ICT in Product Design

• working drawings and drawing sheets with scales + wire frame 
  • Wireframe: arc, line, points, very low memory files. No surface, so sometimes hard to understand. Fast processing
• rendering, textures, finishes
• easy to manipulate the angle of the image
• finishes with no changes needed
• simulations / checking aesthetics and sizing i.e. Wedgwood and 'virtual reality'
• use archived patterns i.e. Wedgwood use old patterns from first pieces from scanners
• repeated components cut, copy, paste
• stored and shared through EDI
• one bit changed / changes on the original file too

Wedgwood:

• hand-drawn and scanned in designs for ease
• modify existing shapes
• use shapes from archive
• place product 'in-situ' in virtual world

• EDI files / transmitted easily
• Drawing sheets can be interpreted by all
• in-situ for client - lighting / textures / angles / 'tumbling'
• calculate volume / weight / cost, etc
• model updated in real time during conferencing

 Electronic Data Interchange [EDI]

• check parts fit together in programme
• wire-frame / x-ray
• testing ergonomics
• testing in-situ - Wedgwood: placed in the 'room' it has been comissioned for?
• virtual reality + 'handling' products
• tolerances can be accounted for
• Finite Element Analysis: calculate stresses, strains and loads upon products

   Finite Element Analysis: Soft Drink Can

• 3D modelling - significantly reduce the lead time to create a product
  • Lead Time: the time the customer has to wait to recieve the product after placing an order
• CNC routers are exact / fast with small tolerance
• CNC lasers are fast and exact too with small tolerance [0.25 mm]
• Different types of rapid prototyping:
  • Layered Object Modelling [LOM]: plotter / cutter cutting out design layer by layer on thin card or self-adhesive film. Assembled like a 3D jigsaw
  • Fused Deposition Modelling [FDM]: ABS extruded out of nozzle onto a bed. Builds up layer by layer and solidifies
  • Stereolithographic Modelling: resin bath, when hit by laser it solidifies into shape of model

Wedgwood:

• Use FDM with ABS filament
• 24 hrs to complete
• painted to appear 'glazed'
• printed transfers applied
• VERY realistic - faster than doing it by hand! 

• See and manipulate their designs
• Photo-realistic environment
• See and handle products
• Useful for client consulation / specification analysis

Jaguar: 

• use VR to plan production lines / layout
• layout of cells
• movement of workers
• sequence of assembly
• cost savings made
• reduced lead time with effective production line

 Jaguar Production Line

Usually, design process is linear - passed from department to department. But, if it is not effective and people do not communicate - brief may not be met / hard to make / client unhappy

So - we need 'concurrent manufacturing': all the groups working on the design and development of the product work together right through till the end. 

Computers assist concurrent manufacturing: those working on the product would share marketing data, specification criteria, designs and development drawings over a centrally controlled databse

Database is continously updated - faster development of product and one that meets client requirements

CIM can also control production scheduling - timing and sequence of production operations

Management of stock levels for raw materials and component parts i.e. JIT around the factory

CAE: computers to model engineering problems and simulate conditions to see how they perform

• test components prior to manufacture
• i.e. test engines or suspension parts in cars
• often supported by computer controlled test runs on small 'test rigs'

CAM: CAD files can be converted into CNC machines i.e. 5-axis drilling machine

Wedgwood:

• block can be machined out to create very high quality moulds
• used for slip casting - makes 'hollow ware'
• locating pins for accuracy can be made
• faster and more accurate than by hand

JCB: use CNC cutters to cut out steel sheets / CNC welding / CNC hydraulic presses    5-axis milling machine

- Trace a series of points over the object's surface

- Builds up a 3D image

- Imported into CAD software + made into 3D rendered image

Wedgewood: use it to scan archive items to repeat patterns and shapes

  3D Scanner Used to 3D Model a Head / Bust

First Generation:

• pre-set program
• carries on regardless of any external change i.e. breaks eggs it is packing
• soon obsolete / limited use now

Second Generation:

• sensors / feedback information to a central computer
• information is used to monitor situation and automate cell
  • i.e. robot collecting blanks from pallet needs to check
    • pallet actually has blanks
    • blanks are going in the right way round
    • blanks are pressed properly
• commonly use digital cameras to identify these processes [live pictures can be compared to reference pictures] and can be stopped when problem identified

Third Generation:

• sensors + computer programming = AI. Detect changes + modify own programme / stimulus

Beam Transfer:

• simple / parallel slides or beams / x and y axes
• pick up components from pallets and move them - 'pick and place'
• i.e. car body panels and move them up the production line

Arm:

• most versatile - jointed like a human arm [shoulder, elbow, wrist]
• joints + directions = 'degrees of freedom'
• More freedom = more useful
• 'hand' is known as 'end-effector' and can be changed i.e. screw, drill, cutter

Automatic Guided Vehicles [AGVs]:

• fork-lift trucks no driver - carry items around factories
• sensors follow wire buried below factory floor or on surface / using lasers which bounce off reflectors palced high on walls
• lasers = robot can take three measurements and triangulate them - work out position
• often work with JIT systems / move materials and components / collecting + delivering them

Teach Pendant:

• remote control / teach pendant
• operator guides robot around the floor through movements
• stores and converts movements into a control programme [remembers it]

Walkthrough:

• operator physically moves robot around factory
• control programme records it into control program
• good for 'training' robots in tasks like welding and spray painting

Off-line:

• most common
• virtual reality simulations of work cell 
• robot programmed in VR and tested - prevents damage to robot and factory
• used to rehearse dangerous operatons i.e. maintenance tasks in nuclear-power industry

• mundane and repetitive tasks [loading + unloading]

• physically demanding jobs / repetitive strain risk [lifting + moving heavy items]

• okay in hazardous areas [spot, arc, welding, laser cutting, spraying or in nuclear inspections]

• high levels of accuracy, consistency, quick [spot welding - multiple spots, fast, multiple times. Humans cannot do this at speed, consistently, accurately]

• work for long periods of time without tiring - only stop for maintenance and can be self cleaning i.e. spot welders can clean their copper electrodes every few cycles
• BMW use robots in their factory for some jobs after workers were falling ill with wrist and hand strains. Ergonomic issues of trying to press a water-tight seal into a door frame was damaging the worker, and therefore robots were used to aid them

• poor mobility + lack of flexibility
  • humans can move freely between cells and do different tasks / robots require programming and may not be able to do the task / bulky and might not fit
  • require re-programming and re-tooled
  • humans can pick up different tools / skills easily
• limited degrees of freedom
  • humans = tight spaces / robots can't. Humans - reach in car + fit dash / robots =  harder
• high set up costs
  • VERY expensive to purcahse + dependent upon tasks, costly to run, program + maintain 
• employment issues
  • replace labour / job loss / poor labour relations / workers need time to adapt to new technology too / need skills and willingness to use it / problem solve / use intiative