PRODUCTION ENGINEERING

during all the process of execution of the finished products. The control of casting defects is a major problem for most small foundries where a variety of problems can occur. It's very important to have an opposite process assessment, to perform preventive activities, and to make use of research techniques for better loss prevention. The first step is to properly identify the casting defect and then to classify the defect according to a casting defect classification system. Casting production involves various processes which include pattern making, molding, core making, melting pouring, shell breaking, shot blasting etc. It is almost impossible to produce defect free castings. Occurrence of the defect may involve single or multiple causes. These causes can be minimized through systematic procedure. This paper deals with casting defects in Diverter Wheel. A Diverter wheel is a part used in lift on which metal cable is wound to give up and down movement to the lift.

during all the process of execution of the finished products. The control of casting defects is a major problem for most small foundries where a variety of problems can occur. It's very important to have an opposite process assessment, to perform preventive activities, and to make use of research techniques for better loss prevention. The first step is to properly identify the casting defect and then to classify the defect according to a casting defect classification system. Casting production involves various processes which include pattern making, molding, core making, melting pouring, shell breaking, shot blasting etc. It is almost impossible to produce defect free castings. Occurrence of the defect may involve single or multiple causes. These causes can be minimized through systematic procedure. This paper deals with casting defects in Diverter Wheel. A Diverter wheel is a part used in lift on which metal cable is wound to give up and down movement to the lift.

This paper presents and discusses the combined power, cooling and desalination (CPCD) outputs operated through sustainable heat sources. The cycle, configured by heat rejection from ammonia absorption-based combined power and cycle system, is utilized for Multi Effect Distillation (MED) with Multi Stage Flash (MSF) desalination sub cycle. The triple output system operates in three different modes; power only to cooling only and cooling with power output and always with desalination output. The influence of heat source temperature, evaporator temperature and split ratio on the cycle useful outputs along with performance indicators was investigated. The proposed cycle configurations can operate by heat source temperatures as low as 125°C at -10°C evaporator temperature. Both effective first law and exergy efficiencies increase with the split ratio of refrigerant vapour mass flow rate, and reach maxima of 68.3% and 21.0% at the cooling alone condition. These grid-independent cycles are...

Wear characterization is crucial for assessing material performance and guiding material selection for tribological applications, such as woodworking. This study investigates the wear behaviour of AISI W360 and two grades of modified A8 tool steels under coated and uncoated conditions, using the ASTM G65 dry sand rubber wheel (DSRW) and the ASTM G195 Taber abrasive tests. The wear performance of the uncoated steels varied with the tests, showing no correlation with the carbide properties. The resulting wear performance was the product of the competitive interplay between carbide properties, with uniform fine carbide distribution and average size being the most significant factors in the DSRW and Taber tests, respectively. The wear mechanism was predominantly microcutting, independent of the microstructure in the Taber test. However, the samples in the DSRW test exhibited microcutting and material pull-out, resulting in the formation of cavities, depending on the carbide volume fraction. On the other hand, the wear performance of the coated tool steels correlated with the coating thickness in the DSRW test, Macroparticle (MP) density, and roughness in the Taber test. The wear performance, despite being the product of the interaction between coating properties, was more impacted by the hardness and coating thickness in both tests. Additionally, the wear mechanism was independent of the coating properties in the DSRW test, whereas higher MP density and lower hardness resulted in adhesive coating failure and microgrooving, respectively, in the Taber test. Further mathematical modeling to facilitate the conversion of wear volumes between both tests revealed limited predictive accuracy. These findings underscore the complexity of the wear behaviour of coated and uncoated tool steels showing significant variation with the test method.

Obecnie prawie cały proces fermentacji brzeczki i dojrzewania piwa w browarach przebiega w tankofermentorach zwanych unitankami lub skrótowo cKT (cylindryczno-koniczny tank, rys.1). Na rysunku zaznaczone są strefy chłodnicze zlokalizowane na stożkowej i cylindrycznej części tankofermentora. Zasada tej metody polega na pionowym ustawieniu cylindrycznego zbiornika zakończonego u dołu stożkiem, w którym po fermentacji głównej osiadają drożdże. Można je usunąć bez jego opróżniania, co sprawia, że proces dojrzewania piwa przebiega w tym samym tankofermentorze, przy udziale komórek drożdży pozostających jeszcze w odfermentowanej brzeczce ]. Dr inż. Krzysztof KUchaRcZYK Prof. dr hab. inż. Tadeusz TUSZYŃSKI Krakowska Wyższa Szkoła Promocji Zdrowia w Krakowie reguLacja temperatury W procesach Fermentacji i dojrzeWania piWa W tankoFermentorze ® temperature control in processes fermentation and maturation of beer in fermentation tank ® Słowa kluczowe: tankofermentor, chłodzenie, proces fermentacji i dojrzewania. Do produkcji piwa używa się tankofermentory, tzw. tanki cylindryczno-koniczne (CKT) lub unitanki. To nowoczesne zbiorniki o różnorodnej wielkości, dostosowanej do zdolności wytwórczej browaru, które zapewniają ułatwiony przebieg procesu -wytwarzanie piwa w sterylnych warunkach. Uzyskiwanie optymalnych parametrów technologicznych wymaga zastosowania nowoczesnej techniki zwłaszcza w obszarze sterowania temperaturą. Jednym z ważnych elementów wyposażenia tenkofermentorów są instalacje chłodnicze, zapewniające właściwą temperaturę wewnątrz zbiornika. Do regulacji temperatury stosowane są zewnętrzne płaszcze chłodzące z automatycznym sterowaniem. Tankofermentory w zależności od sposobu zabudowy są odpowiednio izolowane w celu eliminacji wpływu czynników zewnętrznych na przebieg procesu technologicznego. Nowoczesna technika w połączeniu z zastosowaniem optymalnych parametrów przebiegu fermentacji i dojrzewania, stwarza możliwość wyprodukowania piwa wysokiej jakości.

