Concurrent Engineering

You cant achieve world class manufacturing without first having a world class product design

Jack M. Walker

You cant achieve world class manufacturing without first having a world class product design Jack M. Walker

Concurrent Engineering

An approach used in product development in which the functions of design engineering, manufacturing engineering and other functions are integrated to reduce the elapsed time required to bring a new product to market.

Development of a product - traditional

Plan Act(Adjust) Check Do

Traditional vs. Concurrent Engineering

Design changes as a function of time

Traditional Engineering

Concurrent Engineering

Concurrent Engineering

Concurrent engineering is a business strategy which replaces the traditional product development process with one in which tasks are done in parallel and there is an early consideration for every aspect of a product's development process. This strategy focuses on the optimization and distribution of a firm's resources in the design and development process to ensure effective and efficient product development process.

The Concept of Concurrent Engineering

The Concept of Concurrent Engineering

The design moves from the designer out to the experts experts have the mission to conceptualize the product and optimize it until a consensus agreement is reached on the functionality, producibility, and cost constraints. The design is then passed back to the designer, who resolves conflicts in the suggested changes, modifies the design, and sends it out again for evaluation.

Need for Concurrent Engineering

React to the rapid market change effectively and responsively

Reduce their time to market Adapt changing environments Decisions must be made quickly Cannot wait time for repeating tasks bringing rapid solutions to product design and development process.

In order to be competitive

must alter their product and process development cycle able to complete diverse tasks concurrently

Goals of CE

Minimize the product life cycle Decrease production cost-Avoiding component

features that are unnecessarily expensive to produce e.g.. Specification of surfaces smoother than necessary, wide variations in wall thickness of an injection-molded component

Maximize production quality Team work

Combined list of goals for Concurrent Design

From the start, include all domains of expertise as active participants in the design effort. Resist making irreversible decisions before they must be made. Perform continuous optimization of product and process. Identify product concepts that are inherently easy to manufacture. Focus on component design for manufacturing and assembly. Integrate the manufacturing process design and product design that best match needs and requirements.

Combined list of goals for Concurrent Design

Convert concept to manufacturable, salable, usable design by stating all constraints. Anticipate fabrication and assembly methods and problems. Reduce number of parts. Increase interchangeability between models. Standardize fastener types and sizes Identify difficult process steps for which costs and process times cannot be predicted. Use existing processes and facilities so that product yield is high. Adjust tolerances to eliminate failures during assembly.

Combined list of goals for Concurrent Design

Identify testable areas. Make assembly easier by minimizing setups and reorientations. Carry out design for producibility and usability study Design fabrication and assembly process. Design assembly sequence. Integrate quality control strategy with assembly. Design each part so that tolerances are compatible with assembly method and fabrication costs are compatible with cost goals.

Product Stages in CE

Important factors in CE

Organizational Factors

Cross functional teams (team composed of experts in engineering, production, marketing, etc) Liaison personnel (fulltime job in coordinating separate functions) Job rotation (temporarily or permanently) Product design methods (DFM, DFA, Design for quality, Design for Life Cycle, etc) Axiomatic Design, Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) Integrated computer analysis (products are interrelated and can be modeled effectively using computers)

Some helpful rule base methods

In addition to facilitate CE..

Technologies like rapid prototyping, virtual prototyping and organizational changes are required. Rapid prototyping- is a new group of technologies for converting designs from computer representations directly into solid objects without human intervention.