort. What-if questions were answered visually and comprehensively in real-time, enabling planners and managers to vastly improve the efficiency of the enterprise.

The Age of Internet Today, the sweeping impact of the Internet is changing market and business dynamics, putting manufacturers under even more pressure to accommodate shorter product life cycles and increased product variants. At the same time, the Internet has opened new opportunities for communication among colleagues, partners and suppliers. Today, leading manufacturers agree that the next level of business improvement will come through collaboration on several fronts

Concurrent Engineering The days of an engineering organization creating a new design and then tossing it over the wall to manufacturing is over. Today, most product development teams include both design and manufacturing personnel working at the same site or at different sites to create new products. A major objective is to avoid surprises by ensuring that a new product can, in fact, be manufactured as designed before it reaches the factory floor.

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Globalization It is not at all unusual for a product designed in California to have tooling produced in Michigan with final assembly done in Spain using standard components manufactured in Taiwan and custom parts produced under contract in India.

Outsourcing More and more manufacturers are focusing on their core competence and outsourcing their manufacturing operations. Companies, such as Celestica, Flextronics, Sanmina, Solectron and SCI Systems, are becoming the major manufacturers of electronics products, and are increasingly growing as they spread their manufacturing operations over the world. Line builder companies like ABB Flexible Automation, Comau, Engineering & Design AG, and KUKA Flexible Production Systems Corporation build production lines for the automotive industry. The ability of these firms and the OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) to collaborate among their own dispersed manufacturing and with one another is a key competitive advantage.

Figure 2.7: Manufacturing today is done by dispersed teams that have to communicate among themselves and others in the manufacturing chain.

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IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT

It has been estimated that up to 90% of information in businesses is retained on paper. This practice is so familiar that it generally goes unquestioned, however, it often forces companies to remain dependent on a wasteful system. The costs to business associated with paper storage, lost documents, postage, document obsolescence, and labour inefficiency can be significant. Almost all paper used in business today provides copies of information that is created or stored electronically. A greater use of electronic means of data storage and transmission ensures that hard copies need only be produced if and when it is absolutely necessary and so the need for paper based documents is minimal. Relying more on the existing digital copies of information has the added benefit of reduced transportation costs, both environmental and financial. The cost of sending an electronic file via email to 50 different people is negligible compared to printing and delivering 50 hard copies. It is also significantly quicker and easier.

Data storage and backup is also substantially easier if an electronic document is used rather than a paper copy. To store Rs.1 lakh paper documents, an organization can expect to spend between Rs.1 lakh and Rs.2 lakhs on filing cabinets alone not even considering the cost of the floor space required to house them. Those same files could fit on a single hard disk drive. On top of the initial cost, filing and sorting through paper based documentation is time consuming and thus costly. Computational tools allow millions of files to be indexed and searched in a matter of seconds. A study performed by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, California, estimated that the cost per tonne of handling paper is 20 times the purchase cost and 200 times the disposal cost. Automated processes can increase productivity by 50 percent or more. Any opportunity to reduce paper based communications within business should be embraced with both hands for both financial and environmental reasons. Many multinational companies such as Dell, Lockheed Martin, Bell Atlantic, Nike and AT&T have initiated paper reduction schemes which are reported to have saved thousands to millions of dollars for these companies whilst simultaneously reducing their environmental impact. A software, allows the storage, retrieval and management of the records on a centralized database that can be easily accessed by authorized personnel. A software offers several benefits over traditional, paper-based ones. Let us take a look at some of the advantages: 26

