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Denna rapport dokumenterar ett projekt som ett examensarbete på högskoleingenjörsprogrammet inom innovationsteknik och design vid Karlstads universitet. Projektet utfördes på uppdrag av Nokalux med målet att automatisera monteringen av en belysningsarmatur. I sin fabrik i Töcksfors tillverkar Nokalux belysningsarmaturer för industriellt och privat bruk vilka säljs runt om i Norden. En av deras armaturer monteras automatiskt i en maskinlinje bestående av tre robotceller och nu vill de införa automatisk montering av ytterligare en armatur, Basic 23. Problemformuleringen för detta projekt landade i två frågor. Hur kan Basic 23 monteras per automation med Nokalux automationscell? Samt hur kan Basic 23 anpassas för automatiserad montering? Projektet påbörjades med en förstudie där information om produkten och den automationscell som Nokalux har samlades in. Under litteraturstudier hittades metoden DFA2 vilken varit en central metod i projektets arbete. DFA2 är en metod som används för att förbättra en produkts möjlighet att monteras per automatik. Med metoden DFA2 utvärderades hela Basic 23 på flera nivåer vilket resulterade i att olika problem med produkten identifierades. Utifrån analysen kunde olika förbättringsförslag genereras som ämnar att göra produkten mer anpassad för automatisk montering i Nokalux automationscell. Därefter valdes ett antal moduler av Basic 23, som lämpades bäst för automatisk montering ut för att optimeras. Några av de förbättringsförslagen som genererats infördes och modulerna anpassades med hjälp av DFA2 för att bli så lämpliga som möjligt för automatisk montering. Slutligen skapades en ny monteringsföljd för Basic 23 där de två modulerna monteras i automationscellen. Genom de förbättringsförslagen som infördes kunde antalet ingående detaljer i produkten minskas och den nya monteringsföljden visar en minskning av den manuella arbetstiden som behövs för att montera en armatur.

Manufacturing companies are nowadays facing an unprecedented series of challenges to their survival: global competition and product mass-customization are the shaping forces of tomorrow’s business success. The consequent need for agile and sustainable production solutions is the utmost motivation behind the development of innovative approaches which often are not in line with the state of art. It is well documented that companies fail in recognizing how such disruptively innovative approaches can yield an interesting economic output. This, in turn, enhances the risk of leaving the aforementioned promising technologies conceptually and practically underdeveloped.  In the field of automatic production systems the Evolvable Production System paradigm proposes modular architectures with distributed, autonomous control rather than integral design and hierarchical, centralized control. EPS technology is thus disruptive: it refuses the present paradigm of Engineer to Order in industrial automation by proposing an advanced Configure to Order system development logic. This dissertation investigates the possibility of using the recent sophisticated developments of the concept of Business Model as a holistic analytical tool for the characterization and solution of the issue of bringing disruptive and non-fully mature innovation to proficient application in production environments. In order to purse this objective the main contributions in the relevant literature have been extracted and combined to an original definition of business model able to encompass the aspects deemed critical for the problem. Such a construct is composed of three elements: (1) Value Proposition that describe the features of a technology that generates value for a given customer, (2) the Value Configuration and the (3) Architecture of the Revenue which describe the mechanisms that allows to create and capture such value respectively.    The subsequent work has focused on the EPS paradigm as a specific case of the overall problem. The first step has been a full characterization of the related value proposition through an innovative approach based on a bottom-up decomposition in its elementary components, followed by their aggregation into meaningful value offerings: with reference to the EPS paradigm such an approach has disclosed an overall value proposition composed of six potentially independent value offerings. This collection of Value Offerings has then been used as a basis to generate the EPS business models. In particular for each single offering a possible set of necessary activities and resources has been devised and organized in a coherent value configuration. The resulting creation mechanisms have then been linked among each other following a logical supplier-customer scheme for capturing the value: this allowed establishing the architecture of revenue, last element of the overall production paradigm. Finally the results have been validated in a semi-industrial system developed for the (IDEAS, 2010-2013) project through the individuation of the areas of application of such business models. / <p>QC 20121120</p> / FP7-IDEAS- Instantly Deployable Evolvable Assembly System / FP6- EUPASS-Evolvable Ultra-Precision Assembly Systems / XPRES- Initiative for excellence in production research

