Production Aspects and

Planning
Introduction
Production Engineering

Definition:

● Production Engineering, also called Manufacturing Engineering,

involves all the aspects of manufacturing processes involved for a
product.

● It involves planning/design, development, operation, maintenance,

control and optimization of all processes involved in manufacturing.

● In the overall design cycle, the major contribution of manufacturing is

listed once the final design is finalized. But in most real world design
cycle, the involvement of production engineering can start much early.
Introduction
Production Engineering

Business Need/
Disposal Problem
Identification

Sales and
Solution
Operation
Concept
Support

Design
Cycle
Manufacturing Preliminary
and
Design
Production
Support

Testing
and Detail Design
Prototyping
Manufacturing and Design
Manufacturing is involved from as early as preliminary design.

Interaction includes:

✔ Manufacturing feasibility: Can the geometry be manufactured. Can desired tolerances be

✔ achieved.
✔ Preferred manufacturing process: Casting, machining, forging etc.
Sourcing
✔ Cost estimate.
✔ Vendor identification.
Manufacturing and Design
Manufacturing is involved from as early as preliminary design.

Business Need/
Disposal Problem
Identification
Sourcing Design
Team

Sales and
Solution Product
Operation
Support
Concept Design
Design
Materials
Cycle
Manufacturing
Manufacturing Preliminary
and
Design
Production
Support
Design for manufacturing
(Design feasibility)
Design for cost
Testing
and Detail Design
Prototyping
Steps Involved
Design Team Inputs (Drawings, Specifications, CAD)

Manufacturing Process Vendor Identification

Identification

Production Planning Part Testing Assembly Testing

Tool and Fixture

Part Transportation Shipment
Design

Part Manufacturing Assembly

Part Inspection Assembly Inspection

Inputs from Design Team
Design Team Input

Drawings Geometry, tolerances, surface finish, coatings, treatments

Intermediate step If manufacturing is multi-step. Casting

drawing drawing, forging drawing

Final drawing Final geometry

Specifications All instructions for manufacturing

Material Specification Type and standard of materials

Inspection and
Dimensions, flaws, functionality
testing specification

Treatment Heat treatment, shot peening, etc.

CAD models 3D model of final and intermediate geometries

Bill of Materials Assemblies, sub-parts, roll-up to higher assembly

Manufacturing Processes

Sand casting, Die casting

Casting
Investment casting….
Forging

Machining Turning, Drilling, CNC…

Forming Sheet metal stamping

Pipe/bar bending

Cutting Waterjet cutting,

Laser cutting
Injection Moulding

Additive Direct Laser Melting (DLM)

Manufacturing Stereo lithography (SLA)
Digital Light Processing (DLP)

Welding TIG welding

Joining Friction welding
Brazing
Processes Electron Beam welding
Rivets
Casting
Process of pouring liquid material (metal, plastics) into a mould and
solidifying the material.

✔ One of the oldest manufacturing process

✔ Can be used for complex geometry. Features not easily
accessible to other manufacturing process
✔ Modifies the material grain structure
✔ Usually lower strength as compared to other
processes
✔ Can be used for directional solidification of crystal
structure (turbine blades using investment casting)
✔ More susceptible to internal flaws Magnesium casting gear box

✔ Tight tolerances are difficult to maintain.

May require additional machining.
✔ High lead time (Few months or even a year)
-> preparation of mould etc.
✔ Constraints based on liquid material flow: Limit on
minimum thickness, throats etc.

Different type of casting: Sand casting,

Die casting, Investment casting etc.
Forging
Shaping of metal through hammering, pressing and rolling.

✔ A very old process

✔ Not suitable for complex geometry

✔ Ideal to provide overall geometric shape

of the part, followed by machining

✔ High material strength can be achieved

✔ Tighter tolerances are typical not

achievable.

✔ E.g. Steam turbine drums, hammers,

jewellery, railway wheels.

Steam turbine forged shaft

Machining
Process of controlled removing material using a hard cutting tool.

Turning, broaching, drilling, milling, CNC

✔ Can achieve high tolerance

✔ Complex geometries -> subject to tool access

✔ Used as final step even for castings and forging.

✔ Can be more expensive compared to casting, forging.

Machining of an impeller
Sheet Metal/Rods Forming
Process to plastically deform metals to acquire desired geometric shape.
Sheet metal stamping/bending, rods/pipe bending.

✔ Limited to specific type of parts.

✔ Tighter tolerances are difficult to achieve.

✔ Relatively cheaper process

Aero engine ducts/pipes are mostly Stamped sheet metal car parts
made by tube bending
Cutting
Cutting operations have overlap with machining process. Broaching,
drilling etc. are already covered in machining.

Here are some other cutting processes:

✔ Water jet cutting -> use of high pressure water jet to cut sheet metals.

✔ Laser cutting -> use of high energy laser beam

✔ EDM Wire cutting -> Use of electric discharge to erode material

Water jet cutting Laser cutting EDM Wire cutting

Injection Moulding
It is type of casting where liquid material (usually plastics) is
pressurized and injected into a mould to take desired shape.

