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According to telecom giant CISCO (2013), the Internet of Everything (IoE) is ‘bringing together people, processes, data, and things to make networked connections more relevant and valuable than eve...

Staplers are tools that commonly use staples to perforate and join sheets of paper or fabric. The staple, first, punches the paper or fabric and then folds in contact with a solid surface of an anvil. This work aims to develop an optimized rigid anvil to reduce the maximum force required during staple folding for stapling between 2 and 25 sheets of paper. A commercial stapler is used as a case study. Force curves for stapling 0 to 25 sheets of paper in intervals of 5 sheets were measured for this stapler and the maximum forces are always found to occur during the folding of the staple legs. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) models were developed and fitted to real results to be used in an optimization job of the anvil groove profile. An asymmetric anvil is proposed capable of stapling between 2 and 25 sheets of paper in good conditions and indicates that an asymmetric anvil has potential to reduce maximum forces during folding. Results show a reduction of 32% on maximum force for stapling 25 sheets when compared with the commercial stapler anvil and maximum forces are only 8% higher than the maximum forces for paper punching. For fewer sheets the reduction in maximum force lessens and stapling 2 sheets of paper with the proposed anvil results in an increase of 23% in maximum force. However, the maximum forces are still less the less sheets are stapler, therefore, the proposed anvil reduces the overall maximum forces required for the entire system.

As technology evolves, the contemporary technological paradigm of manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) has been changing and gaining traction to accommodate its ever-growing needs for adaptation to modern industrial processes and standards. Their willingness to integrate Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) modules in their manufacturing processes and to implement Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) is firmly based on the perception that value added services result from the technological evolution and, in the future, better tools are expected to guarantee process control, surveillance and maintenance. These Intelligent Systems involve transdisciplinary approaches to guarantee interaction and behavioural fluidity between hardware and software components which often leads to complexity in the coordination of these components and processes. The main objective of this work is to study these aspects and to contribute with data regarding the applicability of CPS components in the current SME’s environment with the intent of improving the performance of manufacturing processes. To accomplish this, an architecture is proposed, which is based in the process modelling and process simulation of the different stages of an existing SME factory production, allowing real-time information, through IoT data collection, to feed different mechanisms of production improvement modules such as planning, scheduling and monitoring. Since SME’s are the most active and common company profile in the northern part of Portugal, it seemed beneficial to take part in this environment, by implementing the solution in a promising cutlery producing SME, with the objective of investigate and validate the applicability of the BEinCPPS components, within the proposed architecture, to improve the performance of the company industrial processes.

Vehicle models and dynamic system simulations are used to predict the behavior and dynamics of vehicles. In this paper two vehicle models of a tugger-trolleys system with three linked towed trolleys are compared. One model is a complete multibody model of the system. The second is a simplified version composed by a vertical and handling models for motion in a plane, assuming no planar forces on the trolleys' front wheels and linking the vehicles with multibody joints and body, representing the coupling arms. The second model was developed in Modelica language and a description of the model is presented. These models will be used to estimate the relative paths between the vehicles and the maximum admissible velocities of the system when taking a curve without rollover or sliding. Results show good agreement between the models. The second model was shown to be much faster and provide more stable results.