Storage space: Traditionally, the records of the machine being built and the machines that were built, need a significant amount of physical storage space like file cabinets and shelves. This software all but eliminates this need for physical storage space as electronic records are stored in a centralized database. Cost: The software eliminates the need for traditional storage media such as paper, thus greatly reducing the cost associated with maintaining records. Besides, duplication, transfer of electronic records costs far less than copying, faxing and transporting paper-centric media. Centralization: Paper-based records are often stored at different locations. Collecting all of them at a single location for review is a tedious and time-consuming process. Since this software ensures that all records are available on a centralized database, they can be reviewed instantly and conveniently. Data collection: Centralized storage of electronic records also makes collection of data for research and studies very simple and quick. Standardization: The software makes it possible for engineers to standardize forms, terminology and abbreviations, resulting in well organized, regulated data input. Engineering errors caused by poor legibility on paper forms can also be avoided as all data is entered on digital forms only. Efficiency: A recent study concluded that electronic records improve efficiency by as much as 6% annually in the industry, this is a path-breaking statistic. Updates: Unlike their paper-based counterparts, electronic records can be regularly updated with ease so that at any given point in time, authorized personnel can gain access to the latest and most correct information. Ease of exchange: Electronic records can be effortlessly transferred to both affiliates and third party for reference purposes. The data from an electronic system can be easily sent for anonymous statistical reporting to improve the working of the industry. The use of this software can cause a revolution in the industry, slowly turning paper-based recording methods obsolete. As more and more industries turn tech-savvy and imbibe the use of such software, the increased efficiency ultimately results in better care at lower costs.

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Environmental: Saving paper reduces our impact Paper is an office necessity for some essential tasks, but it has an environmental cost. Creating paper from trees requires a lot of natural resources: trees, water, and energy. 1. It takes more than 1 cups of water to make one sheet of paper. (Picture a typical soda can.) 2. 3. Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper. Reducing paper use reduces greenhouse gases: 40 reams of paper is like 1.5 acres of pine forest absorbing carbon for a year. 4. 5. 6. 7. Even with recycling efforts, paper makes up over 25% of garbage. It takes one 15-year old tree to produce half a box of paper. One tree can filter up to 60 pounds of pollutants from the air each year. Rainforests once covered 14% of the earth's land surface; now they cover a mere 6% and experts estimate that the last remaining rainforests could be consumed in less than 40 years. Disadvantages Of Paper Records Many want to discuss the advantages of paper Records over electronic Records. They may even want to talk about the disadvantages of electronic Records as well. For completeness, here is a list of disadvantages of paper Records. 1. They cannot be searched quickly when a decision must be made by the care provider at the point of care. Tabs and Indices help, but a complete search of a Record for the existence or non-existence of a particular issue is very difficult, especially if the issue is only noted in an unusual abbreviation or a form unfamiliar to the person searching. 2. Only one way of phrasing a condition, Treatment, or issue will be placed into the Record. Any abbreviation, alternate emphasis, or obvious generalization of the term will probably not be recorded, as people don't have the time to write down synonyms, etc. 3. Someone has to manage all the Records and the physical space they occupy. If the Records are too large, additional expense must be budgeted to pay for off site storage. Records must be indexed properly and kept organized.

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4.

There is only one copy of a paper record. If it is lost, no one can use it. If it is in use by one person, it cannot be used anywhere else. If it is separated for use by several people concurrently, it must be merged again, or it won't be available the next time it is needed for patient care.

5.

A competent filing person must be employed who can put the Records in the proper place so they can be retrieved again. If any alternate indices are desired such as a card catalogue, they also must be created and maintained. This requires training expenses, recruitment and retainment expenses, as well as salary and benefits for that person. Even if a full time dedicated person is not needed, some person must have this work as one of their duties, with the corresponding expense allocated for the percentage of time spent on these tasks.

6.

Accurate summary information must be accumulated through an exhaustive review of all the Records, or by another method that must be a part of the workflow. If exact numbers are required, rather than statistical guesstimates, this might involve shutting down the care facility for multiple days. Alternately, staff must exist to do this as part of their duties. Similarly, statistical reports, including ranges of values, averages, and minimum and maximum values all require the same extensive efforts. Many grants and sources of external funding are not allowing any type of reporting other than exact numbers.

7.

Paper Records are susceptible to unplanned destruction, whether by rodents, flooding, fire, etc. Planned destruction must be done securely and involves environmentally unfriendly shredding or incineration. Paper Records are not compact enough to be physically moved by a small staff.

8. 9.

Overall global paper consumption is on the rise. 40% of the world's industrial logging goes into making paper, and this is expected to reach 50% in the near future.

10.

