Production planning

Production planning is the planning of production and manufacturing modules in a company or industry. It utilizes the resource allocation of activities of employees, materials and production capacity, in order to serve different customers.
Different types of production methods, such as single item manufacturing, batch production, mass production, continuous production etc. have their own type of production planning. Production planning can be combined with production control into production planning and control, or it can be combined with enterprise resource planning.
Overview.
Production planning is the future of production. It can help in efficient manufacturing or setting up of a production site by facilitating required needs. A production plan is made periodically for a specific time period, called the planning horizon. It can comprise the following activities:
In order to develop production plans, the production planner or production planning department needs to work closely together with the marketing department and sales department. They can provide sales forecasts, or a listing of customer orders." The "work is usually selected from a variety of product types which may require different resources and serve different customers. Therefore, the selection must optimize customer-independent performance measures such as cycle time and customer-dependent performance measures such as on-time delivery."
A critical factor in production planning is "the accurate estimation of the productive capacity of available resources, yet this is one of the most difficult tasks to perform well". Production planning should always take "into account material availability, resource availability and knowledge of future demand".
History.
Modern production planning methods and tools have been developed since late 19th century. Under Scientific Management, the work for each man or each machine is mapped out in advance (see image). The origin of production planning back goes another century. Kaplan (1986) summarized that "the demand for information for internal planning and control apparently arose in the first half of the 19th century when firms, such as textile mills and railroads, had to devise internal administrative procedures to coordinate the multiple processes involved in the performance of the basic activity (the conversion of raw materials into finished goods by textile mills, the transportation of passengers and freight by the railroads."
Herrmann (1996) further describes the circumstances in which new methods for internal planning and control evolved: "The first factories were quite simple and relatively small. They produced a small number of products in large batches. Productivity gains came from using interchangeable parts to eliminate time-consuming fitting operations. Through the late 1800s, manufacturing firms were concerned with maximizing the productivity of the expensive equipment in the factory. Keeping utilization high was an important objective. Foremen ruled their shops, coordinating all of the activities needed for the limited number of products for which they were responsible. They hired operators, purchased materials, managed production, and delivered the product. They were experts with superior technical skills, and they (not a separate staff of clerks) planned production. Even as factories grew, they were just bigger, not more complex.
About production planning Herrmann (1996) recounts that "production scheduling started simply also. Schedules, when used at all, listed only when work on an order should begin or when the order is due. They didn't provide any information about how long the total order should take or about the time required for individual operations ..."
In 1923 "Industrial Management" cited a Mr. Owens who had observed: "Production planning is rapidly becoming one of the most vital necessities of management. It is true that every establishment, no matter how large or how small has production planning in some form; but a large percentage of these do not have planning that makes for an even flow of material, and a minimum amount of money tied up in inventories."
Topics.
Types of planning.
Different types of production planning can be applied:
Related kind of planning in organizations
Production control.
Production control is the activity of controlling the workflow in the production. It is partly complementary to production planning.


Systematic Automation

Systematic Automation, Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of precision screen printing machines, vacuum tables, rotary indexer base machines, and UV curing devices. The company, located in Farmington, CT, specializes in standard and custom solutions for a variety of screen printing applications. Though originally a manufacturer of screen printing machines, the company has expanded its operations to include vacuum tables and UV curing devices.
History.
Systematic Automation, Inc. was founded in 1983 in Chicago, Illinois. The company moved to a larger facility in Connecticut to accommodate a doubling of capacity in 1987. Systematic Automation invented a rotary indexing table in 1988, introducing the technology to screen printing applications. That same year, the company entered the UV curing industry with the introduction of the UVSP Curing Unit. To meet the complex requirements of multicolor screen printed designs, a new line of machines was designed and manufactured in 2001 that consisted of a conveying system for multiple vacuum tables moved successively through screen printing and UV curing work stations. More recently, engineers at the company have developed machines for automatically printing insulated foam can coolers, known as koozies, as well as a fully automatic screen printer for microscope slides or other flat glass. Other notable accomplishments include building a screen printing machine capable of depositing 0.002" lines of platinum 0.002" apart for hydrogen battery wafers used on the Space Shuttle.