La planificación quirúrgica es un proceso de toma de decisiones empleado en la programación de quirófanos -Operating Rooms (ORs)-, que puede estructurarse en tres fases . En lo que respecta a la Dirección del hospital, hace referencia a cómo distribuir el Este trabajo deriva de la participación de los autores en el proyecto de investigación "(OR)2 -Operations Research & Operation Room" (ACC-300100-07-5) financiado por el Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia de España y en el contrato de investigación "VIRSSPA" (OG-174/07) financiado por la Fundación Reina Mercedes.

This study focuses on investigating the effects of process parameters, namely, Peak current (Ip), Pulse on time (Ton), Pulse off time (Toff), Water pressure (Wp), Wire feed rate (Wf), Wire tension (Wt), Servo voltage (Sv) and Servo feed setting (Sfs), on the Material Removal Rate (MRR) and Surface Roughness (SR) for Wire electrical discharge machining (Wire-EDM) of nickel using Taguchi method. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) is adopted to evolve mathematical relationships between the wire cutting process parameters and the output variables of the weld joint to determine the welding input parameters that lead to the desired optimal wire cutting quality. Besides, using response surface plots, the interaction effects of process parameters on the responses are analyzed and discussed. The statistical software Mini-tab is used to establish the design and to obtain the regression equations. The developed mathematical models are tested by analysis-of-variance (ANOVA) method to check their appropriateness and suitability. Finally, a comparison is made between measured and calculated results, which are in good agreement. This indicates that the developed models can predict the responses accurately and precisely within the limits of cutting parameter being used.

Coconut dehusking is a labour-intensive process, necessitating efficient mechanized solutions to enhance productivity and reduce physical strain, this study aimed to optimize a coconut dehusking machine using Design Expert v13.0, a labour-intensive process. A CADbased model was developed and simulated, and mathematical models were derived using dimensional analysis. The I-Optimal custom design of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was validated through 22 experimental runs. The results showed strong agreement between the experimental and predicted dehusking efficiencies. The machine achieved a maximum efficiency of 89.5% and a grating capacity of 189 nuts/hr. In comparison, the I-Optimal model predicted an optimal efficiency of 85.7% and a capacity of 179 nuts/hr at 121.014 rpm, spike angle of 57°, and spike length of 12.7 mm. Frame deformation under maximum load was minimal at 0.05289 mm. The RSM-based approach effectively optimized the coconut dehusking machine, supporting the design of efficient, durable dehusking systems for agricultural applications.

This report outlines current Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Post-Phase II opportunity contract award results for the SBIR technology program from 2007 to 2011 for NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate (ARMD), Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD), Science Mission Directorate (SMD), and Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). The report provides guidelines for incorporating SBIR technology into NASA programs and projects and provides a quantitative overview of the post-Phase II award patterns that correspond with each mission directorate at NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC). In recent years, one of NASA's goals has been to not only transfer SBIR technologies to commercial industries, but to ensure that NASA mission directorates incorporate SBIR technologies into their program and project activities. Before incorporating technologies into MD programs, it is important to understand each mission directorate structure because each directorate has different objectives and needs. The directorate program structures follow.

The history of LNG projects started from the CAMEL plant which had a capacity of 1.2 MTA (million ton per annum) in 1964. The train capacity of recent LNG projects is around 2.5MTA, and the total designed capacity will reach 70 MTA by mid 90. Air Products and Chemicals Inc. (APCI) has the major role for the liquefaction process. Recent LNG projects have started to apply a large single shaft gas turbine as a refrigerant compressor driver and the trend is for larger trainsize. Technical trends aim at cost reduction of the plant pursuing competitive LNG price per MMbtu against the oil price. Briefly the trends are:-large train size aiming at economies of scale-low cost liquefaction process-reliable gas treating process for specific feed gas composition-large size refrigeration compressor and driver-safe LNG storage and loading-high availability-large LNG tanker size and LNG chain optimization This paper reviews the current LNG technology status and suggests the technological trend toward the 21st century.

