英文工程管理期刊原版

ORIGINALARTICLEAprocess-orientedapproachtomodelingtheconceptualdesignofaircraftassemblylinesF.Mas&J.Ríos&J.L.Menéndez&A.GómezReceived:4May2012/Accepted:14September2012#Springer-VerlagLondon2012AbstractTheneedtodevelopmethodsandsoftwareappli-cationstosupportthedesignofassemblylinesisacademi-callyandindustriallyacknowledged.Thispaperfocusesontheconceptualdesignofaeronauticalassemblylines.Amodelisproposedtorepresenttheprocesstodesignanaerostructureassemblylineattheconceptualdesignphaseandtheknowledgerequirementstosupportsuchprocess.TheconceptualdesignprocessisdocumentedinanInte-gratedDefinitionforFunctionModelingmodelandtheknowledgemodelisdocumentedinUnifiedModelingLan-guage.Themodelprovidesastartingpointintheformal-izationoftheassemblylineconceptualdesign.Theobjectiveistousesuchmodelforthedevelopmentofaknowledge-basedapplicationprototypeinanindustriallyusedsoftwaresystem.KeywordsAircraftassemblylineconceptualdesign.Aircraftassemblylinemodeling.Knowledgebasedapplicationdevelopment1IntroductionThedesignofanassemblylineispartoftheindustrializa-tionphaseofanaircraft.Traditionally,theindustrializationattheconceptualdesignphasehasnotbeensupportedbyknowledgebasedandpredictivetechnologiestothesameextentasotheraspectsoftheaircraftdevelopment[1–3].Therelevanceofboththeconceptualphaseandtheassem-blylinedesignispointedoutbytworelevantcost-relatedfacts.First,upto80%ofthefinalaircraftcostisdeterminedduringtheconceptualphase.Second,upto30%ofthefinalcostisduetoassemblyoperationsperformedonconven-tionalaircraftstructuresbuiltupfromparts[4].Attheconceptuallevel,thedesignprocessofanassem-blylineisconsideredsimilartoaproductdevelopmentprocessbyseveralauthors[5,6].However,whenanalyzingindustrialcases,itisfoundthatproductcharacteristics,companyspecificpracticesandindustrialsectorpracticesinfluencethedesignprocess[7].Severalauthorshaveac-knowledgedtheneedtodevelopspecificmethods,guide-lines,andsoftwareapplicationstosupportassemblylinedesigners[7–9].FowlerandRose[10]pointouttheneedtodevelopformalmodelsofmanufacturingsystemsforevaluationanddecisionmakingratherthanrelyingonex-perienceandrulesofthumb.Knowledge-basedengineering(KBE)comprisestheuseofsoftwaretechniquestocaptureandreuseproductandprocessknowledgeinanintegratedway[11].Themanagementofproductprogramsintheaerospacesectorisdefinedintheguidelines“RGAéro00040”[12].Basedonsuchguidelines,Airbusdefinedthelifecycleofitsproductsandaconcurrentengineeringdevelopmentpro-cess.Figure1showsthedifferentmilestonesadaptedtotheaircraftlifecyclecharacteristics[13].Thedesignoftheairplane,anditscorrespondingsubassemblies,evolvesalongthedesignprocess,fourtypesofproductdefinitionstructuresarecreatedalongthelifecycle:“asspecified”(M3),“asdesigned”(M5),“asdesigned”and“asplanned”(M7),and“asprepared”(M9).Thedesignofafinalassem-blylineisshiftedfromtheproductlifecycle,startsinF.Mas(*):J.L.MenéndezAIRBUSMilitary,Av.GarcíaMoratos/n,41011Sevilla,Spaine-mail:[e-mail].Ríos:A.GómezUniversidadPolitécnicadeMadrid,JoséGutiérrezAbascal2,28006Madrid,Spaine-mail:[e-mail]10.1007/s00170-012-4521-5milestoneM3,andendsinmilestoneM9.Thedesignpro-cessisalsodividedintothreephases:concept,definition,anddevelopment(Fig.1).Duringthefirststagesoftheproductlifecycleseveraldisciplinegroupsworkondifferenttasks,suchas:stakeholderrequirements,preliminaryproductdefinition,commercialagreements,marketingstudies,functionalcapabilities,aerodynamicstudies,industrialcapabilities,andindustrializationsolutions.TheProgramOfficeisinchargeofcoordinatingandmanagingallthesetasks,securingcost,andproposingdiffer-entbusinesscasestobeevaluated.Attheconceptualphase,themanufacturingengineeringgroupisinchargeoftheprod-uctindustrializationandhastoevaluatethedifferentbusinesscasesagainstpossibleindustrialsolutionsfortheaerostruc-turesandfinalassemblylines.SuchworkiscurrentlycarriedoutmanuallybyhighlyskilledandexperiencedpersonnelmakinguseofCADandofficetools(CADfiles,spreadsheets,standards,PERTandGanttcharts,etc.).Theprocessdependsheavilyonthepersonnelexperienceanditisverytimecon-suming.Asaconsequence,manufacturingengineerscanonlycheckasimplifiedsetofcasestoreleaseearlymanufacturingprocessesandresourcerequirements.KBEistheapproachconsideredtoassistinconductingtheconceptualdesignoftheproductindustrialization.Thispaperfocusesonmodelingtheconceptualdesignofaerostructureassemblylines.Thefirstcontributionisaproposalfortheconceptualdesignprocessofaerostructureassemblylines.TheprocessisdocumentedusingIntegratedDefinitionforFunctionModeling(IDEF0).Thesecondcontributionistheproposalofaknowledgemodeltosup-portsuchconceptualdesignprocess.TheknowledgemodelisdocumentedusingUnifiedModelingLanguage(UML).Thethirdcontributionisaproofofconceptknowledge-basedapplication(KBA)prototype,integratedwithinacommercialsoftwaresystem,tohelpgeneratepossibleas-semblylinedesignsolutionsattheconceptualdesignphase.Thefollowingsectionspresentfirstlyaliteraturereviewonmodelingofassemblyinformationandsecondlythepro-posedmodelfortheconceptualdesigno