In this study the crashworthy performance of an ultimate safety toe cap model made of high-strength steel was evaluated. The structural response to impact loading conditions under normative requirements was properly related to the potential of light weight design for a significant thickness reduction. Two grades of fully martensitic steels were selected and numerical models modelling extensive plastic deformation and strain-rate dependence were performed. The mathematical description of the impact behaviour with the correlation of crashworthy properties was analysed and compared by applying two fundamental constitutive models: The Cowper-Symonds and Johnson-Cook constitutive equations. Experimental results of tensile testing at different strain rates and different directions of the sheet material were used to determine fundamental constitutive parameters for both steel alloys. The numerical simulation developed using an explicit dynamics software (ANSYS) was extensively compared to an experimental standard testing program of final prototypes. A local stiffening toe cap model with high energy absorption efficiency was also validated., The support from the Project S3 - Safety Slim Shoe, FCOMP-01-0202-FEDER-018458 with ICC-Lavoro is acknowledged. The authors would like to thank SSAB for supplying the steel sheets and for technical support during the prototype forming process., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The increasingly fast demand of new technologies, generated by constant market changes, requires extreme solutions to keep providing answers to industry needs. A new business paradigm, where each enterprise is aware of the need to be sustainable, arises and collaboration has emerged as a possible solution to maximize the usage of resources, to improve production capacity and to increase enterprise sustainability. To fulfill industrial needs in the era of Industry 4.0, it is necessary to focus on the global value chain as a whole, giving companies the tools they need to manage all its processes. However, the development of new systems is much more complex than ever before, as multiple systems require multidisciplinary knowledge to be successfully connected, being communication the key to success. Sustainability arises as a result of the awareness of companies to reduce both their green footage and costs, and also as a result of customers’ requirements and governmental legislation. This work focus on the results achieved from the vertical collaboration strategy promoted by C2NET Project.

This paper describes the design of an exact straight line motion mechanism, commonly known as a Scott-Russell mechanism (SRM), for industrial application. It is applied in an internal materials movement system using autonomous guided vehicles (AGVs) for supporting logistics processes along the supply chain, aiming to replace the current manual operations. The proposed mechanism, analyzed regarding its kinetic and kinematic aspects using SolidWorks Motion, allows the system to discard electric current during motion and to be actuated when docked in the reception station using a linear solenoid. Additionally, the proposed mechanism can be attached below each trolley level’s base, occupying minimal space and avoiding interference with larger Returnable Packages handling motions. Furthermore, it can be used in similar applications where a small-occupied volume mechanism is necessary and primarily, where a straight-line motion is required using a passive actuator to perform one of the motions. The mechanical and electrical application requirements are identified along with the modelling phases of the mechanism. The electrical diagram is defined and a compression spring and a linear solenoid were selected using kinematic and kinetic simulation with CAD/CAE software Solidworks.

In the nowadays-global market, it is necessary to consider the new paradigm of industry 4.0 that presents a lot of features in the development completive solution. Several approaches are being used to considering the problem. In this paper a modular approach for developing a handling system to use in the shop floor production line to move raw materials using autonomous vehicles is presented is present. In addition, the final solution for the module to transfer returnable packages is discussed.

In the design process of a manual or electrically actuated punch and bind machine, the required force to punch a stack of paper sheets is a crucial parameter that affects ergonomics, product design, power requirements, and ultimately product cost. The required punch force profile considered two punch pin geometries, introducing some innovative aspects. Measurements were performed using a tensile/compression machine and the punching force profile of the 21 punching pins arrangement during punching cycle was extracted for both geometries. Results show a smoother force profile for the double shear angle punching pin arrangement as opposed to the concave pin geometry pin arrangement with a lower peak punching force value.

Throughout this paper, analysis and development of a coupling system for industrial vehicles can be found. In an introduction to the topic, it was analyzed objectives and advantages of the development of the system. Some previously published studies with similar content or conclusions necessary to the understanding of the system under study are also presented. In order to develop a system more precise than the currently used, the common systems are study in this paper, focusing on 4 wheeled trailers, varying the coupling system rotation center, it can be in the front vehicle or in the rear vehicle. In the commonly used systems the trailers tend to get to close from the rotation center, this means that both trailer have lower trajectory lines, having not ideal precision. Having studied the systems used in shop floor nowadays, a new coupling system is developed with the aim of increasing trailers' trajectory precision. Are study two different systems. The first one is to control the trailers steering mechanism, in order to position the trailer in the better position, and the other system is simply altering the coupling system length and rotation centers. By analyzing the results the system solution with the rotation of the rear axle of each trailer guarantees better precision, where the trailers perform a trajectory precision of 100%. But the solution that better fits the industrial reality is the solution with the alteration of the length and the rotation center of the coupling system. This solution allows less precision but its better in price, cost and implementation effort.