„Researches of part joints“ Process of peg and hole connection for automatic assembly is analyzed in the work. Mathematical model of the parts connection was formed. Programs for simulation of the connection process were written using MatLab software. Characteristics of connecting forces variation and movement of the peg were determined. Parameters influencing lower loading of the assembly equipment and values of these parameters were determined. It was determined that probability of the connection process can be increased by selecting particular values of correspondent parameters of the connection process. Results of the analysis can be used for designing of new, economic, high performance and reliable assembly equipment.

This thesis addresses the automation of the Pin Header Assembly (PHA) process in sensor manufacturing at Senseair AB. The manual assembly of pin headers presents significant challenges and inefficiencies, necessitating automation to enhance production capabilities and reduce costs. A detailed analysis of the time and cost associated with the manual assembly and a proposed automation solution was conducted on the assembly line of the S11 product series. Data were collected from the actual shop floor by measuring operation times for manual tasks and from a simulated automation cell to compare the two solutions in terms of cost, cycle time, and throughput. The investigation identified that automating the PHA process could significantly improve product consistency and increase throughput, addressing the inefficiencies and error rates of the current manual method. The automation of this process is essential for meeting higher volume demands and improving production scalability. Following this analysis, a collaborative robot (UR5) was evaluated for automating the PHA process. The evaluation involved simulating the automation scenario with the robot, including programming it to perform PHA operations and testing two alternative grippers to determine the most effective design. The main results indicate that automating the PHA process will significantly reduce unit costs and increase potential throughput. This automation is not only feasible but also represents a beneficial investment, providing both direct and indirect benefits to the production process. Overall, the automation of the PHA process is a strategic step towards optimizing production, reducing costs, and improving product quality. / Sure, here is the text with the missing spaces added: Denna avhandling handlar om automatiseringen av Pin Header Assembly (PHA)-processen vid sensortillverkning hos Senseair AB. Den manuella monteringen av stifthuvuden innebär betydande utmaningar och ineffektivitet, vilket kräver automatisering för att förbättra produktionskapaciteten och minska kostnaderna. En detaljerad analys av tiden och kostnaden förknippad med den manuella monteringen och en föreslagen automationslösning genomfördes på löpande bandet i produktserien S11. Data samlades in från själva verkstadsgolvet genom att mäta drifttider för manuella uppgifter och från en simulerad automationscell för att jämföra de två lösningarna vad gäller kostnad, cykeltid och genomströmning. Undersökningen identifierade att automatisering av PHA-processen avsevärt kan förbättra produktens konsistens och öka genomströmningen, och åtgärda ineffektiviteten och felfrekvensen i den nuvarande manuella metoden. Automatiseringen av denna process är avgörande för att möta högre volymkrav och förbättra produktionsskalbarheten. Efter denna analys utvärderades en kollaborativ robot (UR5) för att automatisera PHA-processen. Utvärderingen innefattade simulering av automatiseringsscenariot med roboten, inklusive programmering av den för att utföra PHA-operationer och testning av två alternativa gripdon för att bestämma den mest effektiva designen. Huvudresultaten indikerar att automatisering av PHA-processen avsevärt kommer att minska enhetskostnaderna och öka den potentiella genomströmningen. Denna automatisering är inte bara genomförbar utan representerar också en fördelaktig investering som ger både direkta och indirekta fördelar för produktionsprocessen. Sammantaget är automatiseringen av PHA-processen ett strategiskt steg mot att optimera produktionen, minska kostnaderna och förbättra produktkvaliteten.

