Browsing by Author "Greenough, Richard M."

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    A decision support tool based on QFD and FMEA for the selection of manufacturing automation technologies
    (Elsevier, 2008-08) Almannai, B.; Greenough, Richard M.; Kay, John M.
    With the advent of the new challenge to design a more lean and responsive computer-integrated manufacturing system, firms have been striving to achieve a coherent interaction between technology, organisation, and people to meet this challenge. This paper describes an integrated approach developed for supporting management in addressing technology, organisation, and people at the earliest stages of manufacturing automation decision-making. The approach uses both the quality function deployment (QFD) technique and the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) technique. The principal concepts of both applications are merged together to form a decision tool; QFD in its ability to identify the most suitable manufacturing automation alternative and FMEA in its ability to identify the associated risk with that option to be addressed in the manufacturing system design and implementation phases. In addition, this paper presents the results of a practical evaluation conducted in industry.
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    Evaluation of a manufacturing task support system using the Task Technology Fit Model
    (Production and Operations Management Society, 2001) Tjahjono, Benny; Fakun, D.; Greenough, Richard M.; Kay, John M.
    This paper presents an exploratory study of a Task Support System (TSS) supporting manufacturing task operations. The study investigated the degree to which a TSS, in use in a company, actually supports the task of the shop floor personnel. The approach has been to adopt the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) instrument to measure the degree of fitness between the TSS and the associated task. The analysis gives an indication of the state of the TSS and the potential improvements that can be made. The study also shows that the instrument can be used as a foundation for the development of a hypermedia TSS and a benchmarking tool for a TSS.
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    Factory modelling: combining energy modelling for buildings and production systems
    (Springer, 2013-12-31) Ball, Peter D.; Despeisse, Melanie; Evans, Stephen; Greenough, Richard M.; Hope, Steve B.; Kerrigan, Ruth; Levers, A.; Lunt, Peter A. V.; Murray, Vincent; Oates, Michael R.; Shao, Li; Waltniel, Timothy; Wright, A.
    Traditionally, manufacturing facilities and building services are analysed separately to manufacturing operations. This is despite manufacturing operations using and discarding energy with the support of facilities. Therefore improvements in energy and other resource use to work towards sustainable manufacturing have been sub-optimal. This paper presents research in which buildings, facilities and manufacturing operations are viewed as inter-related systems. The objectives are to improve overall resource efficiency and to exploit opportunities to use energy and / or waste from one process as potential inputs to other processes. The novelty here is the combined simulation of production and building energy use and waste in order to reduce overall resource consumption. The paper presents a literature review, develops the conceptual modelling approach and introduces the prototype IES Ltd THERM software. The work has been applied to industrial cases to demonstrate the ability of the prototype to support activities towards sustainable manufacturing.
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    An interactive electronic technical manual for an advanced aerospace assembly machine.
    (Springer Science Business Media, 2007-07-01T00:00:00Z) Greenough, Richard M.; Tjahjono, Benny
    This paper describes the design and evaluation of a pilot information system to ease the burden of document configuration management for an aerospace manufacturer. The documents that comprised the content of the system are used to control manual activities associated with a large automated machine tool, such as machine setup, test piece checking and maintenance. The information content was in the form of web pages and PDF documents, both of which were presented to users via an Internet kiosk, in order to maximise usability and system security. The system was designed using a formal task analysis and evaluated using a method based on task-technology-fit theory and the technology acceptance model. It was shown that users would accept such a system and use it in preference to other sources of similar information. The greatest financial benefit of such systems is likely to be due to a reduced mean time to repair the machine.
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    Investigating the transfer of techniques for electronic technical support documentation from aerospace to machine tools
    (Springer Science Business Media, 2007-04-01T00:00:00Z) Greenough, Richard M.; Williams, David
    Abstract This paper describes a scoping study that investigated the possible transfer of techniques for creation of electronic technical support documentation from the aerospace industry to the machine tool industry. Electronic maintenance manuals have been supplied by aircraft manufacturers over the past 20 years with demonstrated benefits. Despite research that indicates the likelihood of similar benefits for machine tool users, the supply of electronic technical support documentation (TSD) by machine tool manufacturers is rare, and the techniques for the creation of TSD are inefficient. This paper describes the relevant trends affecting the machine tool industry and the background of the use of electronic TSD in aerospace. Data was collected via interviews with technical authors, document users and software suppliers from both industry sectors, as well as a questionnaire and a workshop. The results were analysed to form a view of the potential for technology transfer over the next 5 years.
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    The Use of Hypennedia to Support Team-based Maintenance of Manufacturing Systems
    (Cranfield University, 1999-05) Greenough, Richard M.; Kay, John M.
    The research described in this thesis is concerned with the use of information technology to reduce manufacturing system downtime. The work was sponsored by Ford Motor Company Ltd, and the pilot information system was evaluated and demonstrated in their Bridgend engine plant. The maintenance strategy followed in this factory is total productive maintenance (TPM). Downtime reduction can offer significant benefits to a manufacturer through increases in capacity at no extra cost. Many organisations have implemented computerised maintenance management systems (CMMS) to improve their maintenance business processes, but studies have shown that CMMS have often delivered few real benefits. Although CMMS can assist the management of maintenance, they are under threat in this respect from more generic software such as enterprise resource planning (ERP). Studies have shown that within manufacturing organisations most CMMS users are managers, but very seldom production operators. CMMS have been accused of being too technology-centred and may therefore be unsuitable where a human-centred philosophy such as TPM is used. A pilot hypermedia information system has been designed and evaluated with the collaboration of maintenance managers and the work force of the engine plant. A version of the system was developed to investigate the use of a digital manual for data capture. The results of usability trials suggest that hypermedia manuals will be accepted and used by factory personnel in TPM teams, and that such a manual can be easily updated to provide an asset history. A hypermedia manual has been shown to enable knowledge management since knowledge gained during the process life-cycle may be added to that provided in the manual by the process designers. The main benefit of a hypermedia maintenance manual is rapid access to information, which can reduce the duration of unplanned maintenance activities .