Paper production is the third most energy-intensive of all manufacturing industries, using over 12% of all energy in the industrial sector. The paper and pulp industry is also the fourth largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the manufacturing sector.

11.

Though paper recovery rates have increased in recent years, paper still represents one of the biggest components of solid waste in landfills 26 million tons (or 16% of landfill solid waste) in 2009. When paper decomposes in a landfill, it releases methane, a greenhouse gas 23 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

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Figure 2.8: Savings from 1 ton of paper The typical workplace is hooked on the stuff, with some shocking statistics. 1. 2. The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper. 3. 4. 5. Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper. Printing and writing paper equals about one-half of paper production. The costs of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the cost of purchasing the paper in the first place. Economical: Saving paper saves money One is probably thinking, "What's the big deal? Paper expenditure is less in the office." But what most people don't realize is that the cost of buying paper is just the tip of the paper iceberg. For each sheet of paper used, a company incurs not only purchasing costs, but also storage, copying, printing, postage, disposal, and recyclingand it adds up. A recent Minnesota study estimates that associated paper costs could be as much as 31 times the purchasing costs (not including labor). So, that ream of paper that you paid Rs.25 for really could cost up to Rs.7500. 1. Citigroup, a large financial services company, determined that if each employee used double-sided copying to conserve just one sheet of paper each week, the firm would save Rs.3.5 crores each year. 2. Bank of America cut its paper consumption by 25% in two years by increasing the use of on-line forms and reports, e-mail, double-sided copying, and lighter-weight paper. 30

CHAPTER 3 SCOPE OF WORK

Currently the engineers operate on a paper approval system. Paper systems originated in the early 20th century and converting to a standardized electronic system was a monumental task. During that time, managers relied on thousands of unconnected databases and spreadsheets, along with a few stand-alone, single-purpose applications. The limitations of this approach became apparent many years ago.

A paper-based system can only be organized in a single way, cannot be easily searched, cannot be easily modified, cannot be accessed remotely, cannot be conveniently crossreferenced, maintained and updated, protected, and cannot be expanded without considerable effort. And also a paper-based system would need extensive labour and reorganization in order to change the sequence and order of data.

Computerized databases solve nearly all of these problems. a digital database could be reordered instantly with a single click, thus, data could immediately be restored.

Bosch Special Purpose Machine assembly unit is small and hence it is difficult to follow the standard routine for assembling machines. The raw materials do not reach the shop floor on time due to miscommunication between departments. Apart from this, most of the machine detail is paper based and are often misplaced, so the engineer either has to go to his working station or visit other departments to obtain the details, this potentially takes half the time of the engineer. The engineers also constantly need to refer to the data of the previously built machines so that they could avoid mistakes committed during their previous build. These details are also not available to the engineers.

So the project work involves creating an engineer friendly MPM software that addresses the many problems the engineers face on the shop floor during assembly. With a paper database, the company may well be out of business, but with a digital database, the company is instantly back in compliance with just a few clicks. A digital database can be accessed remotely from anywhere, either securely by authorized users, or publicly by anyone associated to the machine. This gives a lot of flexibility to the business. 31

CHAPTER 4 IDENTIFICATION OF OBSTACLE

The process of a SPM build starts with designing and evaluating the design at various stages to make sure they meet the specification of the customer. Once the design is finalized they are sent across to the quality department. They start purchasing the components from different vendors. The parts are also purchased according to the customers choice, which could include parts from a specific vendor as they are good on quality and cost effective at the same time.

Once the detail of all the parts is obtained a quotation is sent across to the customer to check if it meets their expectations and budget. And after an official confirmation from the customer is received, the work begins. The parts then are rolled in from vendors to the factory.

Parts are received in batches to the factory and as per the schedule. Once they have reached the factory, they undergo various states of inspection before they are handed over to the engineers.

The various stages are referred as gates in Bosch and they are The Materials Department The Quality Department The Store

The Materials Department: The materials department is the first stage in which the parts procured are delivered by the vendor. In this department the parts are checked against the order details. The order detail includes the quantity name of the vendor etc. The Quality Department: The quality department is the most important of all the mentioned departments. Quality department is responsible for making sure the parts shipped from the vendors to the factory meets all the specifications. The specifications include design specification with right quality of material being used.