In order to maintain its competitiveness, the company object of this study identified the need for automation in the process for technological innovation. In this way, the present work sought to investigate the manual process of manufacturing meter caps of a Brazilian company in the service sector of electric energy meters and, for this purpose, analyzed the process for technological innovation, as well as its execution in the practice. The problem found in the company is the fact of the necessity of several workers to fulfil the production time, of the human being does not present constancy of production, possibility of repetitive effort injuries, among others. After due study of the process and analysis of the problem, a proposal was raised for the automation of the process. These changes imply the flexibility of the lines of production and changes in processes, which is the cause of many obstacles to productivity performance. It is the use of the Methods-Time Measurement process, a work measurement method that uses previously established times for the execution of totally Influenced by the human element, in an improvement project in a production line in the cap sector of the company's electric energy meters, seeking to eliminate losses that cause low productivity, which is compromising the fulfilment of the production plan and customer satisfaction. In the second part we will have an approach to the balance or production scheduling, its complexity and indicators to use. Continuous line implementation can bring significant benefits such as reduction of stops for adjustments 22 to 6 minutes, reduction in defects level by approximately 85%. These improvements also allowed a reduction in the number of operators from 3 shifts to 1 in a commercial shift., This work is supported by the Manaus Institute of Technology-MIT, through the Suframa program for Business/Government and Dowertech of Amazonia where the case study was carried out in the framework of the master's dissertation project by the University of Minho. Additionally, this work has been supported by COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043 and FCT - The Foundation for Science and Technology within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.

Industrial collaborative networks are characterised by heterogeneous business processes and data structures. Enterprises joining these networks face difficulties when they have to manage and orchestrate information within the network, namely due to the lack of interoperability between the systems and software applications operating between them. The furniture industry is the largest manufacturing sector in the world, involving mostly small and medium enterprises SMEs. The development of collaborative networked environments in this industrial sector has been identified of major importance, looking forward to enabling enterprises to extend the potential of their own business capabilities. Indeed, to keep its competitiveness, industry needs to accomplish rapidly the requirements in the digital global marketplace, and push promptly SME-based enterprises to adopt seamless electronic business services in networked environments, using modern ICT and standards among all agents involved in the furniture product life cycle. The funStep case study presented in this article developed a framework to accelerate the integration of enterprises in collaborative working environments, solving information interoperability problems in the furniture supply chain. The funStep framework enables gradual and sustained system interoperability, allowing incremental implementations using conformance options and classes. The funStep created an ISO standard which defines a formal structure for catalogue and product data under industrial domains of the furniture sector. Then, the ICT combined with the use of open-standards, and enriched by semantics representation, resulted in a suitable tool to improve enterprise competitiveness via a wider adoption of STEP Application Protocols in collaborative environments. Model Driven Architecture technology is used to enable automation of Model Morphisms, and therefore, translation at the information model and data levels. A reference ontology integrated in the standard product data model, permits an intelligent management at semantic level, providing enhanced capabilities for interoperability. The results of the case study presented stimulate enterprises on the adoption of technologies and practices to reach the future vision of furniture manufacturing business based on collaborative networked environments. It prepares industry and researchers to advance on the state of the art, and to establish solid proposals for the industry in general. The funStep case study has been validated by the industry, supported by European/International industrial research projects.

This paper focuses on the study and optimization of binding machine's paper punching system, especially on the required actuating torque. The mechanical properties of paper, which are required to perform numerical simulation, are revised from current bibliography. Various hole types, required for the different binding systems are analyzed as well as the puncher's geometry. The actuating mechanisms responsible for the punching movement from several binding machines are presented. Torque measurements were performed to demonstrate the potential improvements from a new puncher configuration and/or actuating mechanism., The support from ACCO Brands Portuguesa, Lda is acknowledge. The authors would like to thank the Materials Testing Laboratory for the required testing., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The main goal of this work is to present numerical results on the behavior of aluminum metal foams in impact scenarios. One type of metal foam with uniform-size cell structures with spherical voids is taken into account in this work. The uniform-size cell configurations are closely compact and present only one type of voids (large voids). Metal foams with different spherical voids dimensions were analyzed in order to investigate their influence on the mechanical properties of these structures using explicit finite element method (FEM). Results for force-deformation curves, specific stiffness and yield strength were obtained and discussed.

