Title: Flexible manufacturability analysis applied to the welding process to increase sustainability in engineer to order businesses

Authors: Venkata Krishna Rao Pabolu; Roland Stolt; Joel Johansson

Addresses: School of Engineering, Jönköping University, Gjuterigatan 5, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden ' School of Engineering, Jönköping University, Gjuterigatan 5, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden ' School of Engineering, Jönköping University, Gjuterigatan 5, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden

Abstract: This paper addresses the manufacturability of welded components for engineer to order businesses including manufacturing feasibility, approximate manufacturing cost, manufacturing difficulties along with the sustainability aspects. This is addressed by creating an evaluation system for integration in a multi-objective design analysis system in the early phases of product development of the jet engines components in an aerospace business. The work is focused on the weldability assessment based on available weld methods and the weld capabilities of the company. Several rules for analysing the weldability are proposed. To keep the knowledge transparent, traceable and updatable, it is managed by a novel software called Howtomation© Suite using a forward chaining inferencing engine. The proposed framework enables a weldability index and welding cost guide to be derived, helping the designers choose appropriate weld method in early design stages.

Keywords: design automation; knowledge based systems; engineer to order; ETO; knowledge base; knowledge object; manufacturability analysis; manufacturing cost analysis; design for sustainability; sustainability analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJASM.2017.088536

International Journal of Agile Systems and Management, 2017 Vol.10 No.3/4, pp.271 - 294

Received: 26 Dec 2016
Accepted: 20 Jul 2017
Published online: 11 Dec 2017 *

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