In designing of production systems, economic and social goals can be combined, if ergonomics is integrated into the design process. More than 50 years of ergonomics research and practice have resulted in a large number of ergonomics standards for designing physical and organizational work environments. This paper gives an overview of the 174 international ISO and European CEN standards in this field, and discusses their applicability in design processes. The available standards include general recommendations for integrating ergonomics into the design process, as well as specific requirements for manual handling, mental load, task design, humancomputer-interaction, noise, heat, body measurements, and other topics. The standards can be used in different phases of the design process: allocation of system functions between humans and machines, design of the work organization, work tasks and jobs, design of work environment, design of work equipment, hardware and software, and design of workspace and workstation. The paper is meant to inform engineers and managers involved in the design of production systems about the existence of a large number of ISO and CEN standards on ergonomics, which can be used to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

In designing of production systems, economic and social goals can be combined, if ergonomics is integrated into the design process. More than 50 years of ergonomics research and practice have resulted in a large number of ergonomics standards for designing physical and organizational work environments. This paper gives an overview of the 174 international ISO and European CEN standards in this field, and discusses their applicability in design processes. The available standards include general recommendations for integrating ergonomics into the design process, as well as specific requirements for manual handling, mental load, task design, humancomputer-interaction, noise, heat, body measurements, and other topics. The standards can be used in different phases of the design process: allocation of system functions between humans and machines, design of the work organization, work tasks and jobs, design of work environment, design of work equipment, hardware and software, and design of workspace and workstation. The paper is meant to inform engineers and managers involved in the design of production systems about the existence of a large number of ISO and CEN standards on ergonomics, which can be used to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

This study investigates the implementation of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) in automated urban water distribution systems, focusing on their role in leakage mitigation and operational efficiency. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach with experimental and observational data from SCADA-integrated field studies, the research demonstrates that PLC adoption reduces leakage rates by an average of 25%, with locations implementing comprehensive PLC frameworks achieving reductions of up to 40%. These improvements are attributed to enhanced real-time monitoring, automated control, and rapid leak response facilitated by PLC systems, underscoring their effectiveness compared to traditional water management approaches. The study also highlights the potential integration of IoT sensors and AI-driven analytics with PLC systems to further advance smart water distribution management. Contextual factors, including infrastructure variability and regulatory environments, are identified as influential in determining PLC effectiveness, indicating the need for adaptive strategies in diverse urban settings. The findings advocate for municipalities to consider PLC-based automation in water management not only to optimize resource allocation and reduce operational costs, but also to strengthen sustainability and resilience in urban water supply chains.

Article was devoted to the automobile gas supply systems. Contains information about the structural factors that have an impact on improving the quality of work car gas system, and the development of automotive power systems of gas. The main subject of the work is to determine how to conduct research for improving the quality produced gas installations. The paper presents the possibility of implementing research on improving the quality of the gas system in the laboratory or outside the car. For this purpose a device simulating car gas installation work, and responding to changes in various parameters affecting the gas dosage. It discusses the nature of the action constructed in the control of gas injection process, and presents some of its features by performing stand tests.

The work done in this investigation is modeling to optimization product mix in industrial settings of resources allocation and utilization in poultry feed production. Most poultry feeds producers in Nigeria do not lend themselves to flexible production process which is important for them to manage the use of resources for effective optimal production. This research focuses on linear optimization for achieving productmix optimization in terms of the product identification and the right quantity in feed brand production for better profit and optimum firm performance. The computational experiments in this research contains data and information on the units item costs, unit contribution margin, maximum resources capacity, individual products absorption rate and other constraints that are particular to each of the six products produced in the company employed as case study. In data analysis, linear programming model was employed with the aid of software to analyze the data. After solving...

Large quantities of agricultural residues produced in Nigeria can provide an alternative way in meeting her energy demand through briquetting. Biomass briquetting is the process of compacting raw biomass materials (wood, charcoal, crop residues, and animal waste) into standard mini-brick units as solid fuel for improved handling and efficiency. A small scale, 40 bar hydraulic operated piston briquetting machine with a capacity of 120 briquettes per hour was developed. The machine comprised of hydraulic, control, press, power, ejection and frame sections, and adopted the binder-less technology. Sawdust and rice husk were used as sample biomass materials. The compressed biomass obtained from the developed machine in form of briquettes had mean diameter and height of 30 mm ±0.02 and 16 mm ±0.01 respectively. The force, deflection, and Young Modulus at peak were 16.30 N, 3.29 mm and 548.11 N/mm 2 for Sawdust Briquettes (SB) respectively, while 12.50 N, 1.49 mm; and 481 N/mm 2 were obtained for Rice Husk Briquettes (RHB). The yield stress for SB and RHB were 12 and 9 N/mm 2 . The heating values obtained for SB and RHB were 51.0 Kcal/g and 39.4 Kcal/g respectively. The output efficiency of the machine was 88% indicating a satisfactory performance of the machine.

Recent advancement in meta-heuristics for simultaneous scheduling of machines and AGV studies have applied various techniques such as Differential evaluation (DE), Simulated Annealing (SA) and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to solve the simultaneous scheduling problem. All of these technique requires an initial scheduler in order to initiate the scheduling process and the priority rule algorithms will typically be used. However, from the literature, none of these studies elaborate and justify their selection of a particular priority rule algorithms over another. Since the initial scheduler can significantly affect the entire scheduling process, it is important that the correct initial scheduler be selected. In this paper we quantitatively compared three initial scheduler algorithms to determine the best algorithm performance. We believe the performance comparison would enable users to utilize the best initial scheduler to fit their meta-heuristics simultaneous scheduling studies.

