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INTEGRATED PRODUCT REALIZATION - IMTI CASE STUDIES

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There are several enablers for design anywhere – manufacture anywhere. Among these enablers, and perhaps the most obvious, are the Internet and collaboration environments. However, I contend that the secret to design anywhere – manufacture anywhere is found, neither in the Internet nor in collaborative tools. It is found in integrated product development and manufacturing based on the best information, developed and presented in the best manner, and compliant with emerging standards. It is about seamless integration – from innovation - to conceptual design - to detailed design - to products produced in intelligent, closed loop systems. It is about developing products based on requirements, designed for optimized performance and efficiency. It is about the right processes with the right parameters, yielding products that are right the first time and every time. How does this vision support design anywhere – manufacture anywhere? Because the information flow is seamless and the development environment is integrated, the "manufacturing bible" for the product is developed as part of the process, and the complete information from which to make product can be delivered in the right form to any location. Hence, product and process development techniques, along with modeling and simulation tools, have matured to the point that totally automated product and process development is within our grasp, and tremendous efficiencies in the cost and time of getting the right products to market are just over the horizon.

This vision of integrated product realization is one of the major themes of technology roadmaps, developed under contract with the federal government in support of the nation’s manufacturing infrastructure. Over 400 manufacturing experts from over 150 organizations participated in the process of creating the best visions for manufacturing’s future and in defining the migration plan from where we are, to where we need to go. The roadmaps are the foundation for a new non-profit organization called the Integrated Manufacturing Technology Initiative that is leading an industry/government implementation activity. Integrated product realization is one area of focus in implementation.

While this vision of integrated product realization as defined in the roadmaps may be viewed by some as unrealistic, the pieces are falling in place quickly. The vision is within our grasp. In this session today, we want to unfold that vision for you. In fact, we want to "peal the onion" in increasing levels of detail. We will go from the high-level blue-sky discussion, to a discussion of what is now being accomplished in today’s edge of the art applications. Bob Burleson will make this presentation. Martin Hardwick, President of STEP Tools incorporated will follow Bob with a discussion of a demonstration that his organization recently coordinated. The emphasis that you will hear from Martin will be the completeness of the product model, and the ability to drive that product model directly to the machine controller. Martin will highlight their experience and will also make you aware of related activities with other programs – like direct programming of 5 axis milling machines. Bill Simons will continue the unfolding of the enabling technologies that make integrated product realization doable. Bill will talk about and demonstrate a tool that break the solid model into the features, bridging the gap between design features and manufacturing features. The major point is that if we can break the model into features, we can do anything that needs to be done with the information – including automated selection of the best processes and process parameters and the automated programming of the machine tools.

In Mr. Burleson’s presentation, you’ll learn about integrated product realization by looking at what has been accomplished and what is being done today. He will briefly highlight the results of the Technologies Enabling Agile Manufacturing program that pioneered many of the concepts that are now maturing. Bob will talk about the various approaches being taken by the major programs – from General Motors Math Based Manufacturing to G.E’s concept of the federated model. From the government viewpoint, he will highlight the 10s of millions of dollars that are being spent each year in programs like ADAPT, TIME, IMSA, ISE, and others. However, the substance of this presentation will not end with who is doing what. Enabling technologies that make integrated product realization possible will be overviewed. These technologies will include the "virtual cockpit", and the web integration manager (WIM). Model-based manufacturing will be discussed as will an operating system that integrates PDM in a totally integrated, web-based environment using the WIM.

One of the major requirements for design anywhere – manufacture anywhere is the ability to exchange data and achieve interoperability. The STEP activity has been underway for years, and has matured to the point that "cursing the darkness" is no longer necessary. STEP Tools is the leader of a project, funded by the NIST ATP program, that has as its objective the demonstration of one of the STEP protocols, STEP NC in establishing the direct link from the product model to the machine tool. In a demonstration in November, the full process was shown. The product model was imported, the features were extracted, the process was planned, and the STEP NC formatted data was downloaded to the machine tool to make the part. In real time, changes were made to the design, and additional features were machined. This demonstration highlights the trend - from product design – not only to solid free form fabrication – but directly to real parts made on standard manufacturing equipment in quantities necessary to satisfy customers. Dr. Hartman will discuss the super-model project and other activities that are making the vision of product data driving processing equipment a reality.

There are key enablers that make integrated product realization possible. Mr. Burleson discussed some of them in his presentation. Mr. Hardwick highlighted STEP NC and some of the tools used in the demonstration. Bill Simons will discuss and demonstrate another critical capability.

One of the major barriers to integrated product realization is the incompatibility of the languages of product design and process planning. We design products by creating features from parameters. In the traditional mindset, we then establish process plans that use the parametric information. In advanced applications, we "pick" the features that are needed for planning and we extract the needed geometric information. The direction is toward feature based creation of a single object that provides all information needed to manufacture the product. FBTOL and FBMACH are major strides in the right direction. For a rich feature set, these tools automatically extract the features from the model, attach the correct tolerancing information, and provide a data file capable of driving the planning systems. Computer Aided Manufacturing systems can use this information directly to perform the process planning functions. Further, automated planning and programming systems are a natural extension.

In these presentations, the vision for design anywhere – manufacture anywhere based on a new vision of product and process development has been discussed. The concept of integrated product realization, with location as a non-factor, is emerging as an important direction for product development. Over the last 20 years, tremendous strides have been made in product and process development. However, most of the changes have been incremental based on traditional design concepts. While the incremental changes have taken place, the enabling tools have matured. Companies like Pratt Whitney have seen design costs for new aircraft engines cut in half. The automotive companies have seen dramatic changes in the costs and time for new product development. Maybe it’s time for radical new thinking. Maybe it’s time to fully exploit the knowledge management and modeling and simulation capability that exists today. Maybe it’s time to realize seamlessly integrated product realization – from requirements to conceptual design, to design optimization , to product – "automagically" and realize a 10X improvement in the product development cycle.