M32064 To develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of sustainable manufacturing systems, system design approaches and planning techniques applied to industry.

Aims of this work

1. To develop a systematic understanding and critical awareness of sustainable manufacturing systems, system design approaches and planning techniques applied to industry.

2. To enhance the acquisition of analytical knowledge and practical skills gained for analysing a complex manufacturing process or system and their integration using advanced computer design and modelling simulation tools.

3. To explore modelling simulation techniques to help create rapidly and turn innovative ideas timely into systems design, analysis and improvement particularly for a constraint-based production system in a virtual environment.

4. To become an expert in coping with the system uncertainty, examining the system random behaviour, refining the system design, and developing alternative operational management strategies based on the developed virtual prototyping system to a real industrial case study.

Learning outcome 1: Critically appraise a systematic approach with lean thinking and apply it into analysis, planning, design and performance evaluation of a complex production system.

Learning outcome 2: Examine modelling techniques and mathematical approaches for capturing the deterministic and stochastic behaviours of manufacturing and prototyping systems

Assessment strategies

The overall assessment strategy is designed to test problem solving capabilities through a case study in a virtual environment using computer-aided design and modelling simulation tools to satisfy LO1 and LO2, with solutions developed and submitted in a report. Each student is expected to develop their own computer models, which will be checked and questioned by the supervisor as part of the overall assessment.

1) Introduction/Background (refers to page 2-3 and your own research work).

2) Main work (refers to page 3-4).

3) Discussions and conclusions References (if applicable) Appendix (if applicable).

Assignment

Background

In order to be competitive, modern products must be designed with a view to production methods in which a production system should to be designed in a cost-effective way and the system is able to operate at optimal or near-optimal conditions. Nevertheless, design of a production system can be a complex process and any small change of the system design often makes a significant impact on the overall system performance.

In the real-world industry, implementation of the entire production system is often very expensive and the cost of getting it wrong` can be very high. For these reasons, both system and product designers need to work together to ensure a right first time` scenario. Virtual prototyping techniques offer a potential solution to the major difficulties involved in design, analysis and performance evaluation of a product and a production system providing a fast delivery of alternative solutions at a minimum of cost. Nowadays, virtual prototyping techniques are commonly used in manufacturing sectors involving some form of computer-aided design and modelling simulation activities.