Search

This paper presents a review of recent advances in modeling and simulation of conventional metal machining processes, which continue to dominate a significant part of all machining processes, and in recent years, the need for predictive models for machining processes has grown in importance in the digital manufacturing age. Significant advances have been made in modeling the mechanics of cutting in conventional machining, driven by industrial need and enabled by rapid advances in computational power. The paper surveys the state-of-the-art in analytical and numerical modeling of conventional metal machining processes with a focus on their ability to predict useful performance attributes including chip geometry, forces, temperatures, tool wear, residual stress, and microstructure. Also included in the review is a discussion of the industrial use of modeling and simulation tools for conventional machining. Additionally, the practical applicability, implementation benefits, and methodological limitations of conventional machining process modeling have been examined. The paper concludes with a summary of future research directions in modeling and simulation of conventional metal machining processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An approach based on the characterisation of individual operations by water demands and sources has been utilised to study an operating integrated pulp and paper mill. The search for novel whitewater network configurations as a function of specified process constraints and objective functions was done by means of a genetic algorithm coupled with linear programming. Potential solutions are derived from an initial superstructure representation which embodies all possible source and demand connections by an evolutive process akin to natural selection and adaptation. Various objective functions were investigated. Innovative strategies have been identified and are being considered for implementation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on the CAMX 2024 conference in San Diego, highlighting the diverse range of activities and presentations available. Topics include the CAMX schedule featuring technical talks and networking opportunities, the issue of SAMPE Journal with articles on extreme materials and innovative research, and the transition of SAMPE Journal to a web-based editorial process for greater efficiency.

Copyright of China Pulp & Paper is the property of China Pulp & Paper Magazines Publisher and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper describes a decision support system for paper production scheduling. This is the first system to provide an integrated solution to paper production scheduling and to consider interactions between different stages of the manufacturing and distribution process. Using a multicriteria optimization approach, the system generates multiple enterprisewide schedules to reveal tradeoffs between the multiple, often competing, objectives. The large portfolio of algorithms used by the system is embedded in an agent-based decision support framework, called Asynchronous Team (A-Team). Successful implementations of the system in several paper mills in North America have resulted in significant savings and improved customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common problem encountered in paper-production facilities is that of allocating customer orders to machines so as to minimize the total cost of production. It can be formulated as a dual-angular integer program, with identical machines inducing symmetry. While the potential advantages of decomposing large mathematical programs into smaller subproblems have long been recognized, the solution of decomposable integer programs remains extremely difficult. Symmetry intensifies the difficulty. This paper develops an approach, based on the construction of tight subproblem bounds, to solve decomposable dual-angular integer programs and successfully applies it to solve the problem from the paper industry. This method is of particular interest as it significantly reduces the impact of symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The characteristics of paper surface play a central role in the overall quality of paper produced in modern paper machines. Among the surface features, paper formation, i.e., the level of homogeneity in the distribution of fibres on the surface of paper, is a key quality parameter, being currently monitored off-line, at low sampling rates relatively to the high production speeds achieved with modern paper machines. Therefore, in this paper, we address the problem of assessing the quality of paper formation, on-line, in situ, in an autonomous, efficient, objective and fast way, using features derived from images collected by a specially designed sensor, coupled with proper classification methodologies. The results obtained clearly demonstrate the potential of the proposed assessment approach either for the more complex three-class classification problem as well as for less demanding, but still important in practice, two-class “Accept”/“Reject” or “Pass”/“Fail” problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a review of the development and use of multi-agent modelling techniques and simulations in the context of manufacturing systems and supply chain management (SCM). The objective of the paper is twofold. First, it presents a comprehensive literature review of current multi-agent systems (MAS) research applications in the field of manufacturing systems and SCM. Second, it aims to identify and evaluate some key issues involved in using MAS methods to model and simulate manufacturing systems. A variety of different MAS applications are reviewed in three different classified research areas: production design and development, production planning and control, and SCM. In presenting a detailed taxonomy of MAS applications, the paper describes MAS application domains from five different perspectives. The review suggests the MAS approach represents a feasible framework for designing and analysing real-time manufacturing operations, since the approach is capable of modelling different levels of agent behaviour and dynamical interactions. The paper also highlights a number of key issues which have to be taken into account in attempting to design MAS-based research paradigms for future applications in manufacturing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present evolution of production systems and markets is forcing producers, distributors and vendors to integrate their operations into large-scale networks of different services for managing materials and products, information and capitals, i.e. into a 'supply chain.' 