ANNUAL REPORT 2010 - Loughborough University

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14 ‘ Our Advanced Manufacturing Areas iNTELLigENT AUTOMATiON research will fundamentally change the way manufacturing machinery is designed, operated, supported, upgraded, re-used and retired ’ PRoF. MIkE JACkSoN AnnuAl RepoRt 2010 Intelligent operation and adaptability are seen as key features of advanced industrial automation solutions, which are essential to keep the UK economy competitive as the drive for manufacturing in low wage cost economies continues. < From left to Right: Prof. Mike Jackson; Dr Rob Harrison; Prof. Rob Parkin
Background Current automation systems fail to adequately support all required business objectives. While they generally offer sufficient operational performance, they are typically difficult and complex to service, reconfigure, integrate, and optimise, particularly in the face of rapid and often unforeseen business change. To date, high value manufacturing industries have applied limited automation because of the highly skilled nature of the finishing, inspection and assembly work inherent in manufacturing processes. These processes are difficult to automate because of minor variations in components that influence interaction between the processing equipment and the component being processed. In addition, parts are often made from expensive materials with many components/parts requiring careful handling (e.g. fan blades). These high value industries need an advanced type of automation that delivers the precision of computer controlled machinery with the adaptability of a human operator, a 24/7 capability, and 100% quality performance. This has to be delivered at a reasonable cost and operational speed. This then is the challenge. The group The IMCRC has a number of leading academic researchers focused on this area of research. These include: Dr Rob Harrison; Prof. Rob Parkin; Prof. Mike Jackson; Prof. Steve Rothburg; Dr Andy West; and Dr Bob Young. Integral to the work of the group is the close collaboration that exists with industry. Research collaborators include: ABB; AEC; AIRBUS; Bosch Rexroth Limited; COMAU; Ford Motor Company; GE Aviation; Invotec Circuits Tamworth Ltd; Jaguar Land Rover; Rolls-Royce; Schneider Electric GmbH; Siemens Automation; Siemens PLM; SODA; Surface Technology International (STI) Ltd; ThyssenKrupp Krause GmbH; UGS; Emergent Systems; and UK Sport. Impact New engineering tools have been demonstrated to the engineering teams at Ford Motor Company in their Virtual-Build Events, where the stages of engine build are evaluated digitally prior to construction of the actual production system. The potential value of the proposed approach, if widely adopted, has been estimated by Ford to be in excess of £20 million per engine programme. If successfully trialled and adopted, the system could be utilised by more than 20 companies in the current automation supply chain. The approach adopted within the Business Driven Automation Project is highly generic and is therefore applicable to virtually all automation sectors. New sectors to exploit these tools are currently being evaluated. The ‘Intelligent User Centric Components for Harsh Distributed Environments’ project has produced a step-change in athletic performance monitoring capability in harsh environments. This includes the development of communication protocols to support the collection and transmission of performance analysis. These systems are being tested in collaboration with British Swimming, providing data from swimmers whilst in motion including starting, diving and underwater turning techniques. The usability and value of the information collected in this underwater environment have opened up the potential for new performance monitoring across this and other new business sectors. Future Research Directions Future automation research will address tasks and processes that include a high level of variability in the workplace and/ or processes that require a degree of adaptability. Currently such tasks are typically undertaken by skilled human operatives. However, human operatives often introduce variation in production quality and component processing times leading to overly cautious operations, excessive re-work and many stages of checking to maintain the required high levels of quality. Intelligent Automation will enable such tasks to be undertaken more consistently with greater traceability. One area of application is the high-value manufacturing aerospace sector, where manual processing of complex components is still widely applied. The sector is under pressure to reduce costs and increase volume whilst maintaining a high level of quality. Intelligent Automation is seen as the way forward via mechatronic systems research, design and realisation. The newly formed Manufacturing Technology Centre (www.the-mtc.org) brings together Loughborough University, Nottingham University, the University of Birmingham and TWI as research partners tasked with taking industrial member needs from initial research to prototype. Founding member companies include Rolls-Royce, Airbus and Aero Engine Controls. AnnuAl RepoRt 2010 15
Page 1 and 2: ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Innovative Manuf
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS Executive Summary 4 Advanc
Page 5 and 6: ESTABLiShEd iN 2001, the iMCRC has
Page 7 and 8: Highlights Prof. David Williams of
Page 9 and 10: Background The Additive Manufacturi
Page 11 and 12: Background Modern manufacturing is
Page 13 and 14: Background Construction, like other
Page 15: Background The sporting goods marke
Page 19 and 20: Research councils have played an im
Page 21 and 22: 185 219 214 223 263 298 AnnuAl Repo
Page 23 and 24: IMCRC Current RESEARCh ThEMES high
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Page 27 and 28: IMCRC Current RESEARCh ThEMES Trans
Page 29 and 30: Steering group Membership external
Page 31 and 32: Project Title Start Date End Date T
Page 33 and 34: Name Start Date PhD Title Hannah Ed
Page 35 and 36: COLLABORATORS Industrial Collaborat

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