School of Applied Sciences (SAS) (2006-July 2014)

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Browsing School of Applied Sciences (SAS) (2006-July 2014) by Author "Abdalla, Hassan S."

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    Cost modelling system for lean product and process development
    (Cranfield University, 2012-09) Ahmad, Wasim; Shehab, Essam; Abdalla, Hassan S.
    This PhD project aims to develop a cost modelling system to support lean product and process development. The system enables the designers to assess the design along with associated manufacturing processes and provides decision support at an early development stage. Design assessment at early development stage can help designers to take proactive decisions, eliminate mistakes and enhance product value. The developed cost modelling system to support lean product and process development incorporates three lean product and process development enablers, namely set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and mistake-proofing (poka-yoke). To facilitate above explained lean enablers, the system architecture contains six modules, six separate groups of database, a CAD modelling system, and a user interface. The system modules are: (i) value identification; (ii) manufacturing process/machines selection; (iii) material selection; (iv) geometric features specification; (v) geometric features and manufacturability assessment; and (vi) manufacturing time and cost estimation. The group of database includes: (i) geometric features database, (ii) material database, (iii) machine database, (iv) geometric features assessment database, (v) manufacturability assessment database, and (vi) previous projects cost database. A number of activities have been accomplished to develop the cost modelling system. Firstly, an extensive literature review related to cost estimation, and lean product and process development was performed. Secondly, a field study in European industry and a case study analysis were carried out to identify current industrial practices and challenges. Thirdly, a cost modelling system to support lean product and process development was developed. Finally, validation of the system was carried out using real life industrial case studies. The system provides a number of benefits, as it enables designers to incorporate lean thinking in cost estimation. It takes into consideration downstream manufacturable process information at an early upstream stage of the design and as a result the designer performs the process concurrently and makes decisions quickly. Moreover, the system helps to avoid mistakes during product features design, material and manufacturing process selection, and process parameters generation; hence it guides toward a mistake-proof product development. The main feature of the system, in addition to manufacturing cost estimation, is set-based concurrent engineering support; because the system provides a number of design values for alternative design concepts to identify the feasible design region. The major contribution of the developed system is the identification and incorporation of three major lean product and process development enablers, namely set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering and poka-yoke (mistake-proofing) in the cost modelling system. A quantification method has been proposed to eliminate the weaker solution among several alternatives; therefore only the feasible or strong solution is selected. In addition, a new cost estimation process to support lean product and process development has been developed which assists above explained three lean product and process development enablers.
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    A cost-effective knowledge-based reasoning system for design for automation
    (Professional Engineering Publishing, 2006) Shehab, Essam; Abdalla, Hassan S.
    Design for assembly automation (DFAA) is an important part of the concurrent engineering strategy for reduction of product manufacturing costs and lead times. An intelligent knowledge-based system (KBS) for design for automation and early cost modelling within a concurrent engineering environment has been developed. This paper focuses upon the development of the design for an assembly automation system. The system framework encompasses an extensive knowledge-based reasoning system, a CAD system, a design analysis for automation module, a design improvement suggestion module, and a user interface. The development process of the system involved three main stages: creating the KBS, developing the design improvement module, and integrating the KBS with the CAD system. The developed system has the capability to: (a) select the most economic assembly technique for the product at an early design stage; (b) estimate the assembly time and cost for manual, automatic, and robotic assembly methods; and (c) analyse the product design for automation and provide the designers with design improvement suggestions of a product to simplify assembly operations without any compromise of the product functionality. The above capabilities of the system have been demonstrated and validated through a real case study.
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    A design to cost system for innovative product development.
    (Professional Engineering Publishing, 2002) Shehab, Essam; Abdalla, Hassan S.
    This research paper presents a prototype object-oriented and rule-based system for product cost modelling and design for automation at an early design stage. The developed system comprises a computer aided design (CAD) solid modelling system, a material selection module, a knowledge-based system (KBS), a process optimization module, a design for assembly module, a cost estimation module and a user interface. The system development process has passed through four major steps: constructing the knowledge-based and process optimization system; developing a design for assembly module; integrating the KBS with both a material selection database and the CAD system; developing and implementing a fuzzy logic approach to generate reliable estimation of cost and to handle the uncertainty in the cost estimation model that cannot be addressed by traditional analytical methods. Two manufacturing processes, namely machining and injection moulding processes, were considered in the developed system. The main function of the system, besides estimating the product cost, is to generate initial process planning, including the generation and selection of machining processes, their sequence and their machining parameters, and to recommend the most economical assembly technique for a product and provide design improvement suggestions based on a design feasibility technique. In addition, a feature-by-feature cost estimation report is generated using the proposed system to highlight the features of high manufacturing cost. Two case studies were used to validate the developed system.
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    Enhancement of the Product Information Collaboration and Access in the Aerospace Industry
    (Taylor & Francis, 2013-12-31T00:00:00Z) Shehab, Essam; Fowler, C.; Rodriguez, Gil A; Abdalla, Hassan S.; Darwish, M.; Abdulhafed, H.; Ahmed, A.; Ahouie, H.; Alechnovic, A.; Paumes, C.; Tacchini, E.; Urbane, I.
    This paper presents the development of four scenarios to design a pull mode industrial solution that enables tier-one suppliers to securely and efficiently retrieve data for manufacturing purposes from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The research aim is to facilitate and enhance product information sharing between OEMs and their Tier-one suppliers. The proposed Scenarios were developed using PDMLink, which is a Product Lifecycle management system (PLM) and Microsoft SharePoint collaboration platform. The research methodology comprises seven phases including definition of scope, understanding the AS-IS processes, gap analysis, development of the scenarios, and finally validation and cost analysis. This methodology was implemented to select the most suitable scenario for utilising the tools available in the PLM system to accomplish the pull mode data collaboration solution. Data were collected through various ways including semi-structured interviews, workshops with experts, and review of technical documentation on current process. The major benefits of the developed solution are cost reduction due to diminution of resources required for the new process, lead time to access data by suppliers and improved data management. These will reduce the product development cycle, and ensure improved quality of manufactured components.
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    An innovative cost modelling system to support lean product and process development
    (Springer Science Business Media, 2013-03-31T00:00:00Z) Wasim, Ahmad; Shehab, Essam; Abdalla, Hassan S.; Al-Ashaab, Ahmed; Sulowski, Robert; Alam, Rahman
    This paper presents a cost modelling system for lean product and process development to support proactive decision making and mistake elimination at the design stage. The foundations of the system are based upon three lean product and process development enablers, namely: Set-based concurrent engineering, knowledge-based engineering, and mistake proofing (Poka-yoke). The development commenced with an industrial field study of eleven leading European industries from the aerospace, automotive, telecommunication, medical and domestic appliance sectors. Based on the requirements of industrial collaborators, the developed system comprises six modules: value identification, manufacturing process/machines selection, material selection, geometric features specification, geometric features and manufacturability assessment, and manufacturing time and cost estimation. The work involved the development of a feature-based cost estimation method for the resistance spot welding process. The developed system was finally validated using an industrial case study. The developed system has the capability to provide estimates related to product cost and associated values concurrently, facilitate decision making, eliminate mistakes during the design stage, and incorporate ‘customer voice’ during a critical decision making stage.