Shifts in customer needs coupled with highly competitive markets and technological advances, means that product families evolve over time. Product family evolution has an effect not only on how the current and future manufacturing requirements are defined but also on the manufacturing system design process itself and represents one of the main difficulties in designing manufacturing systems. Two types of factory life cycle consequences have been identified which may occur as a result of design decisions during the manufacturing system synthesis design activity. This research therefore contributes a novel changeability knowledge based product development approach framework to reveal and analyse the consequences of commitments made during manufacturing system design on future product capability, hence on product evolution, and factory changeability. This approach was implemented in a computational tool for virtual product development which exploits changeability knowledge to assist, g...

Steel production is an extremely complex process and finding its coherent schedules for the wide variety of production steps in a dynamic environment, where disturbances frequently occur, is a challenging task. In the steel production process, the blast furnace continuously produces liquid iron, which is transformed into liquid steel in the melt shop. The majority of the molten steel passes through a continuous caster to form large steel slabs, which are rolled into coils in the hot strip mill. The scheduling system of these processes has very different objectives and constraints, and operates in an environment where there is a substantial quantity of real-time information concerning production failures and customer requests. The steel making process that includes steel making followed by continuous casting is generally the main bottleneck in steel production. Therefore, comprehensive scheduling of this process is critical to improve the quality and productivity of the entire production system. This paper addresses the scheduling problem in steel making process. The methodology of winner determination using combinatorial auction process is employed to solve the aforementioned problem. Combinatorial auction based approaches are capable of minimizing large search space, discontinuity, and noise in order to obtain near optimal solutions. Hence in the proposed work the authors have adopted its splendid characteristics to enhance the quality of the solution in such complex scenarios. In the combinatorial auction, allowing bidding on a combination of assets, offers a way to enhance the efficiency of allocating the assets. In this paper, scheduling problem in steel making has been formulated as a linear integer program to determine the scheduling sequence for different charges. Then bids are obtained for sequencing the charges. Next, a heuristic approach is used to evaluate the bids. The computational results show that our algorithm can obtain optimal or near-optimal solutions for combinatorial problems. The proposed algorithm has been verified by a case study.

Resistance welding has long been used in both the aerospace and automotive industries for welding aluminum sheet. Generally, the process is challenged by very high power demands and concerns over electrode wear. More recently, ultrasonic spot welding has also been investigated for these materials. While promising, limited ultrasonic power, long cycle times, and surface indentation have reduced the attractiveness of this approach. This paper addresses combining these approaches into a new hybrid system. A prototype system was developed and used to weld aluminum 6061 to itself. Welds with high lap shear strengths were achieved compared to those made with ultrasonic power alone. This increase appears due to local resistive heating, reducing the yield strength at the faying surfaces. Reduced yield strength allows additional plastic deformation by the sonotrode into the material permitting ultrasonic motion to be achieved at the interface more efficiently.

Production Planning and Production Control systems are some of the keys that determine the development of modern production systems. The article presents the importance of a flexibility factor in the process of manufacturing, planning, and control systems development during the 20th century. Finally, actual problems and trends in the production system design and control over the design were perceived in addition to possible feasible directions of the development of manufacturing systems, probably in the 21st century were specified. Production planning and production control are usually painstaking to be one of the most noteworthy issues in the planning and operation of a manufacturing structure. A better planning system has a significant bang on cost reduction, increased productivity, customer satisfaction, and overall spirited improvement for a product. Also, the current customer demand for prominent diversity products has put into an increase in product complications that further ...

U4 is a unique many-valued non-classical formal logic system developed to more closely model human reasoning. The advantage of U4 is that it can model uncertainty, U, and contradiction, 0, as well as true, T, and false, F, variables. In this paper, the decidability of U4 will be evaluated. By the truth table method using several randomly chosen formulae, it will be shown that U4 is decidable. Furthermore, it will be shown that U4 is ultra-decidable.

U4 is a unique many-valued non-classical formal logic system developed to more closely model human reasoning. The advantage of U4 is that it can model uncertainty, U, and contradiction, 0, as well as true, T, and false, F, variables. In this paper, the decidability of U4 will be evaluated. By the truth table method using several randomly chosen formulae, it will be shown that U4 is decidable. Furthermore, it will be shown that U4 is ultra-decidable.

Lean Manufacturing (LM) is a business strategy that was developed in Japan. The main contribution of lean manufacturing is the identification and elimination of waste. Companies apply LM to sustain their competitiveness over their competitors by improving the manufacturing system’s productivity and quality enhancement of the product. The goal of this paper is to apply one of the most significant lean manufacturing techniques called Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to improve the production line of a company that produces several components for vehicle assembly line by decreasing the waste and non-value added activities.  First, the current value stream map of production line was developed using personal interviews, observations and secondary data of the company. Subsequently, the future value stream map was proposed based on the lean manufacturing principles to improve total production lead time and value added time. Based on the final result it can be concluded that VSM is a useful and a...