Nowadays, manufacturing environment is populated with computational information files and records with implicit knowledge, which integration has becoming a major problem to seamless computational integration. Moreover, most of these systems are heterogeneous, thus problems of interoperability are frequent and any collaborative environment becomes easily compromised. Ontologies constitute the set of concepts, axioms, and relationships that describes a domain of interest, contributing to harmonize the information flow within computational systems. The distributed and heterogeneous nature of the organizations, in particular networked enterprises, led to the development of different ontologies for the same or overlapping areas, resulting in non-interoperability. This has become the basis for research methodologies to support a reference ontology, contributing to the standardization and development of ontologies within enterprises and virtual network, providing interoperability properties to intelligent systems. This paper exposes how the MENTOR methodology assisted the development and use of a reference ontology in the field of metrology, contributing to manufacturing teams collaboration and systems’ integration. The aim is to maintain the different ontologies of each partner, providing networked enterprises with coherent interaction and unambiguous communication. The case study in the field of metrology demonstrates the proposed methodology benefits introduced at collaborative manufacturing level.

This paper reports on the optimization of coating properties to improve the performance of tools in severe cutting conditions. Tungsten carbide tools coated with (Ti,Si,Al)N films deposited by d.c. reactive magnetron sputtering have been investigated. The structure and the hardness of the coated samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and depth-sensing indentation, respectively. XRD results revealed a structure indexed to fcc TiN. The tool life and tool failure modes were examined for various cutting conditions. A promising wear performance of the (Ti,Si,Al)N coatings was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy observations complemented with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry analysis. At higher cutting speed (200 m/min) it seems that after turning 15 min the cutting performance of (Ti,Si,Al)N coated tools is better than that presented by the commercial multilayer coating (TiCN/Al2O3/TiN)--which was used as a reference. Also regarding the final surface finish of the steel workpiece, the (Ti,Si,Al)N coatings outperformed the commercial tool, considering that the roughness of the workpiece is smaller in the former case (4 [mu]m) than that measured in the latter one (12 [mu]m). http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6TVV-49V3H7B-4/1/28c69bcfe4f43922bf790edd2cc26885

For manufacturing companies, quality management is a key feature for increasing the competitiveness, productivity, profitability, and sustainability of their systems. Quality improvement (QI) methods aim to achieve high-quality parts without reducing performance. The Industry 4.0 framework brought technological developments that cannot be used by traditional QI methods, such as Six Sigma, Lean, Lean Six, the Theory of Constraints, and Total Quality Management, which are widely used in manufacturing companies. The need for higher manufacturing sustainability and market requirements has led to the search for alternative QI methods with superior performance to traditional QI methods such as Zero-Defect Manufacturing (ZDM). The current paper is a position paper with a goal to present the ZDM approach and providing a clear definition about ZDM to align everyone in one common understanding of ZDM. Many researchers and manufactures are skeptical about ZDM, therefore, numerous argumentative questions have been created and answered, to convince them why they should migrate from traditional QI methods to ZDM. The migration to ZDM has already started, to support this statement numerous facts from the literature have been presented. Finally, several directions were identified, demonstrating that there is still plenty of room for research in several domains.

Metalworking Industry as a traditional industry is suffering lots of changes in the last decades, but the changes suffered in the last one had forced it to modernize itself to guarantee the adequate response to market's needs. Costumers requirements on customized products of high quality and reduced lead-time, together with environmental awareness are driving the increasingly use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) systems, IoT devices. This led to changes in the entire value chain, and the need to have ICT tools that allow the integration of all the information of the company. Cloud Collaborative Manufacturing Networks (C2NET) propose a cloud solution to enable collaboration between Metalworking SMEs. This paper presents C2NETproject solution to help Metalworking SMEs to improve their business and be competitive in a fast changing market.