On the basis of extensive practical experience in the development of agent-based systems for manufacturing execution and agent-based systems in general, a reference model for holonic execution known as HERA (Holonic Execution Reference Architecture) is developed. The model is characterised by a focus on holarchy - Koestler's Janus Effect (Koestler, 1967) is explicitly captured. However, the Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMS) Consortium's view of a holon having an information processing part and a physical part (Brennan and Norrie, 2003) is also present. We refer to these parts as the behaviour and the embodiment respectively.

The cutting tool industry has evolved over the last half century to the point where an increasing range and complexity of cutting tools are available for metal machining. This highlighted a need to provide an intelligent, user-friendly system of tool selection and recommendation that can also provide predictive economic performance data for engineers and end-users alike. Such an 'expert system' was developed for a local manufacturer of cutting tools in the form of a relational database to be accessed over the Internet. A number of performance predictive models were reviewed for various machining processes, however they did not encompass the wide range of variables encountered in metal machining, thus adaptation of these existing models for an expert system was reasoned to be economically prohibitive at this time. Interrogation of published expert systems from cutting tool manufacturers, showed the knowledge-engineered principle to be a common approach to transferring economic and technological information to an end-user. The key advantage being the flexibility to allow further improvements as new knowledge is gained. As such, a relational database was built upon the knowledge-engineered principle, based on skilled craft oriented knowledge to establish an expert system for selection and performance assessment of cutting tools. An investigation into tapping of austenitic stainless steels was undertaken to develop part of a larger expert system. The expert system was then interrogated in this specific area in order to challenge by experiment, the skilled craft oriented knowledge in this area. The experimental results were incorporated into the database where appropriate, providing a user-friendly working expert system for intelligent cutting tool selection, recommendation and performance data.

Transfer of information between CAD models and downstream manufacturing process planning software typically involves redundant user interaction. Many existing tools are process-centric and unsuited for selection of a "best process" in the context of existing concurrent engineering design tools. A computer based Feature-Recognition (FR) process is developed to extract critical manufacturing features from engineering product CAD models. FR technology is used for automating the extraction of data from CAD product models and uses wire-frame geometry extracted from an IGES neutral file format. Existing hint-based feature recognition techniques have been extended to encompass a broader range of manufacturing domains than typical in the literature, by utilizing a combination of algorithms, each successful at a limited range of features. Use of wire-frame models simplifies product geometry and has the potential to support rapid manufacturing shape evaluation at the conceptual design stage. Native CAD files are converted to IGES neutral files to provide geometry data marshalling to remove variations in user modelling practice, and to provide a consistent starting point for FR operations. Wire-frame models are investigated to reduce computer resources compared to surface and solid models, and provide a means to recover intellectual property in terms of manufacturing design intent from legacy and contemporary product models. Geometric ambiguity in regard to what is ?solid? and what is not has plagued wire-frame FR development in the past. A new application of crossing number theory (CNT) has been developed to solve the wire-frame ambiguity problem for a range of test parts. The CNT approach works satisfactorily for products where all faces of the product can be recovered and is tested using a variety of mechanical engineering parts. Platform independent tools like Extensible Mark-up Language are used to capture data from the FR application and provide a means to separate FR and decision support applications. Separate applications are composed of reusable software modules that may be combined as required. Combining rule-based and case-based reasoning provides decision support to the manufacturing application as a means of rejecting unsuitable processes on functional and economic grounds while retaining verifiable decision pathways to satisfy industry regulators.

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

People are unique and display a variety of preferences with regard to the products that are / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.

The concept of mass producing custom products, though extremely beneficial to the commercial, and retail industries, does come with some limitations. One of these is the occurrence of bottlenecks in the materials handling systems associated with reconfigurable manufacturing systems tasked with achieving the goal of mass customisation manufacturing. This specific problem requires the development of an intervention system for rerouting parts and materials waiting in line, around bottlenecks and/or work flow disruptions, to alternative destinations. Mobile robots can be used for the resolution of bottlenecks, and similar disruptions in work flow, in these situations. Embedding autonomy into mobile robots in a manufacturing environment, releases the higher level production management systems from routing of parts and materials. The principle of the inverted pendulum has recently become popular in mobile robotics applications, and is being implemented in research projects around the world. The use of this principle produces a two-wheeled mobile robot that is able to actively stabilise itself while in operation. The dissertation is focused on the research, design, assembly, testing and validation of a two-wheeled autonomous materials handling robot for application in reconfigurable manufacturing systems. This robot should be dynamically or statically stable during different phases of operation. The mechatronic engineering approach of system integration has been used in this project in order to produce a more reliable robotic system. The application of the inverted pendulum principle requires that a suitable control strategy be formulated. It also necessetates the ues of sensors to track the state of the robot. Control engineering theory was used to develop an optimal control strategy that is robust enough to cope with varying payload characteristics. The Kalman filter is employed as state estimation measure to improve sensor data. For a mobile robot to be deemed autonomous, one of the requirements is that the robot should be able to navigate through its environment without colliding with obstacles in its path, and without human intervention. A navigation system has been designed, through field specific research, to enable this. The robot is also required to communicate with remote computers housing production management systems as well as with mobile robots that form part of the same materials handling system. Performance analysis and testing proves the feasibility of a mobile robot system. / Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.