'Integration' seems to be the new paradigm in organizing business lines, and 'supply chain management' seems to be the related organization approach that can help in managing interactions among concurrent firms as well as markets. However, supply chains are really complex systems, and their management is a really complex task in which the cooperation of several intelligent agents together and their finalization to common industrial goals need methods and procedures that are still either to be developed or, at the least, to be widely validated. The actual goal for an effective supply chain management is to obtain a good integration of all intelligent agents, such as to make each local strategy as cooperative as possible. This paper will analyse the basic concepts of supply chain management, with the aim of presenting a set of design criteria that could drive a designer in organizing more efficient management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops additional advanced operations for transforming maximal planar graphs using the characteristics of both advanced moves due to Pesch et al. and-operation due to Al-Hakim. It shows that the new operations overcome some deficiencies of both the advanced moves and the-operations. The note urges researchers to develop more advanced operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to understand how the knowledge field of production engineering interacts with the field of public affairs, which is related to government, public bodies and public policies for many sectors. It is structured under bibliometric analysis and reveals a panorama of 188 papers from 2000 to 2012 that presents where and how these relationships between production engineering and the public affairs occur. This study presents five different analysis to understand these possibilities: papers by year, papers by production engineering areas, papers by author, papers by journal and papers by public functions. Main findings of this research show that the leading areas where these interfaces occur in academic research are environment, sustainability, industry and organizations. Another relevant result is that the intersection of production engineering and the public sector has not been figured year as a core research topic to any individual researcher or to a group of researchers around the world. The main contribution of this paper to the academic community is the pioneering on presenting a view on the size and on the main characteristics of this interface through bibliometric analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new evaluation of the half-life of 241Pu has been made by combining previous results from earlier methods and techniques with further measurements of the isotopic ratio of an initially enriched 241Pu material. A correction to the previous published value has had to be made. The half-life of 241Pu is an important parameter for the measurement and control of amounts of plutonium as the decay of this isotope is usually the largest contributor to the uncertainty of estimations of the amount of total plutonium after storage. The value of the half-life together with its associated uncertainty needs to be known with a high degree of confidence. However, the half-life value of ca.14.3 a (years) means the decay of the isotope is difficult to measure over one or more half-lives using a single method or instrument. The method employed in this evaluation is designed to conform to the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurements (GUM) (International Organisation for Standardisation, Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement, ©ISO, ISBN 92-67-10188-9, Geneva, Switzerland, 1993)1and care was taken to ensure that all measured values over the 30 year measurement time-span have been included. The value recommended from this set of measurements is 14.325 a ± 0.024 a (k= 2). This agrees with the value from the first measurements of the same material in 1983 of 14.33 a ± 0.02 a (P. De Bièvre, P. Gallet and M. Wertz, Int. J. Mass Spectrom., Ion Phys., 51, 1983, 111).2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pressure on systems engineering is ever‐increasing to support the development and implementation of systems that meet a complex environment's demands. As a growing discipline, systems engineering requires insight into past research to identify opportunities for future growth. Analyzing the bibliometric data on published research provides valuable information on a scientific discipline's past progress and future prospects. Therefore, this paper extracts the research topics published in INCOSE's journal Systems Engineering and the annual international symposium proceedings to analyze their composition and allocation to papers. The implemented process applies natural language processing and topic modeling to extract the main topics from these papers' titles and abstracts. Analyzing these research topics' composition and mapping them to processed articles helps to understand their relative importance. The analysis's output confirms the importance of modeling in systems engineering, as it is the most popular topic. The additional focus of research papers on the systems engineering process, practice, and methodologies also indicates that the field is still growing and evolving. Some important topics to systems engineering, which were not found as prominent topics, are humans' roles in systems, verification and validation, and other specialty fields. This new knowledge about the structure of research into systems engineering can identify future research project opportunities to continue growing the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feasibility checking is a step in manufacturing system engineering for verifying the normalization and effectiveness of a manufacturing system associated with a specific configuration of resources and processes. It enables factory operators to predict problems before operational time, thus preventing equipment and machinery accidents and reducing labor waste in physically organizing the