Development of Bicycle Industry - Grimshaws UK Ltd - Case Study Example

Introduction Bicycles have been used for a very long time in the history of mankind. They have continued to play a crucial role in the lives of people. This ranges from being a means of transport, a sport avenue among other various uses. This simply means that any company creating a bicycle has to put in mind the role that the bicycle is supposed to play in the user’s life. Other factors to consider will be how long the user intends to use the bicycle, what is the weight of the user and also how much is the user going to produce in purchase of the bicycle. All these factors affect the kind of manufacturing process that any Engineering Research Manager would seek to consider in the manufacturing of any bicycle. OPERATION CONDOR: REPORT ONE PROJECT BRIEF Grimshaws UK .Ltd has undertaken to advise the Team GB Cycling of the best kind of racing bike that the company should employ following the dismal performance during the London Olympics 2012.The project has been named the ‘Operation Mighty Condor’. We at Grimshaws are looking forward to developing a type of bike that embraces the latest technological expertise, the bicycle should be one of high resistance and its ability to cruise at a very high speed, the bike should be user friendly. The major purpose of the bike is to help Team GB Cycling reclaim them following the disastrous performance of 2012. The project will involve different departments in the organization. Top of them will be the production department that will be physically involved in the production of the bikes. The personnel in this department will be headed by the production operations manager. Other departments involved will be the finance department that will budget and provide the funds to be used in the project, the research and development department will go to the field and found out about the most advisable ways and methods to be applied in order to come back with the customers’ requirements. The department will play a major role in gearing the rest of the departments in what roles to undertake. It will provide a breakdown of the processes that the company will be involved in coming up with the ‘winning bike’ ultimately, the management too will be in charge of overall supervision of all the departments to ensure that the product delivered to the customers is a reflection of their expectations. In order to achieve, the company has to ensure that certain factors are considered throughout the project. For instance, the research undertaken has to be of very high levels and accuracy as the company seeks to develop a leading brand of the bike. Time also has to be considered. The time to be taken in the project has to be defined and followed faithfully; this is because too much time leads to waste of resources. We must also consider doing everything to the best of our abilities, developing the best prototype for the customer in order to ensure that they contract us in processing the bikes for them. Cost also has to be downsized. The project is one that entails creating a prototype or an example of the ultimate model, then the company has to cut down on the cost of its resources, in order to make a profit at the end of the day while also putting into consideration that customers at times do not always get back to their producers. The company will also be seeking to know whether there are other related projects in the market, if so, what are their strengths and weaknesses, what technologies they have embraced too. Here, the research department will also be looking at other leading sport bikes for instance the Suzuki GSX R-1000.This will involve looking at different types of manufacturing processes and determining the one that will be most cost effective and requires much lesser time to finish it up. Different types of manufacturing processes In determining a manufacturing process, one has to put certain factors into consideration. These factors include: what is the type of product that one intends to have, the quality of finesse expected from the product, the expected durability of the product, the availability of the production method, the resources available, resources here will include human resource, finances, time, supervision, other factors include the scale of production whether it is minimum or mass, the length of the production process whether it is recurrent or just fixed, the desires and wishes of the customer. In considering all these factors different kinds of manufacturing processes arise. It is up to the researcher to determine what process works best for them while minimizing on costs and majoring on profits. At the end its about meeting the demands of the client and making a profit. In determining which process to use to make the prototype, we were stuck between four major manufacturing processes. These were; Casting: The method is highly flexible as it entails use of molten metal, one can use alloys to allow in hardening of the metallic parts. It cuts cost when it comes to speed and joining cost, labour costs and assembly. It cuts cost in mass production as it entails use of molds that are easy to make. Its results are poor in surface finish, are unattractive, inaccurate and lack precision, it also lacks tolerance. Forming: here the rate of porosity is reduced. Just like casting, it has major surface issues. Joining/ Assembly: The process has less cost in mass production and lower costs in skilled labour , however, large capital is required, a lot of set up time will be involved. It produces accurate results. Machining: The process is expensive and is not accurate. My production processes involve the carbon fiber technology, this is a new technology in the bicycle industry, and it ensures efficiency, accuracy and precision of results. It gives the bicycle good weight, stiffness, durability and quality. This will be necessary since aluminum is exposed to a lot of casting processes that usually spoil the quality of the product in terms of durability, porosity and density. The carbon fiber technology comes in to mitigate this harshness. The process is a little bit expensive but our company has the required finances to measure up to this standards. Carbon fiber technology differentiates one product finesse from that of another. The major advantage with the carbon fiber composite is that it’s of high quality as compared to other types of material. It is also composite meaning that it is made up of many materials including resins and carbon which enhance its durability and strength in order to endure the harshness that comes with cycling. Most at times, racing bicycles lose balance due to lack of strength in the materials they are made of. Similarly, the carbon fiber composite are usually man-made, by this they can be moulded mechanically into the kind of bikes that are required by the individual cycler. This is considering that each individual cycler has their own interests depending on the size of individual, how long one expects the bike to last and for what purposes the bicycle is to serve, in our case it’s for race cycling in athletics purposes. The carbon fiber also has a high chemical and thermal resistance making it very viable in doing sport cycling. Decision Criteria We choose casting. This is because the process of making carbon includes the molding of plastic. In this case then, other processes such as assembly or forming, casting or even machining would not be appropriate. The process of working with carbon and graphite requires very high temperatures and as a result only casting would be most viable in this case. The method is also less expensive and if done accurately produces very quality product. The process will join high quality parts from different industries. It being a prototype, it would cut down on cost and save on time. The process of