Most of the plastic products at

our home are manufactured
Plastic Powder
using injection moulding.
e.g. Plastic chairs, toys etc.

Heat
Mould

Motor

Screw to pressurize and

inject molten plastic
into mould
Additive Manufacturing
Additive manufacturing/ 3D printing:

An umbrella of manufacturing processes where material is cumulatively added

layer by layer (or small volume by volume) to achieve final geometry.
Broadly can be classified as:
1) Additive Manufacturing of Plastics 2) Additive Manufacturing of Metals.
There are many additive manufacturing processes but SLA for plastics and
DMLM for metals are the prominent ones.

Some characteristics of additive manufacturing (of metals):

✔ Minimum tooling requirement -> Ideal for rapid prototyping or
custom made products.
✔ Can be used for complex geometries -> Not cost efficient for
simple parts.
✔ Material strength is limited.
✔ Materials that can be used are limited.
✔ Poor surface finish and difficult to achieve tight tolerances.
✔ Limited part size -> constraint to bed volume
DMLM: Powder metal being melted
✔ Features may require “supports” that have to be removed layer by layer using laser.
during post-processing
Joining Process
Additive manufacturing/ 3D printing:

Inseparable assemblies: Separable assemblies:

✔ Welding -> TIG weld, ✔ Bolted joints -> Tensile
friction weld, electron bolts, shear bolts, screws
beam weld ✔ Interference fit
✔ Brazing ✔ Clamps, V-bands
✔ Rivets
✔ Bonding

Gussets welded to a Gussets welded Riveted skin of V-band clamp

bracket aircraft a bracket
Quality Control
Manufactured parts must meet the quality aspects as desired by design intent.

Quality control is required to ensure:

✔ Material characteristic is not altered during manufacturing process
✔ Dimensions and tolerances are met as per drawings
✔ Flaws, cracks are not developed in the parts

Steps taken to ensure quality:

✔ Vendor substantiation: New vendors are substantiated. Their capability is evaluated.
First Part Inspection (FPI) is carried out by OEM quality team.
✔ Drawing specifications: Tolerances, material specifications, inspections, testing
✔ Periodic destructive testing (optional): Few critical parts may be periodically
destructively tested.
Geometry Inspection

● Geometry inspection is required to ensure that tolerances, run-outs,

surface planarity and all other GD&Ts specifications are met. As per
drawing, it may be necessary to inspect each part for geometry
conformance. In other cases, it may be occasionally inspected for batch
pilots.

● Inspection can be as simple as fitment into a pre-created fixture or

go-no-go gage or as sophisticated as laser guided
metrological measurements for each feature.
Cracks and Flaws
Certain critical components would require inspection for cracks and
flaws in materials.

There are several methods used:

✔ Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection:
For visual inspection of surface flaws
✔ Ultrasound
✔ Eddy current inspection

Fluorescent Penetrant Inspection

Non-Conformance
It is a condition when a manufactured part fails to meet to requirements of
drawings and other specification.

There are several methods used:

✔ Outright rejection. The non-conforming part may be discarded.
✔ Evaluation for acceptance: Evaluate if the non-conforming part
can still meet form, fit and function with some special
considerations. Requires involvement of design team.
✔ Altercation of part: Can the non-conforming part be modified
so that it can be acceptable (with special considerations)
Assembly, Testing and Transportation
Assembly:
Parts/components once manufactured are rolled up to next higher assemblies.
Sub-assemblies roll-up to further up till the overall product level.
Typically, parts can be manufactured by different vendors.
All parts are transported to assembly floor where the overall product is
assembled. Different joining processes (described previously) are utilized, as
prescribed by assembly drawing, to assembly the product.
Special tooling may be required for assembly process.

Testing:
Different testing at part and assembly level are conducted as prescribed by
drawing and specifications before finalizing the product.
e.g. A circuit board may be tested for voltage and currents in different parts. A
turbomachinery may be tested for balancing requirements. An engine may be
tested for power and efficiency specifications.
Finally, the product is packaged and transported to distributor/customer.
Lead Time
Some of the important concepts for production engineering from financial
and project management perspective: Lead time, capital expenditure,
operating expenditure.

Lead time:
It is the time taken to delivery the final product (or part) by the vendor,
typically for the first part, once the drawings are released.
✔ Lead time is dependent on the manufacturing process.
✔ Casting which involves design and development of dies may take up to
a year or so of lead time.
✔ Additive manufacturing which requires minimal tooling, has typically
low lead time.
✔ Usually, intermediate drawings may be released affront to minimize
lead time.
Capex/Opex
Capital Expenditure:
Expenditure to set up the initial production
system for a part. Includes planning, Typical part cost variation with volume
die, tooling etc cost.

Capex dominating + Opex

Operating Expenditure:
Opex dominating
The expenditure (including labor, material) of

Cost
manufacturing a single part once production
system is established.
✔ Conventional manufacturing process may
incur high capex but low Opex.
✔ Additive manufacturing may incur Parts produced volume
relatively low capex but high Opex (Why)
✔ Both capex and Opex are usually factored
into part cost. Hence, it is typical that 1st,
100th or 1000th part cost are quoted
during vendor negotiation.