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The Store: The store is the inventory, in this case the manufacturing inventory. The parts from the quality department after the quality check are delivered to the store which is accessible to the engineers. A record of the parts flowing in and out of the store is maintained here. Often in a large factory where the machines are being built at various locations within the factory, the chances of misplacing the parts are high. This causes a lot of problems and miscommunication between the engineers and the other associates. Organizational conflicts cause problems for project managers who are taking great efforts to generate participation and teamwork from individuals and groups in a project organization. Unless conflicts can be resolved and dealt with accordingly, these attempts of promoting teamwork in a project will be hard to achieve. People have their personal motivations and interests even when working with a team. When these interests differ or do not arrive at a common ground, conflicts arise. Groups who have incompatible objectives for the organization cause conflict. Such incompatibility may be caused by differences in culture. Differences in personality is a common source of conflict. Individuals employ emotions especially in conflicts. Positive emotions promote teamwork; however, negative emotions encourage

Conflicts usually arise due to these reasons. Misplacement of the parts. Parts not reaching the job floor on time. Status of the parts unknown. Incoming parts dont meet the specs and require rework.

These are just a few of the major problems that the Engineers face on a daily basis. These problems can potentially increase time and the deadline is not met which leaves the customer unhappy and the reputation of the company at stake. These are the visible problems that the engineers face. On closer inspection it was observed that the drawing provided by the design department was often misplaced or they tear after constant use. Since they are lost or torn they need to be replaced with a fresh print of the 33

drawing. It so happens that the drawings are replaced more than once, hence the paper is consumption is high, which is an environmental issue. Another observation was that the part list i.e. a record of all the parts that go into the machine, which needs to be collected from the store is issued on a paper. As a high number of parts go into the machines, the part list is usually a huge file of papers. It is cumbersome to go through the whole list and there is a good chance that the paper gets misplaced. So unlike in the previous case they need to be printed again which means more wastage of paper and immediate effect on the environment. In the factory paper is being used at alarming rate and no precaution to save paper has been attempted. This problem is critical as it contributes to the environment. Global warming is one problem that can be associated to excess paper usage as more number of trees are cut down to produce paper which is been recklessly used in the factory. All these problems arise due to the lack of digital data on the shop floor. A paper system would require extensive time and man-power to search for a given piece of information, whereas a digital database could instantly find the required data in any field, instantly. Further, a database system could cross-reference data, finding matches within multiple fields, correlate them, perform arithmetic processes on them, and retrieve only the data that matches every single criterion. A paper system requires massive amounts of space, climate control, fire protection, lighting, etc. These all add overhead to the operation. The paper is a risk, in and of itself, to life and safety due to accidental fire concerns.

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CHAPTER 5 MANUACTURING PROCESS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

The greatest benefit from MPM can be seen in improved production efficiencies derived from more tightly designed and managed production systems. It is not uncommon to see assembly line efficiencies increase by ten percent. New or modified product launch times have been reduced by 25 to 50% primarily due to the availability of instant information, and to the benefits of editing existing similar processes, rather than re-engineering from scratch as is often done. More importantly, MPM applications provide the analytical and data management abilities necessary for companies to reduce work-in-progress (WIP) and finished goods inventory, and to improve overall product quality and production responsiveness.

Capability of an MPM Solution

The fundamental capability of MPM systems relates to importing the BOM and then defining and mapping the manufacturing process information to the components on the eBOM, which are produced by, and also consume, those components. In this way, it is possible to accurately determine the specific resource and time commitments and costs associated with every product model and option. With MPM systems this can be done instantly, and at a high level of detail.

Like all new technologies, full-scale MPM deployments will likely create a paradigm shift in the organizations engineering tasks and workflows. In addition, it is likely that most deployments will require the development of interfaces from upstream product engineering and data management applications, as well as downstream ERP/MRP/MES systems. These paradigm shifts are often avoided, at least in part, via the initial introduction of MPM applications and technologies to replace legacy systems, whereby the initial MPM deployment targets the replication of the existing applications functionality and workflow to the extent practicable. From this entry point, MPM applications can then make incremental steps in adding capabilities to the organization such as line balancing or work instructions.