casting will cut on processes and machinery that could have otherwise been used in joining the parts either through machining or assembly. It also cuts down on the welding costs that could have been used to get the different parts together. These limitations are as outlined and identified in CES 2011. OPERATION CONDOR flies again: REPORT TWO PROJECT BRIEF Having excelled in contracting for the Olympics 2012,the project aims at getting to ‘exploit’ this high profile customer, the Team GB plus take advantage of the media in getting more and more customers. The process also aims at making the double density bike that will sell at an estimated retail price of $800. The management will also have to conduct high levels of supervision of personnel involved in the process. The manufacturing department will have to be keen on every detail; the finance department too has to provide the financial resources required in order to give the best results. In short all personnel in the department will have to come in. The human resource manager may also have to review the employees’ contract I terms of the possible number of overtime hours that the company’s personnel especially the production department will have to put in. The success of the project purely depends on whether the company will be in a position to please its clients. The Grimshaws have to be satisfied about the company’s product through excellent performance in the 2016 Olympics. At the same time, the media publicity has to prove that it has worked positively by the company experiencing large sales than probably it had anticipated from the market. The company will also be expecting positive reviews from individuals that have used the bike. The manufacturing process will involve a lot assembly and joining process. The company will outsource the 6000 series of aluminum from an aluminum site. Decision Criteria In this case, aluminum is used as opposed to composite carbon fiber. This is because aluminum is much cheaper as compared to carbon and at the same time, it is of lower density. This is a major requirement especially for sporting purposes. Aluminum serves best in order. What determines whether a bicycle works faster and lighter is the weight of the material making its frame. In this project, aluminum is used and has always been used to achieve this end. In this case, a lot of butting processes in order to increase the width of the frames will be used. At the same time, the process will require the use of welding in assembling the parts. The main process of manufacturing is welding through the use of machines. Machine welding provides a high level of finesse and also gives the products a fine touch. The company will also need to join the various tubes. Brazing or machine welding can be used.In our case, we will be using the machine welding which is much more economical in terms of the human labor. The joining processes involved in the assembly process will be TIG welding or machine welding. OPERATION CONDOR’S CHILDREN - Report 3 PROJECT BRIEF The project comes in as a result of the success realized in the previous and related Condor projects. The project comes into address the issue of children’s balance bike. This is a new area of research initiated by our company’s board of directors. The research is conducted at the Hull University Science Department. The research aims at developing a children balance and so far a thermoplastic has been discovered that will help in the creation and formation of the special child bike. This positive research should be applied and the company aims at achieving a sales volume of 1000,000 bikes during the first year of the project’s inception. The department involved in this process will be the strategic managers who will come in to define the goals of the organization. The management will also be charged with the sole responsibility of supervising the personnel involved in the organization. Similarly, the production department will come in to aid in the basic manufacturing. Being a small project on prototype, the management may seek to employ specialization among production personnel to ensure that only the most efficient personnel may be used. Other personnel may be relocated to other projects. This is done with the sole aim of improving production. The success of this project entirely depends on how all the factors of production are co-ordinated. The management will seek to motivate its personnel following the good performance that the company has been experiencing previously. The success of this project will purely revolve on motivation of the personnel through pay rise, training and development on new spheres of the research project before they embark on production of the bicycles. Following the previous projects that the company has engaged in, there are certain constant factors that the company has to consider. For instance, the expected durability of the bike, affordability, do we have to use aluminum, carbon, steel, plastic in the making of the bike, the weight of the children too has to be considered, adults would obviously be expected to ride3 on bikes that have more strength, most at times, the reverse is true for the child’s case. . There will be additives to make the material much tender and usable. The thermoplastic will then be heated and thermoplastic welding will finally be the last process thereby. In preparing the main project, we will be using the carbon fiber composite and embed it inside the thermoplastic. This process is rather expensive and will not be used in the case of the prototype. This is the only distinguishing factor between the prototype and the main project. Decision criteria The main mode of processing in this case is molding. This is because the process entails a lot of heating and reshaping of the thermoplastic. In preparing the prototype we will be looking at cutting down on the tooling costs. In this case we may choose not to strengthen the thermoplastic by adding the carbon fiber frames. These frames will be embedded in the thermoplastic to give it a more durable effect. The carbon fiber is expensive and it would not be fit to include in the prototype. For the full scale manufacturing process the process will be as follows; Heating and molding of the thermoplastic into the desired bicycle frame sizes. Introduction of additives in order to improve the products’ final look. The additives here would include the plastics to soften the thermoplastic. Dyes and pigments to introduce coloration, stabilizers will be added to increase the resistance and stability of the bicycles. The introduction of the carbon fiber frames that will be embedded in the thermoplastic. Processing of the thermoplastics into the different desires forms. This will include the use of extruders and rollers Thermoplastic welding. This entails the application of heat through the use of a welding gun. The process of welding is similar to that of metallic welding. (Thermoplastic process) Conclusion In light of the above developments that have happened in the manufacture of bicycles, one thing stands out strongly. This is the fact that the bicycle industry is still advancing. The approach is one that highly recommends the use of lighter and cheaper materials. A more preferred material is the carbon fiber composite that does not only give the bicycle a touch of finesse, it is also highly durable and light too. This means that as a company, in future, we should also make bicycles according to the market preferences. These preferences are varied from one person to the other. A bicycle that would best fit a sport cyclist is different from what would best suit a child. References Carbon fiber extracted from < http://www.velocite-bikes.com > viewed on 4/17/2009 at 2030 hrs. Thermoplastic process extracted from < http://www.ehow.com > viewed on 4/17/2009 at 1745 hrs. Read More