Thesis (M. S.)--Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Fathianathan, Mervyn; Committee Member: Melkote, Shreyes; Committee Member: Paredis, Chris

Manufacturing companies today face increasingly uncertain and volatile market demands. Product designs and the required quantities change rapidly to meet the needs of customers. To maintain competitiveness in this uncertain environment, manufacturing companies need to possess agility to dynamically and effectively adapt to the changing environment. Agility at the machine level can be thought of as the ability to reconfigure manufacturing machines in response to changing needs and opportunities. This thesis is concerned with a design method for machine level agility for reconfigurable manufacturing machines. This thesis is divided into two portions: a design approach for reconfigurable manufacturing machines and the embodiment of this approach in a computational synthesis example. In developing this design method, various approaches and reconfigurable systems are presented to develop an overview of the applications and current related research to reconfigurable manufacturing machines. From this related research, a research gap is identified pertaining to the identification of the evolving architecture of reconfigurable manufacturing machines. The key contribution is the design approach based on co-evolution. This design approach involves the implementation of agent based co-evolutionary algorithms. In this implementation, each agent synthesizes the configuration of a machine for a product in the range of products it is to manufacture and co-evolves with other agents which are synthesizing machines for other products to reduce the reconfiguration cost. Finally, an in-depth case study of the design approach is presented in which the approach is tested relative to various product changes; thus, showing the advantages of employing an evolving reconfigurable machine architecture. These product changes include batch size variations, geometry changes, and material changes. Hence, the core objective is to identify the necessary reconfigurable manufacturing machine architecture for the range of configurations required for machining various products.

Liu Yan-Wah. / Summary in Chinese. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong. / Bibliography: leaves 82-84.

Orientador: Pedro Ramos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Economia / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-15T19:54:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Piacente_FabricioJose_D.pdf: 6077591 bytes, checksum: 09ead5e9e1f104dcc344b0b17226c68e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: O projeto aqui apresentado tem por tema a análise da evolução dos dois sistemas de extração de sacarose de cana-de-açúcar que têm sido utilizados na produção de açúcar e álcool no Brasil: o sistema de moendas e o de difusão. O primeiro é um sistema de separação física e de ampla utilização no mundo e no Brasil desde o período colonial. O sistema de difusão é um processo químico, desenvolvido no século XIX para extrair açúcar da beterraba e que foi adaptado e desde então vendo sendo empregado também no processamento da cana, em outros centros açucareiros do mundo. O objetivo desta tese é identificar e discutir as trajetórias desses dois sistemas, tendo como foco seus desenvolvimentos pela indústria ofertante de equipamentos para a fabricação de derivados da cana. Buscar compreender quais foram os fatores que levaram à utilização quase que exclusiva do sistema de moenda no Brasil até meados de 1980 e por que depois desse período, o sistema de extração por difusão vem sendo adotado por algumas firmas. / Abstract: Not informed / Doutorado / Desenvolvimento Economico, Espaço e Meio Ambiente / Doutor em Desenvolvimento Economico

本研究針對台灣工具機產業廠商，探索其研發專案知識管理對新產品開發績效的影響，及其技術知識特質對知識管理的關聯性。本論文以深入個案訪談法為主要的研究方法，訪談國內具代表地位的二家工具機業大廠之設計及開發部門，並自其中各選擇二個研發專案作為研究對象。 　　本研究歸納分析所得到的研究發現如下： 　　【研究發現一】研發專案知識吸收來源愈多、範圍愈廣、組織學習活動愈多，其新產品開發績效愈高。 　　【研究發現二】研發專案知識創造技術突破愈多、創新價值愈高，其新產品開發績效愈高。 　　【研究發現三】研發專案知識蓄積文件化程度愈高、蓄積活動愈多、累積專案核心能耐愈多，其新產品開發績效愈高。 　　【研究發現四】研發專案知識擴散方式愈多、擴散活動愈多，其新產品開發績效愈高。 　　【研究發現五】技術知識變動程度對研發專案的知識管理有明顯的影響。 　　【研究發現六】技術知識外顯程度對研發專案的知識管理有明顯的影響。 　　【研究發現七】技術知識路徑相依度對研發專案知識管理的影響，似乎不是很明顯。 　　【研究發現八】技術知識模組化程度對研發專案知識管理的影響，似乎不是很明顯。 　　【研究發現九】技術知識複雜化程度對研發專案的知識管理有明顯的影響。 　　因此，本研究建議企業為了提升新產品開發的成效，的確需要強化知識管理，同時其研發部門應設計符合技術知識特質及利於推動知識管理的組織型態與作為。平時應作好內部技術傳承及外部技術來源佈置工作，並在新產品開發不同階段妥善配置適合的資源與人力。 / This research is focused on Taiwan's CNC machine industries for exploring the impacts of knowledge management on the performance of new product development. The influence of the characteristics of technological knowledge on knowledge management is also studied. The research was conducted mainly based on deep case studied. The research subjects include four R&D projects two which are selected from two companies of CNC machine industry. 　　The preliminary conclusions are as follows: 　　1. The more the R&D project knowledge is absorbed from different sources, wide ranges,and multiple organizational learning activities, the better the performance of new product development would be. 　　2. The more the R&D project knowledge creates the technological breakthrough and thenewly added value, the better the performance of new product development would be. 　　3. The more the R&D project knowledge is accumulated with the documentation, the amass of activities, and the core resourcefulness, the better the performance of new product development would be. 　　4. The more the R&D project knowledge is diffused in different patterns and activities, the better the performance of new product development would be. 　　5. There exists a direct relationship between the knowledge management of R&D project and the degree of change of technological knowledge. 　　6. There exists a direct relationship between the knowledge management of R&D project and the degree of explicitness of technological knowledge. 　　7. There doesn't exist a direct relationship between the knowledge management of R&D project and the degree of path dependence of technological knowledge path. 　　8. There doesn't exist a direct relationship between the knowledge management of R&D project and the degree of modualization of technological knowledge. 　　9. There exists a direct relationship between the knowledge management of R&D projects and the degree of complexity of technological knowledge. 　　As a result, it is suggested that the R & D departments of the companies possessed with different characteristics of technological knowledge should design the organizational form and activities that are conformed to the characteristics of technological knowledge for facilitating the practices of knowledge management. 　　The internal technology inheritance and the external technology resource deployment have to be executed ordinarily; and the appropriate resources as well as human powershall be properly allocated in accordance with the different steps of new product development with a view to intensifying the satisfactory result.