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Then, interfaces can be developed to other systems as deemed practical. From a legacy replacement perspective, the availability of detailed product information will benefit any process engineer using an MPM system, even if this information is not initially available to its fullest extent.

System proposed for Bosch SPM assembly

As discussed in chapter 4, most of the problems that engineers face on the shop floor is due to lack of digital data. The idea of the whole system is to provide the assembly engineer with information related to assembly of special purpose machine. Currently the engineers rely heavily on paper based system. What the proposed MPM system intends to do is, eliminate the islands of paper based system with a computer based information system. The engineers are largely benefitted as all the necessary information associated to assembly are readily available to them on the shop floor. This system saves a lot of time, labour, paper to mention a few. The system seeks to minimize throughput time, non-value-added work content as much as possible.

Electronic shop floor work instructions are becoming a necessary tool to improve quality in dynamic manufacturing environments. With product design cycle times being shortened from years to months and weeks and with production batch sizes being reduced to as small as lots of one, the production worker needs more information, more rapidly, in a manner that is easy to access and maintain. Prior methods relying on word-of-mouth or three-ring binders are not sufficient to ensure that operators have accurate information when they need it. As such, it is becoming more popular to establish electronic shop floor information systems that often include terminals or touch-screen displays at many (if not all) workstations on the shop floor. The technology involved with installing these systems is minor compared to the effort required to develop, distribute, and maintain the information requested by these systems.

With MPM, instructional information can now be associated directly to components, operations, activities, resources and locations. As the industrial and manufacturing engineer integrates the products, processes, resources, and locations, instructions are electronically associated and compiled and can be distributed regarding a single product manufactured in 36

many locations, or regarding all products and processes produced at a single location. By removing the process engineer from the task of manually creating, compiling and distributing these instructions, the shop floor is assured of highly accurate information instantly, from the moment the product becomes effective, or available, on the shop floor.

The project is focused on the immediate and most frequent issue that arises on the shop floor during assembly. After numerous meetings with engineers and with valuable inputs from both engineers and foremen, a MPM system to accommodate most necessary information required for both the engineer and the foremen was proposed. With this system the engineers will have the access to all the important machine data on the shop floor. The system comprises of various engineering data from different departments, like the quality department, design department etc.

Figure 5.1: Information from various departments If the engineer wants the part list of the machine, the engineer can select part list and the system will direct him to the database in which the part list is maintained. The part list table is suggested to accommodate necessary details about a part that the engineer need during the assembly. This is maintained by the quality department of SPM assembly. The quality 37

department inspects every part before they are approved and sent to the store (inventory). Quality department receives the parts from the materials department after they are checked against the order from the company. Quality department also checks the design criterion and makes sure that the parts are right to go into assembly, if the engineer senses any flaw they are sent back to the vendor for rectification. If the flaw is negligible and can be fixed with the aid of in house shops, they are sent there. Basically the quality department has all the details related to the part. Hence this information is proposed to be maintained by quality department.

Figure 5.2: Part list of the machine

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This information is not only for the engineers on the shop floor but also for other higher ranked engineers who are involved with the machine. This system gives all the details that is required like the quantity, the committed date and the received date, reason for the delay, to mention a few. This system would clearly save a lot of time as all the details are available at one stop. And also a lot of miscommunication would be avoided, as the name of the engineers to whom the part was issued is also documented. This also avoids the need of bulky files of part lists that are being maintained.

Figure 5.3: Flow of information to the shop floor

Another major concern was with regards to the shortage list. Including this piece of information would benefit the engineers as it is easy for them to keep track of parts that are in the store and the part that is yet to arrive. The engineers can plan their work accordingly with the parts available. It also eliminates the need to constantly update them manually on a sheet of paper and sending them across to every machine assembling unit.