At the development stage of a product, target cost management has a significant effect on achievement and maintenance of product competitiveness in a given market and the desired target profit as the primary aim of production. Target cost management, i.e., target profit management, is performed by evaluating individual variations of a conceptual and preliminary design solution for a new product and by choosing the solution with the lowest development costs. The paper presents the use of Adaptive Neural Fuzzy Inference System model for managing development costs on the example of double-row angular contact ball bearings as an example of applying the above approach to market positioning in relation to competitors.

Managing the costs of a product life cycle, which is performed at the stage of its development, has a dominant influence on achieving and maintaining the competitiveness of the product in the market and the target profit as the primary production goal. Development is of crucial importance in the product life cycle, because evaluating individual solutions for the new product's conceptual and preliminary design based on the simulation of costs of all stages of its life cycle represents the way of ensuring the design requirements for excellence. This paper presents in detail the setting and development of a hybrid model of product life cycle cost management, based on fuzzy neural networks.

Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar a causa raiz a causa da falha no motor da graxeira em uma empresa metalúrgica e propor medidas de intervenção para melhorar o nível de produtividade. O método utilizado para a coleta de dados foi a realização de uma sessão de
Brainstorming com operadores da trefilaria, seguida da construção de um Diagrama de Causa e Efeito, e a aplicação do método dos 5 Porquês para a obtenção da causa raiz. Aplicou-se também o 5W2H para propor ações para o problema da falha no motor da graxeira e para definir medidas de intervenção para evitar outros problemas de qualidade e de manutenção. As principais causas encontradas foram a falta de treinamento, a lubrificação inadequada e a utilização de equipamentos inadequados, nas categorias de mão de obra, matéria-prima e máquina, respectivamente, sendo a causa raiz a falta de treinamento dos funcionários. Para evitar a falha no motor da graxeira, destaca-se o custo de R$ 3000,00 durante um mês, para o treinamento, a instalação de chaveta e a marcação do nível máximo de sabão. Portanto, o estudo na empresa permitiu o uso das máquinas e das ferramentas de forma correta e com redução de erros, aumentando a disponibilidade e a eficiência, podendo ser replicado para outras indústrias.

The goal of this work was to analyze the feasibility of continuing the traceability of beef through the use of Radio Frequency Identification technology in the production process of a slaughterhouse. In this process, the relationship between the end product (a piece of meat and the offal) and its source (the animal) is not maintained, even if the animal has been traced until the slaughterhouse. In the present work, critical points in the production process involving loss of traceability were identified and simulations using the middleware fosstrak and an associated simulator to validate a solution to this problem were performed. It was found that traceability is feasible, provided that the antennas and the RFID readers are placed in strategic locations such as the hooks where the carcasses are hanged and on the trays with the cuts of meat.

This study was carried out to assess the effect of heat input on the mechanical properties and corrosion behaviour of mild steel. The intrinsic nature of fusion welding has made it difficult to provide a complete understanding of corrosion behaviour in some systems. Optical metallography was used to determine grain size and HAZ zone, weldment and parent metal. Mechanical properties of the weldment were observed. Corrosion behaviour of mild steel were investigated in air, sea water, alkaline and acidic medium after welding with shielded metal Arc welding SMAW by varying the welding process parameter that leads to power input and monitoring its welding speed with a stop watch. The microstructural characterization of the welded sample carried out through a metallurgical microscope (x100) and the corrosion response rate by weight loss was observed in the different medium, the sample welded with 180A and low voltage displayed the highest Rockwell hardness and the same was observed for impact test. The effect of various heat inputs on the corrosion behaviour of shielded metal arc welded mild steel show thus the as-received sample have the greatest resistance to corrosion in all the medium, at 180 A, high voltage this is closely followed by sample welded with 180 A, low voltage. The sample welded with 90A, low voltage which has the least corrosion resistance in all medium during the exposure period studied. The low heat input welded samples underwent a long period of heating, low heat input could lead to a greater tendency of distortion which may produce a higher weld cracking in the aggressive corrosion medium. The higher the current, the higher the power input and the deeper the penetration. However, the use of too high weld current may cause problems such as excessive spatter, electrode overheating and cracking while too high weld voltage could cause the beads to be wider and flatter. The low arc voltage produces a stiffer arc that improves penetration. If the voltage is too low, a very narrow bead will result.

