Transformable products (or transformers), those with two or more functional states, are increasingly utilized by our society. As the mobility and complexity of life increases, so must the adaptability of the products which we use. We need new design techniques to develop more adaptable devices, such as transformers. The purpose of this study is to propose a response to the question “When is it preferable to implement a design approach focused on developing transformable products over an approach focused on developing primary function, non transforming products?” Our response to this question comes in the form of a method. The method helps a designer or design team consider the benefits of developing a transformer at an early stage in the design process. Research includes a deductive and an inductive study which are used to identify transformation indicators or context properties and usage factors that identify when it is preferable to build a transformable device. Static function-state indicators are also presented. These are contrary to transformation indicators in that they identify contexts suitable for developing non-transforming devices. Our technique seeks to improve the outcome of a design project by encouraging the consideration of transformable solutions and aiding in the selection of an appropriate design process. This method for testing the presence of these indicators in exemplary design contexts is presented. One such application is the design of an autonomous bridge-health monitoring system. / text

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:52:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissRPOP.pdf: 1876402 bytes, checksum: 300c17ebe260a12d247647b5184b3700 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-02-22 / The main concern of this work is related with the development of an aggregate production planning model of a sugar and alcohol milling company. This mathematical model is based on the process selection model and the production lotsizing model, and aims to help the decision makers in the production planning and control process of determining the quantity of sugarcane crushed, the selection of sugarcane suppliers, the selection of sugarcane transport system suppliers, the selection of industrial process used in the sugar, alcohol and molasses production and the storage decisions related with this final products. The decisions are taken in a week bases and the planning horizon is the whole sugarcane harvesting season. To solve the mixed integer mathematical problem found in this modeling, we applied the GAMS modeling language and the CPLEX solver. A case study was developed in a sugar and alcohol milling company located in Rio Largo, state of Alagoas, Brazil. The results of this case study helped us to verify the applicability of the proposed model in the aggregate production planning of a milling company. Computational results are presented for some scenarios of one illustrative example and some scenarios in a real data application. / O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver um modelo de planejamento agregado da produção que seja capaz de apoiar parte das principais decisões envolvidas no planejamento e controle da produção de uma usina de açúcar e álcool. Este modelo se baseia nos modelos clássicos de seleção de processos e dimensionamento de lotes de produção para representar o sistema de produção de açúcar, álcool, melaço e subprodutos, desde as principais decisões da etapa agrícola até as decisões de estocagem do produto final, passando pelas decisões da fase de corte, carregamento e transporte e, principalmente, as decisões de moagem e escolha do processo produtivo. As decisões são tomadas em períodos semanais e o horizonte de planejamento é o período de safra. Para resolver o modelo de programação linear inteira mista resultante, utilizou-se a linguagem de modelagem GAMS e o solver CPLEX. Um estudo de caso foi realizado numa usina de açúcar e álcool localizada no município de Rio Largo, estado de Alagoas. Neste estudo de caso, foi possível verificar a adequação do modelo proposto quando aplicado às decisões envolvidas no planejamento agregado da produção de uma empresa deste tipo. Resultados computacionais são apresentados, resolvendo-se alguns cenários de um exemplo ilustrativo e outros cenários de uma aplicação com dados reais.

Denna avhandling syftar till att undersöka vilka miljöfaktorer som bör beaktas vid val av material och tillverkningsprocesser samt att utforma ett föreslaget ramverk för att underlätta val av material och tillverkningsprocesser. För att uppnå syftet formulerades två forskningsfrågor. En litteraturöversikt genomfördes för att ge en teoretisk grund för avhandlingen och underlätta möjligheten att besvara forskningsfrågorna. Dessutom genomfördes strukturerade litteraturstudier för att besvara forskningsfrågorna om vilka miljöfaktorer som bör beaktas och hur ett ramverk kan utvecklas för att välja material och tillverkningsprocesser baserat på miljöfaktorer. De valda områdena för dessa studier inkluderade val av tillverkningsprocess, materialval och hållbara utvecklingsmål. För att underlätta utformningen av ramverket genomfördes en fallstudie och intervjuer på ett lokalt belysningsföretag. Dessa insatser gjordes för att ge insikter i de praktiska överväganden som ingår i att implementera ett miljömedvetet ramverk för val av material och tillverkningsprocesser. Studien innefattade en jämförelse av två olika tillvägagångssätt, nämligen livscykelanalys och "Multi-Criteria Decision-Making", för att avgöra deras effektivitet i att uppnå forskningssyftet. Detta resulterade i inkluderingen av livscykelanalys i det föreslagna ramverket. Dessutom analyserades intervjuerna för att få användbara insikter som kunde bidra till ramverkets utveckling. Ett ramverk utformades med hjälp av analysen av intervjuerna och den identifierade litteraturen. De miljöfaktorer som beaktades i ramverket var "Impact Categories". Dessutom validerades ramverket i en fallstudie. Diskussionen och slutsatsen inkluderar metoderna, resultaten och analysen, ramverksdesignen, ramverkets bidrag till FN:s hållbarhetsmål, forskningsfrågorna och etiska aspekter som behövde beaktas i denna studie. Det dras slutsatsen att Impact Categories är rimliga att beakta som miljöfaktorer och att det föreslagna ramverket fungerar i en verklig fallstudie. / This thesis aims to investigate what environmental factors to consider when selecting materials and manufacturing processes and designing a proposed framework to aid the material and manufacturing process selection. To facilitate the accomplishment of the purpose, two research questions were formulated.  A literature review was conducted to provide a theoretical foundation for the thesis and facilitate the ability to address the research questions. Furthermore, to address the research questions concerning which environmental factors to consider and how a framework can be developed for selecting materials and manufacturing processes based on environmental factors, structured literature studies were conducted. The selected topics of these studies included manufacturing process selection, material selection, and sustainable development goals. To aid in the design of the framework, a Case Study and Interviews were conducted at a local luminaire company. These efforts were undertaken to provide insights into the practical considerations involved in implementing an environmentally conscious framework for material and manufacturing process selection.  The study involved a comparison of two distinct approaches, namely, Life Cycle Assessment and Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, to determine their efficiency in achieving the research purpose. This resulted in the inclusion of Life Cycle Assessment in the proposed framework. Additionally, the Interviews conducted were analyzed to gain useful insights that could inform the development of the framework.  A framework was designed, using the analysis of the Interviews and the identified literature. The environmental factors considered in the framework were the Impact Categories. Moreover, the framework was then validated in a Case Study.  The Discussion and Conclusion chapter include the Methods, Results & Analysis, Framework Design, Framework Contribution to Sustainable Development Goals, the Research Questions, and the Ethical Aspects needed to be considered in this study. It is concluded that Impact Categories are reasonable to consider as environmental factors and that the proposed framework works in a real-life case.