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Figure 5.4: Shortage list of the machine

Action schedule
It is important to monitor and evaluate work progress. Monitoring allows one to reflect on the progress of the project and to consider changes to the work plan in an efficient and timely manner. The process of maintaining regular overview of the implementation of activities, with the aim of ensuring that input deliveries, work schedules, targeted outputs and other required actions are proceeding as planned. 40

Figure 5.5: Assembly action schedule 41

It allows for tracking of progress in implementation of planned activities, ensuring that planned targets are achieved in a timely manner, identifying problems in the system that require corrective measures, providing a basis for re-adjustment of resource allocation based on ongoing needs and priorities and ensuring responsibility and accountability for defined activities.

Delay analysis

Figure 5.6: Assembly delay analysis 42

The intended purpose of delay analysis is to determine what happened, what was the impact on the schedule and what was the cause. At the outset delay analysis should determine what events occurred when. From this, delay analysis should be used to determine what was responsible for events which resulted in the project delay. From this analysis, conclusions can be reached as to what type of delay occurred.

Information from delay analysis largely helps the engineer as the details obtained from it, is used for the future machine builds. The analysis clearly gives the reason for the delay which the engineers can use to avoid in the future. Maintaining this information on papers often results in misplacement, which again leads to repeating the mistakes. Maintaining these results digitally is good for both the engineers and the company.

Delay analysis also gives the higher level of engineers a clear picture of how the project is being approached, any untimely delay is brought to their notice and remedial solutions can be quickly implemented to avoid further delay. Delay analysis is very important because in this fast paced life everything is driven by time and money. So any delay caused directly affects organizations reputation. In a market where competition is high it is very important that the company delivers high quality product with in the given time.

ASSEMBLY:

Documenting and Preserving details of previously built machine will help the engineer to a great extent.. Even if these records are not used frequently, their mere existence holds promise for the future success of an organization. These are important documents which should be preserved and permanently protected from loss, damage, or destruction. Records useful only for a short time can be discarded almost immediately. When organizations maintain records of their past, a new engineer benefits because these records often have educational or historical value. Digitization of such information can give organizations a powerful tool to improve access to its semi-inactive and historical records.

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Figure 5.7: Assembly record

This window appears when the engineer accesses the details of the machine that was already built. There are cases when a customer demands for a similar machine that was built earlier, due to the success of the machine the customer would order a similar machine. In such situations it is necessary that the company maintains a record of the machines that where built earlier. The engineer can get in depth detail of the machine. The detail will include the machine details like the machine specifications (cutting parameters, depth of cut, the customer, the dispatch date etc). This also allows the engineers to document the information of newly built machines for future reference. Documenting such details would help them to a great extent in future as all the difficulties encountered during the project will be documented. This piece of information helps them prevent costly mistakes committed during the previous build. This would also ensure high build quality of the machine, and also timely delivery of the machine, which is very crucial considering the company prospects. This improves the company image in a world of stiff competition. 44

Assembly Drawing
Assembly drawing shows how the components or parts must be assembled to form the complete machine or device. The assembly drawing shows the different parts in their relative positions. An assembly drawing furnishes the following information (i) One main view to show the best assembly. (ii) Selected overall dimensions and important centre to centre distance. (iii) Identification of different parts on assembly drawing. (iv) Necessary sectional views.

The assembly drawings are maintained in a vault (a computer). The reason for including the assembly drawings of the machine in this system is to eliminate the hard copy of the drawings. Usually a hard copy of each drawing is maintained on the shop floor, due to frequent reference the sheets tear and are also misplaced many times, which are replaced by a fresh copy every time, which again is waste of paper. To avoid these problems, the drawings are maintained on the computer. With this the question of misplacement does not arise.

Implementation
With the MPM system established, the next challenge is to how the system can be put to actual use. Technology projects have some unique challenges regardless of the solution being implemented and often, the more sophisticated the solution is, the more challenging the implementation. New systems can also change the way the organisation does business changes that are either resisted completely. Many issues will impact the degree to which the organisation will achieve the expected benefits from the implementation of a technology solution.