shop floor. In Industry 4.0, feasibility checking becomes even more critical since emerging challenges, such as mass personalization, require reconfiguring work cells quickly and flexibly on demand. Regarding this need, digital twin technologies have emerged as an ideal candidate for practicing feasibility checking. Indeed, they are tools used to implement digital representations of manufacturing entities that can constitute a digital environment and context. Factory operators can test a manufacturing process within a digital environment in different contexts before the execution with physical resources. This approach currently receives significant attention from the manufacturing community; however, there is still a lack of sharing experiences to implement it. Thus, this paper contributes a methodology to engineer a digital environment and context for a manufacturing work cell using AAS digital twins and physics-based 3D digital twins technologies. Technically, this methodology is a specific case of N-DTs, a general methodology for engineering heterogeneous digital twins. The product assembly line case study, also presented in this paper, is a successful experiment applying the above contributions. The two methodologies and the case study can be helpful references for both public and private sectors to deploy their feasibility-checking frameworks and deal with heterogeneous digital twins in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This viewpoint paper envisions the key competencies that employees should cultivate to thrive amidst the age of automation. Design/methodology/approach: This paper synthesises recent academic and contextual papers on the topic of workplace automation, alongside the author's practical knowledge as a Global Program Manager for Robotic Process Automation projects in an S&P 500 company. Findings: Four skill building blocks are created which will help employees stay relevant in the age of automation: process engineering, automation technology, self-leadership and humanistic. Originality/value: In this new era of automation, the skills of today will no longer be sufficient for employees to remain competitive in future. This paper contributes to literature by envisioning and presenting four skill blocks that could serve as a blueprint for human resources officers and executives to create the future learning plans and hiring strategies of their organisations, as they grow along the automation maturity curve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section calls for papers to be published in a Special Issue of the "International Journal of Production Research," which will focus on applications of data mining in design, manufacturing and logistics engineering.

The Regional Symposium on Chemical Engineering (RSCE) has always been one of the most awaited events amongst countries in the ASEAN region, particularly those specializing in the field of Chemical and Process Engineering. The symposium organized by the Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya under the auspices of member countries, was supported by industries, including the Malaysia Convention and Exhibition Bureau. [Extracted from the article]

Paper, film, and metallic webs have designed surfaces. Process engineers design these surfaces to ensure they will coat or print correctly. In some cases, such as tissue, the manufactured surface is designed to provide softness. After the web is formed, care must be taken to maintain the web surface for the intended use or for subsequent processing. Web surfaces can be damaged by contact pressure, which is due to multiple sources. Tissues can suffer decreased loft and softness as a result of excessive pressure. Winding webs into rolls creates pressure on each web layer that varies with radial location. Almost all high speed winders must employ a nip roller in contact with the outer surface of the winding roll to prevent air entrainment. The nip roller, which may or may not be covered with an elastomer, induces local dynamic pressures where it contacts the winding roll that travel at the surface velocity of the winding roll. After rolls are wound, they can witness additional surface contact pressure. Often rolls are stored on flat surfaces and the dead weight of the roll induces contact pressure. In other cases, the roll may be moved by a clamp truck that employs hydraulic pressure to clamp and lift the wound roll. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate a method by which the total pressure in a web due to winding and to contact can be determined. Wound rolls of newsprint and polyester will be subjected to compression tests to verify the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The applications and economics for micro‐LED based displays require micro‐LEDs with critical dimension (CD) below 20 microns, with continuous push towards sub 5 microns regime. In this work, the implications of such requirement on the manufacturing and massive parallel transfer ofmicro‐LEDs are discussed from a process engineering perspective. Any high volume manufacturing (HVM)‐compatible massive transfer process must ‐at least‐ tolerate ± 10% variability (3σ) in microLED CD and height. It is inevitable that the display industry will leverage the learnings and methodologies best known in the semiconductors industry for process control, defect and yield management for HVM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to analyse the fundamentals of alkaline chemimechanical pulping of hardwoods, the chemical state of the wood was related to both the swelling level of fibres and the papermaking properties of pulp.Wafers of poplar wood were alkali treated following a factorial experimental design for two variables: temperature and alkali concentration.Treated wafers were hot defibrated in a 300-mm disk mill at 15% consistency, and then refined in PFI mill at 20% consistency. Results show how fibre swelling gradually increases as alkaline action is increased. The significant improvement in tensile and tear strength of the pulp can, in great part, be ascribed to the development of fibre bonding capacity. A limited effect of ion content on cell wall swelling was found. Swelling correlates well with deacetylation level, and is a major factor in determining the tensile strength and scattering ability of the pulp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]