Adoption of Knowledge Based Engineering in Automobile Manufacture - Case Study Example

Product Development: Adoption of Knowledge Based Engineering in Automobile Manufacture Project Rationale From a global scale perspective,the automotive industry has grown in leaps and bounds with the consequence that formerly unwarranted challenges have cropped up together with promising opportunities that have made it necessary for the various industry players to not only marshal up on the available resources but to up-grade their systems in order to build the critical capacity needed to competitively stay on advantageous grounds.Understandably,in view of this fact,the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders( United Kingdom) launched the Award for Automotive Innovation geared towards encouraging and recognizing the creation and development of new innovative products,technologies and ideas aimed at changing the face of the UK automotive industry. This concept note has been prepared for the automobile manufacturing companies stressing the importance of employing Knowledge Based Engineering systems with the aim of improving their fields of developmental methodologies through a shorter developmental time thus improving the quality of their systems(ARMSTRONG, 2001:24). Analysis of the Context The concept of Knowledge Based Engineering(KBE) is without doubt very broad.This is because in product development KBE becomes an important tool with the important function of capturing knowledge and enabling for its reuse.For example,a spreadsheet enables the recycling of knowledge by having the ability to effectively implement equations and/or rules.It is for this reason that this concept note lays emphasis on those tools of Knowledge Based Engineering that function as tools where knowledge is stored in different classes as objects such as Java,C++ and especially takes note of fact that in terms of product prototyping, KBE tools carry out an important role in congruence with geometry engine to effectively put into action the automatic generation of product concept.KBE functions to automate routine and time consuming tasks which thereby accord employees of companies more time to invest in new innovations and adequately find solutions.However,knowledge based system emanating from artificial intelligence(AI) captures expert knowledge and more often than not also generate creative solutions, for which it sometimes referred to as ‘expert system’.This paper notes that in the development of KBE systems,numerous methods exists but lays particular emphasis on MOKA as a suitable example that could be adopted by SMMT (The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders), as the development process revolves around capturing and formalizing knowledge which does not present challenging difficulties to most manufacturers(HIRZ, 2013:309). KBE will offer automobile manufacturers the advantage of optimizing product concepts in a much easier way and even importantly guarantee that the process knowledge is therefore stored.However,the disadvantage is that it demands a lot of time to develop the systems and if the automated procedures are not clearly explained to the user,it could easily be rubbished off as a ‘black-box’.Alot of research has been employed with the aim on improving the methodologies of development with the focus on improving the quality of the system and shortening the developing time,but it has been found that KBE can be economically demanding on small enterprises because of company structure,making it mostly a tool for large enterprises quite befitting industries such as the automobile which comprises of several and complex structures.Particularly in the manufacturing process,where product evaluation in terms of manufacturability is very important;KBE can easily be implemented into the problem of finding new capabilities of intergrading aspects involving other processes in addition to the aspect of product development geared towards generating a product concept. The challenge for design engineers in every manufacturing plant is to improve and develop less expensive products that consume a lot less time in the manufacturing process.It for this reason that refining and improving the development process becomes critical if an industry is to be seen operating within the economy of scales.While before the 70’s, the element of design and drawing was majorly done on a rigid environment confined on papers,soon the environment changed with the entry of computers as products could now be developed in a flexible two-dimensional computer environment which allowed for easier and efficient manipulation of the modeling process.Further on,another significant improvement was made which greatly improved virtual prototyping by enabling a new dimension to design work through the creation of a better overview achieved through the employment of systems such as CAE/CAD/CAM.This was a significant step for the product development process as it allowed the integrations of different crucial people.Thus the integrated product development process has undergone improvement in several ways but the most important has been the high level of utility that Knowledge Based Engineering as a tool has created with industry experts projecting a big growth in its importance for companies much like the importance that CAE/CAD/CAM previously had in the 90’s.This is because the concept if Artificial Intelligence started way back into the 50’s at which time researchers delved into developing a system which possessed its own intelligence and in addition had the ability to implement on its own adaptive solving strategies which could be put to use to solve a wide range of tasks.Interestingly,in today’s world the system having close relationship to the Artificial Intelligence is the ‘expert’ or Knowledge Based System(KBS) of which the KBE is a sub-set.As engineers employed computers to do automate routine work while they concentrated on the creative work,researchers could store knowledge and rules in systems which were then able to perform ordinary routine tasks of the product development process. Project Outline Apart from making a brief introduction to the paper’s core concept of Knowledge Based Engineering in the area of product development,it further explores important applications of KBE and gives concise elucidation about the process of its development.Lastly it discusses the advantages and disadvantages of KBE. Accordingly,KBE could be understood as the system which enables the capture and re-use of product and process knowledge in an integrated manner through the application of advanced software techniques.This makes KBE’s core objective to be centered round the reduction of lead-time through the capturing of product and process knowledge.This is achieved by product model