Modern automotive manufacturing demands minimal downtime and near-zero defects. This paper proposes an agentic AI framework for self-healing production lines, enabling autonomous fault diagnosis and correction in real time. We integrate agent-based models, causal inference, and self-adaptive control to monitor processes, identify root causes of faults, and adjust controls without human intervention. The architecture is demonstrated in scenarios like body-in-white welding and final assembly inspection, where AI agents at robotic stations collaborate with a supervisor agent to detect quality issues (e.g., bad welds, misalignments), infer underlying causes, and enact corrective actions (like recalibration or parameter tuning). A novel case study is presented in which an autonomous welding cell agent detects a weld defect, determines tip wear as root cause, and triggers an on-the-fly tool change and re-weld-preventing downtime. We report substantial improvements: fault response times drop from tens of minutes to seconds, process recovery becomes nearly instantaneous, and overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) rises with reduced scrap and downtime. Five high-quality images, three charts, and three diagrams illustrate the agentic system architecture, decision loops, fault response performance, and comparative benchmarks. The proposed framework-unlike any published to demonstrates a unique, self-healing manufacturing AI that achieves resilient, "right-first-time" production in automotive assembly.

Tactile graphics (TGs) are visual representations for individuals with visual impairments. Traditionally, the fabrication of TGs has been limited to specific production systems. However, low-cost additive manufacturing (AM) techniques now enable the rapid and economical production of TGs, allowing for broader applications. This study analyzes different AM techniques such as SLS (selective laser sintering), SLA (stereolithography), and FDM (fused deposition modeling), for manufacturing typical features found in TGs. The study’s main goal is to identify the advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of each AM technique in the low-cost production of TGs by non-expert users. For this purpose, several TG designs including Braille notations and other symbols are prepared and the manufactured TGs are inspected using a digital microscope, a 3D scanner, a profile projector and a profilometer. The results show that FDM is a cost-effective AM technology for TGs when larger features are used; however, it has significant limitations in reproducing small, detailed tactile elements such as Braille dots or rounded corners. SLS can be a suitable AM technique for outdoor TGs but presents high surface roughness values, which reduces the tactile experience. Finally, SLA offered the best overall performance in terms of accuracy, feature definition, and tactile clarity, making it the preferred option for applications that require precise Braille reproduction. These experimental results aim to improve the design and manufacturing of accessible TGs, contributing to the development of inclusive tools for individuals with visual impairments.

Injection molding is a process for forming parts by molding material into a desired shape. In this paper, we have characterized four inputs according to which the final warpage (residual stresses) of the material varies. Those four inputs are injection pressure, injection temperature, cooling time, and holding pressure. In all these we already know that Injection Pressure has the most contribution in the final geometry. So, from the values Library we take a set of four possible values of each parameter and make an orthogonal array of that for Taguchi analysis. After testing all the possible combinations in ANOVA, we conclude the final set of parameters which give the minimum S/N ratio or minimum warpage.

Injection molding is a process for forming parts by molding material into a desired shape. In this paper, we have characterized four inputs according to which the final warpage (residual stresses) of the material varies. Those four inputs are injection pressure, injection temperature, cooling time, and holding pressure. In all these we already know that Injection Pressure has the most contribution in the final geometry. So, from the values Library we take a set of four possible values of each parameter and make an orthogonal array of that for Taguchi analysis. After testing all the possible combinations in ANOVA, we conclude the final set of parameters which give the minimum S/N ratio or minimum warpage.

User stories are often used for elicitation and prioritisation of requirements. However, the lack of a widely adopted user story template, covering benefit and the usage (or not) of a persona, can affect user stories' quality, leading to ambiguity, lack of completeness, or accidental complexity. Objectives: Our goal was to analyse the differences between 4 alternative user story templates when creating and understanding user stories. Methods: We conducted a quasi-experiment. We asked 41 participants to perform creation and understanding tasks with the user story templates. We measured their accuracy, using metrics of task success; their speed, with task duration; visual effort, collected with an eye-tracker; and participants' perceived effort, evaluated with NASA-TLX. Results: Regarding the impact of the different templates in creating user stories, we observed statistically significant differences in some of the metrics for accuracy, speed and visual effort. For understanding user stories, we observed small differences in terms of visual effort. Conclusions: Although some templates outperformed others in a few metrics, no template obtained the best overall result. As such, we found no compelling evidence that one template is "better" than the others.

During metal machining, tool material (substrate as well as coating) plays an important role to influence machinability of any work material. Dry machining performance of 'difficult-to-cut' aerospace superalloy Inconel 825 is studied herein. Machining experiments are conducted at different cutting speeds using uncoated carbide, and MT-CVD TiCN-Al 2 O 3 coated carbide inserts. Machining performance is assessed in purview of magnitude of cutting force, approximate tool-tip temperature, and quantitative chip morphological parameters. Performance of coated tool is compared to that of uncoated insert. It is estimated that coated tool causes 39.79% reduction in tangential cutting force (at cutting velocity $121 m/min) when compared to uncoated counterpart. Higher tool-tip temperature of the coated insert caused higher chip curling. Shear band microhardness of chip (obtained by using coated tool) appear higher than that of uncoated insert.

In the present work, effect of addition of Copper powder in the dielectric media during electro-discharge machining of Inconel 718 has been attempted. Since, traditional machining routes are inappropriate for 'difficult-to-cut' materials (like Inconel 718 super alloys); EDM process has been adapted. In contrast to conventional EDM (no powder); addition of conductive powder particles into the dielectric media has been recommended in literature in order to improve machinability of super alloys. Experiments have been performed by varying peak discharge current and pulse duration; Copper powder (400 Mesh) has been added to the EDM oil (dielectric media). Performance of powder-mixed EDM has been analyzed in terms of material removal efficiency, surface roughness, surface crack density and white layer thickness. EDS and XRD tests have been carried out to understand chemical composition and metallurgical aspects of the machined surface (viz. material migration, phase, extent of grain refinement, formation of intermetallic compounds, residual stress) as compared to 'as received' parent material.