Rapporten behandlar utveckling av en halvautomatisk monteringsstation för en elektronisk vattenblandare. Monteringsstationen roterar blandarhuset till vattenblandaren i olika positioner så att en operatör manuellt kan montera på komponenter på blandarhuset. Nya behov har uppmärksammats under tiden monteringsstationen varit i bruk och nya sekvenser för byte av redan monterade komponenter på en färdigmonterad produkt har tagits fram. Främst handlar behovet om att kunna byta en enskild komponent på en färdigmonterad produkt när det har visat sig att den monterade komponenten inte håller måttet i kontroller direkt efter monteringsprocessen. Kartläggning av aktuella sekvenser har gjorts genom observationer när monteringsstationen i varit i bruk. För att få fram nya optimerade sekvenser har behovet av förbättringar kartlagts genom att fråga produktionstekniker och operatörer i monteringen om upplevda problem och önskemål på förändringar i monteringsstationen för att underlätta monteringsarbetet och öka motivationen. Byte av en blandventil/termostatinsats på en redan monterad vägghängd Tronic-blandare är ett av de största upplevda problemen vid monteringsstationen. En ny tidsoptimerad sekvens för byte av blandventil/termostatinsats i monteringsstationen har tagits fram som innebär att monteringsstationen kommer användas i 5 steg istället för i 10 steg som i gamla monteringssekvensen. Arbetet har även uppmärksammat vikten av att ha tillgång till aktuell programmering och dokumentation för maskiner/stationer som används i produktionen på företaget. / The report deals with the development of a semi-automatic assembly station for an electronic water mixer. The assembly station rotates the mixer housing in various positions for the operator to be able to manually assemble components on the mixer housing. The operators have identified that alternate sequences in the assembly station might improve the assembly process. New sequences for replacing already assembled components on the assembled mixer product have been developed. The main need is to be able to change a single component on an already assembled mixer product when the component has been shown not to meet the quality standards. Mapping of current sequences has been done through observations when the assembly station has been in use. To obtain new optimized sequences the need for improvements has been mapped by asking production technicians and operators in the assembly about perceived problems and wishes for changes in in the assembly station to ease the assembly work and increase motivation. Replacing a mixing valve/thermostat insert on an already assembled wall-mounted Tronic mixer is one of the biggest problems experienced at the assembly station. A new time-optimized sequence for replacing the mixing valve/thermostat insert in the assembly station has been developed. The new sequence in the assembly station will use 5 steps to finish the change instead of 10 steps as in the old sequence. The report has also highlighted the importance of having access to up-to-date programming, and documentation for machines/stations used in the production line at the company.

Production lines for assembling two parts by screwing require flexible positioning and accurate tightening torque. Working with screwed products in process lines can cause bodily harm. The project aims to develop an application to compensate for the monotonous and tiring work. This report reviews the integration of Bosch Rexroth’s Compact module, and Linear module with an ErgoSpin. The project’s objective entails a turnkey solution for a developed application to be implemented in production lines. The ErgoSpin is a fast, self-tightened screwdriver placed over the screw by measuring the angle, gradient, and tension with the optimal tightening torque. The integration of the products is both electrical and mechanical. Mechanical elements were designed to merge the products into an application. The electrical interfaces between the products were connected and programmed through Bosch Rexroth IndraDrive, and a motion control system. By integrating these products, and implementing them in a production line, the work can be performed more efficiently, and the employees can focus on other tasks. The application is intended to work beside a conveyor unit in assembly stations. Tests were performed to assemble plates with different distances between the hotels and different sizes of screws. The test measured the time it took the application to assemble parts with different distances between the holes and the actual tightening torque it entailed. The results from the tests indicated that optimal tightening torque was achieved for all tests and that the execution of the application has no influence on the mechanical performance. The time difference for the various distances between the holes was almost negligible, and indicated rapid changes between the holes. The time difference between the different screw dimensions proves a slight increase in time for the larger dimensions. The risk assessment was conducted on the application by FMEA to account for all potential hazards based on events in the application’s area of use. The FMEA also provides the proposed actions to prevent the risks.