that stores the knowledge about the product and process.Tabled data is derived from external databases whereas customer’s specification provides the necessary information for input into the KBE system which when processed begets different kinds of output because the system software is object-oriented(ISPE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONCURRENT ENGINEERING,2013:121). → → ↕ Figure 1:The KBE system. Project Implementation Objective Through automating the routine/mundane work activities found in the product development process the system(KBE) significantly reduces lead-time and captures knowledge from staff thus giving the company an edge over staff turnover.As a tool,it is useful in supporting and organizing new functional approach in product development. Product Model A very important part of the KBE system which contains in terms of rules the critical knowledge defining how a particular product is going to be developed.The stored knowledge in this respect is categorized into: Geometry Configuration Engineering knowledge These three categories further,is made up of rules and methods therefore the output can be broad and wide in terms of results. Geometry Parametric models are created in Computer Aided Designs(CAD) with all or some dimensions of the models depending on a specific dimension of the model.The model is therefore referred to as scaled thus,for instance,the thickness and the length of a designed pipe is made to be affected by the diameter such that a change in diameter automatically leads to proportionate change in both the thickness and length.This can easily be done with KBE by letting the computer have diameter as input and the KBE system automatically scales the pipe. Configuration The configuration aspect deals with the selection of the parts making up the product.For example a car manufacturer developing a luxury car,could have the system choose aspects such as strong motor and enhanced suspension system. Engineering Knowledge This can be fed into the KBE system to include manufacturing properties which are rules about the products manufacturability and even costing. External Database External database gives information concerning standard and the material properties which are crucial in the product development.Because the knowledge of KBE system is found in the product model,this data is different. Input Has a user interface that allows interaction with KBE system.Also it is that part of KBE where customer specification are put into the system however,the KBE system to be effectively updated,it must be fed with constant product data. Output Essentially outputs are reports,drawings,manufacturing plans,costs,BOM and CAD models.The generated results depends on the input and the configuration of the product model. System Software The KBE system is developed to function around the concept of an object oriented approach. Object Oriented As a system that is object oriented,the product knowledge model is transformed into objects that is classified with specific properties it has.The properties may include alternative designs and manufacturing requirements.Importantly,the classification is done orderly and parts matched with parts of others such that when a similar product is developed,it can inherit those properties that form a new class with new properties. Implementation In implementation,KBE rules follow a set of IF-rules.For instance,a rule a configuration rule that can be considered a rule: IF Wheel_1_Diameter > 4 Then Number_of_Spokes = 10 In manufacturing,a rule connected with engineering knowledge could be implemented as: IF Material + Steel _ 2 THEN Min _ Thickness = 0.3 Applications Used to automatically generate from input specifications, the product concept in the area of product development.Allows for finite analysis of elements where the output would only have been concepts of geometrical product.A concept thus is a draft showing main features of the product together with generated geometry from the rules in the product model. Methodologies For Developing KBE Systems The development of a KBE system starts at the conceptual stage with the identification of the problem.And for the problem to be understood clearly,it is broken into smaller bits and tackled till a satisfactory outcome is reached.In this paper,the focus is on the methodology referred to as MOKA.MOKA is an acronym standing for Methodology and tools Oriented to Knowledge based engineering Applications.The aim of MOKA is to create a methodology applicable to most industrial scenario by following the six steps of: Identifying,Justifying,Capturing,Formalizing,Packaging and Activation.However,the focus is more on the Capture and Formalize steps(M°ARTENSSON, 1998 :200). FeasibilityAssessment In spite of the fact that the KBE system can greatly benefit manufacturers in the area of design engineering,still more research needs to be done in order to iron out and remove a couple of draw-backs.However,most benefits still accrue from employing KBE system of which of critical importance is the earlier noted reduction in lead-time.Consequently,it makes it easier to optimize products,in addition,transforming the issue of staff turn-over to be to the company’s advantage by the aspect of capturing knowledge.Besides,given that automation is employed to those tasks which are routine and demanding,a lot of time is therefore accorded into the field of creative solutions and research. The most important drawback associated with KBE system is it consumes a huge amount of time to build up the product models.In this respect, the issue of knowledge transfer which encompasses the various ways in which knowledge is spread in the company is easily lost through neglect.This aspect is referred to as ‘black-box’ as it hinders the flow of captured knowledge to new employees. References ARMSTRONG, S. C. (2001). Engineering and product development management: the holistic approach. Cambridge [u.a.], Cambridge Univ. Press. HIRZ, M. (2013). Integrated computer-aided design in automotive development development processes, geometric fundamentals, methods of CAD, knowledge-based engineering data management. Berlin, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-11940-8. ISPE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONCURRENT ENGINEERING, STJEPANDIĆ, J., ROCK, G., & BIL, C. (2013). Concurrent engineering approaches for sustainable product development in a multi-disciplinary environment proceedings of the 19th ISPE International Conference on Concurrent Engineering. London, Springer. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4426-7. M°ARTENSSON, N. (1998). Changing the ways we work: shaping the ICT-solutions for the next century : proceedings of the Conference on Integration in Manufacturing, Göteborg, Sweden, 6 - 8 October 1998 Read More