Due to increased demand of dimensional accuracy and high precision of manufactured parts, wire electrical discharge machining (WEDM) became very popular, especially for 'difficult-to-cut' materials like titanium alloys. Grade 5 Ti alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) has enormous application in aerospace and biomedical fields. WEDM performance of Ti-6Al-4V is somewhat restricted due to its poor thermal conductivity, formation of hard and brittle carbide-/oxide-rich layer and often surface cracking which affect fatigue performance of the part product. Therefore, multi-cut strategy is adapted to mitigate machining-induced defects. The multi-cut mode consists of one main/rough cut followed by a number of trim/finish cuts. Aspects of surface integrity of the WEDMed Ti-6Al-4V obtained in different modes of cut are delineated in this reporting. Three slots are produced: (1) main cut; (2) main cut followed by one trim cut; and (3) main cut followed by two trim cuts using uncoated brass wire and zinc-coated brass wire, respectively. Surface morphology along with topographical features including roughness average, crack density, recast layer thickness, material immigration, residual stress and micro-indentation hardness is studied. Results obtained thereof are analysed with relevance to kerf width, material removal rate and wire wear.

A case experimental research on Electro-Discharge Machining (EDM) of Inconel 718 super alloy using Copper tool electrode (of triangular cross section) has been delineated herein. Based on three controllable process variables viz. peak discharge current, pulse-on duration and gap voltage, experiments have been carried out to investigate their effects on influencing topography of the EDMed work surface in terms of Surface Crack Density (SCD). XRD tests have been carried out to compare metallurgy (various phases/precipitates present in bulk of the matrix material, extent of grain refinement, crystallite size, dislocation density) of the EDMed work surface with respect to 'as received' Inconel 718. Results, thus obtained, have also been compared to that of EDAX analysis.

This work maximizes oil production from a network of gas lift wells and determines the optimal amount of lift gas with PIPESIM network optimizer. PIPESIM was used to build a couple wellbore-flowline model and its network optimizer was utilized to maximize oil production from a network of gas lifted wells. Two wells were created (Well A and B) and connected to their respective flow lines to a manifold and from the manifold to the central processing facility (CPF) represented by a sink node. A comparison of the oil production rate from Well B with and without constraint on water production rate shows that 7337.432STB/day of oil was produced without any constraints on water production while 7373.479 STB/day of oil was produced with constraint on water production and Well A, 280.6693 STB/day of oil was produced without any constraints on water production while 3.266503 STB/day of oil was produced with constraint on water production. For the injection of 4MMscf/day of gas with a constraint of 1800STB/day on water production, results reveals that a total gas lift rate of 3.723612MMscf/day was required to lift a total oil rate of 7484.669STB/day. Therefore, out of the 4MMscf/day of gas available, 3.723612MMscf/day should be allocated to the network to optimized production.

The Electric Submersible Pump (ESP) system is one of the artificial lift methods. This tool consists of downhole equipment that is selected based on reservoir data, reservoir fluid characteristics, and completion. An appropriate pump selection can maintain well flowing pressure so that the flow rate will remain constant and the selected pump can work efficiently. Liquid rate performance is influenced by intake pressure, n-situ gas fraction, fluid properties, variable speed operation of pumps, pump types, and number of stages used.

Due to its high complexity and the varied assembly processes, hybrid assembly systems characterized by human-robot collaboration (HRC) are meaningful. Suitable use cases must be identified efficiently to ensure cost-effectiveness and successful deployment in the respective assembly systems. This paper presents a method for evaluating the potential of HRC to derive automation suitability based on existing or to-be-collected time data. This should enable a quick and favorable statement to be made about processes, for efficient application in potential analyses. The method is based on the Methods-Time-Measurement Basic System (MTM-1) procedure, widely used in the industry. This ensures good adaptability in an industrial context. It extends existing models and examines how much assembly activities and processes can be optimized by efficiently allocating between humans and robots. In the process model, the assembly processes are subdivided and analyzed with the help of the specified MTM motion time system. The suitability of the individual activities and sub-processes for automation are evaluated based on criteria derived from existing methods. Two four-field matrices were used to interpret and classify the analysis results. The process is assessed using an example product from electrolyzer production, which is currently mainly assembled by hand. To achieve high statement reliability, further work is required to classify the results comprehensively.

The paper deals with the gradient based shape optimization of the biaxial X0-specimen, which has been introduced and examined in various papers, under producibility restrictions and the related experimental verification. The original, engineering based design of the X0-specimen has been applied successfully to different loading conditions persisting the question if relevant stress states could be reached by optimizing the geometry. Specimens with the initial as well as with the two load case dependent optimized geometries have been fabricated of the aluminum alloy sheets (AlSi1MgMn; EN AW 6082-T6) and tested. The strain fields in critical regions of the specimens have been recorded by digital image correlation technique. In addition, scanning electron microscope analysis of the fracture surfaces clearly indicate the stress state dependent damage processes. Consequently, the presented gradient based optimization technique facilitated significant improvements to study the damage and fracture processes in a more purposeful way.