After discussing it with the shop floor engineers and the foremen a proposal to install a thin client server (password protected computer) was made. A thin client server is a password protected computer that will be installed on the shop floor. The access is restricted to only those engineers and foremen who are associated to the machine. This ensures that unauthorized access and tampering of documents is restricted. The thin client server would be connected to a server that holds all the data from different departments. The server is linked

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to all the departments like, quality, design etc via a local area network (LAN) connection. The server is directly linked to the thin client on the shop floor.

Figure 5.8: Computers in network

Advantages of LAN include: 1. Users can access the same files. 2.Workstations do not necessarily need their own hard disk or CD-ROM drives, which makes them cheaper to buy than stand-alone PCs. 3. User can save their work centrally on the network's file server. This means that they can retrieve their work from any workstation on the network. 4. Users can communicate with each other and transfer data between workstations very easily. 5. Speed. Sharing and transferring files within Networks are very rapid. Thus saving time, while maintaining the integrity of the file. 46

Figure 5.9: Functional diagram of the proposed system.

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CHAPTER 6 SAVINGS FROM THE PROJECT

The savings predicted below are only for one unit i.e the SPM assembly unit and the savings are approximate figures. If implemented across the organization, the savings can be huge. Such savings provide the organization with financial security at a time of economic uncertainty. The savings include: 1. Savings on man hours. 80 man hours / project 17800 rupees/ project. Considering 15 projects undertaken simultaneously 267000 rupees/6 months Hence, savings on the man hours annually 534000 rupees.

2.

Power savings. Power consumed by printers - 1 kWh for 6 hrs 175.5 94 rupees/ project Hence, savings on power annually - 94152=2820 rupees.

3.

Paper consumption Paper consumption /project 4900 A4 sheets + 100 A1 sheets 3900 + 800 = 4700 rupees Considering 15 projects 470015 = 70500 rupees/6 months. Hence, savings on paper annually 705002 = 141000 rupees.

4.

Environmental impact Considering 1 foot , 30 feet tall tree produces 40,000 sheets So 1 tree consumed every 8 projects undertaken, which 4 trees/ year

Total savings annually with this system. 534000 + 2820 + 141000 = Rs. 677820.

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CHAPTER 7 SUMMARY
Factory assembly procedures are often synonymous with filling innumerable forms and storing bulky files filled with machine information. However, as the industry moves into the digital age, this tedious paperwork should be replaced by electronic, computerized records. The software, allows the storage, retrieval and management of the records on a centralized database that can be easily accessed by authorized personnel.

MPM can affect a sea change in the way manufacturers perform process planning and engineering. With end-to-end MPM solutions, companies no longer have to buy and maintain numerous applications. The complexity of constant data searches and duplication of data into different systems has been eliminated. Users have instant access to information from previous projects, and can automatically generate electronic deliverables.

This software offers several benefits over traditional, paper-based ones. 1. Storage space 2. Cost 3. Centralization 4. Standardization 5. Efficiency 6. Ease of exchange

With the above understanding of the industry landscape, market drivers and business process, we can summarize the main benefits of MPM as: 1. Accelerating new product introductions 2. Accelerating time-to-market and time-to-customer 3. Facilitating communication across the enterprise and supply chain 4. Transferring processes efficiently 5. Implementing best practices and reuse of information

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CHAPTER 8 FUTURE SCOPE OF WORK

The current project is focused on the most critical problems the engineers face on a daily basis. There are a few other issues, though not very critical, but if considered can largely improve the way the engineers work. One piece of information which would help both the engineers and the customers is the progress of the complete assembly on a weekly basis. This ensures that the engineers and the customers are on the same page till the end of the assembly. This gives the engineers the advantage of avoiding any costly mistakes that would need a replacement in the future. In this case not only the company incurs a loss in the form of time, the customer is also at loss as the launch of the product is delayed.

Once this system is implemented in SPM assembly it could be tried and tested to other facilities in Bosch like the pump assembly etc. Considering the potential of this system it can benefit the engineers largely with their work.

Few other things that can be considered to improve the system

1. Electronic time slip (saves time and paper). 2. Ask departments to migrate to one system to make it easy for all. 3. Include NC programming. 4. Detailed work instructions. 5. Simulation of assembly.

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