No contexto de necessidade em ganhos de eficiência, produtividade e redução de despesas, nada mais assertivo que treinar a equipe em uma metodologia já testada e aprovada por grandes multinacionais. Neste sentido, foi realizado o treinamento e implementação do Passo 1, 2 e 3 de Manutenção Autônoma em uma fábrica de papelão ondulado localizada no interior de SP. O projeto foi realizado inicialmente em 3 máquinas impressoras de corte e vinco, modelo DRO, com tripulação de 50 pessoas, regime de trabalho de três turnos e escala de trabalho 6 x 1. A duração deste projeto foi de 90 dias, sendo conduzido por uma empresa de consultoria chamada Ganbatte, que durante três semanas, realizou treinamentos teóricos em chão de fábrica, e nas outras três semanas, o time de operação e liderança deu continuidade no projeto com base nas atividades que a consultoria deixava como tarefa. Neste sentido, a evolução do time e os resultados alcançados foram satisfatórios, levando em consideração não só os números alcançados, mas também a cultura absorvida de criar paradas planejadas para limpeza, inspeção e lubrificação, conferência de ajustes padronizados, redução de paradas não planejadas, manutenção do equipamento retornando-o as condições básicas e redução do backlog de anomalias.

The objective of this dissertation is to enhance the overall understanding of practical manufacturing systems by using rigorous academic approaches, primarily queueing theory. The scope spans from the performance of a single manufacturing process to the performance of a manufacturing system. Queueing models are commonly used to evaluate the performance of manufacturing systems. Exact M/M/1 or approximations of G/G/1 models are usually adopted to describe the behavior of a single machine system. However, when applying queueing models to a single machine, some practical issues are encountered. A real machine is subject to different types of interruptions, such as breakdowns, setups and routine maintenance. The proper queueing models under interruptions are presented. The behavior of manufacturing systems is explored by first investigating the underlying structure of tandem queues. We introduce two properties describing the dependence among servers in tandem queues, namely the intrinsi...

Packaperforma is a tool developed in order to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and differentiation in the future design of packaging systems. The tool is based on the theory Packaging Logistics Performance. Packaperforma is a further development of Packaging Scorecard and it could be utilized by packaging designers and supply chain managers to see the functions of the packaging system in the logistics processes. This means that the gap between packaging decisions and logistics decisions can be mitigated, as it can share the downstream information with the upstream and the designers. Packaperforma is used to conduct comparative studies in multiple Supply-Demand Chains. A study as such increases the quantity of data in the Packaperforma database that could be used to indicate the performances of the packaging, the agent and the Supply Demand Chains. The paper presents a study on Packaging Logistics Performance, how to evaluate packaging performance; how to collect feedback infor...

Hybrid manufacturing is a new production strategy based on the combination of various processes to manufacture components more efficiently in terms of quality, productivity, and/or sustainability. Combinations of subtractive, forming, and additive manufacturing processes can follow one another to produce the desired parts. Hence, both part complexity and performance can increase significantly. The highlighted strategy has been tested by considering two different processes that are typically utilised for small batches of customised parts. Specifically, selective laser sintering has been used to thicken sheets locally, which are subsequently formed by single point incremental forming. This process combination can result in the development of a rapid prototyping technique that exploits the peculiarities of both the utilised processes, and thus allows for the manufacturing of more complex and/or higher quality parts, in a more flexible manner. In the research herein reported, various solutions have been tested to analyse the impact of the proposed hybrid manufacturing strategy on the a) dimensional accuracy, in terms of deviation from the nominal shape, b) quality, in terms of thickness distribution, and c) part complexity, in terms of the obtainable three-dimensional shape, of stainless-steel-formed sheets.

This study was carried out to understand micro-milling of aluminum material with ball nose end mill and consisted of four stages: experimental work, modelling, mono and multi objective optimization. In the first stage (experimental work), micro-mill ing experiments were carried out using Taguchi method. The effects of spindle speed, feed per tooth and depth of cut on tool wear, force and surface roughness were investigated. Cutting tools and workpiec e surfaces were also inspected via scanning electron microscope. Adhesion and abrasion wear mechanisms during micro-milling of aluminum were observed. Workpiece surfaces had the accumulations of plastically deformed workpiece material due to the high ductility of aluminum. In the second stage (modelling), all data gathered in the experimental works were utilized to formulate first-order models with interaction. These first-order models with interaction could be used to predict responses in micro-milling of aluminum with a minor error. In the third stage (mono-objective optimization), responses were used alone in optimization study as an objective function. To minimize all responses, Taguchi's signal to noise ratio was used. The effect of control factors on responses was determined by analysis of variance. In the fourth stage (multi objective optimization), responses were optimized simultaneou sly using grey relational analysis.