Homebuilt machines

Homebuilt machines are machines built outside of specialised workshops or factories. This can include different things such as kit cars or homebuilt computers, but normally it pertains to homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes. Homebuilt aircraft or kit cars are constructed by amateurs. Homebuilt computers have been built at home for a long time, starting with the Victorian era pioneer Charles Babbage in the 1820s. A century later, Konrad Zuse built his own machine when electromechanical relay technology was widely available. The hobby took off with the early development of microprocessors and, since then, many enthusiasts have constructed their own computers.
A homebuilt vehicle is a wider concept than a kit car. A homebuilt vehicle is a motor vehicle (car, truck or motorcycle) built by an individual instead of a manufacturer.
These machines may be constructed "from scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits. Outside of the United States (for example in Russia) people wishing to build such complex machinery often have no professional networks to rely on for spare parts, plans, or advice in the matter and therefore have to rely on their ingenuity and intuition in order to build a machine that works.


NC-CAM

NC-CAM is a computer-aided manufacturing software program introduced in 1989, and used by printed circuit board manufacturers to create, modify, and optimize the CNC program files used by printed circuit board drilling and routing machines. In particular, NC-CAM is used to optimize the RS-274C Excellon format files used to program Excellon, Hitachi and other printed circuit board drilling and routing machines.
NC-CAM was first developed for MS-DOS by Robert Henningsgard, and it is today developed and supplied for Microsoft Windows by FASTechnologies, Corp. of Big Lake, Minnesota, USA.


Vacuum casting (elastomers)

Vacuum casting is a casting process for elastomers using a vacuum to draw the liquid material into the mold. This process is used when air entrapment is a problem, there are intricate details or undercuts, or if the material is fiber or wire reinforced.
The main disadvantage to this process is the high price for the equipment.
Process.
The process starts by placing a two piece silicone mold in a vacuum chamber. The raw material is mixed, degassed and then poured into the mold. The vacuum is then released and the mold removed from the chamber. Finally, the casting is cured in an oven and the mold removed to release the completed casting. The silicone mold can be reused.
In some machines the chamber where the material is mixed a pressure can be applied to increase the pressure differential between the mold cavity and the mixing chamber.


Shot peening of steel belts

Shot peening can be used to recondition distorted steel conveyor belts. The shot peening process is quick and cost-effective compared with other methods and does not interrupt daily production. A deformed steel belt has the following disadvantages:
The shot peening process.
Shot peening is a maintenance process for flattening a deformed steel belt in which the surface of the belt is impacted by small spherical stainless steel or carbon steel balls called peening shot. Each shot hitting the belt functions as a small peening hammer, forming a small indentation or dimple on the steel belt surface. In order for the indentation to be formed, the steel belt surface layer must yield in tension. The compressed grains help to restore the surface to its original shape by producing a hemisphere of cold-worked metal highly stressed in compression. Overlapping indentations create a continuous layer of residual compressive stress. It is well known that cracks will not lead up nor propagate in a compressive stressed zone. Because nearly all fatigue and stress corrosion failures originate at the surface of a part, compressive stresses generate by shot peening provide very important increases in life time. Note that:
Portable shot blasting unit.
The main use of the unit is to flatten out deformed press belts whilst simultaneously stress-relieving the belt material. The small size and low weight makes the unit flexible to use and easy to bring into and operate in field situations. All of the equipment needed (excluding the carriage frame and the air compressor) can be packed into a box with dimensions of about: 350mm L × 350mm W × 320 mm. Total weight including blaster, valve, air hose and miscellaneous components is around 25 kg and the blasting machine itself weights only 9 kg. One pair of universal channel (38 mm * 76 mm) must be provided on site – the length usually being 500 mm longer than the belt width. The channels are welded together so that the blaster can easily run through the frame across the face of the belt. The total installation time, including the manufacture of the carriage frame, is limited to just a few hours after which the peening process can begin. On the inlet air hose an electric shut-off valve is mounted to protect the belt from over-blasting should the belt suddenly stop during the blasting operation. To be effective the valve solenoid must be connected / interlocked to the press machine's power supply (240 V). For best blasting results an air supply of 4200 litres per minute is required at a pressure of 6 bar. A flexible air hose is supplied with the unit which is to be connected between the blasting unit and the local air supply. All local supply pipes should have a minimum bore diameter of 1 inch. The recommended shot blasting medium is tungsten shot (beads) with diameter ranging from 0.2 to 0.4 mm having a hardness exceeding 40 HRC. The machine operates by drawing a quantity of tungsten shot from the bottom of the scroll case into the high-velocity nozzles. The shot is blasted onto the surface of the belt, and most of the shot bounces back into the scroll case. The air is vented through the filter socks, and any shot carried with the air is filtered out and drops back into the scroll case.
Flattening out deformed belts.
Historically (per 1980s), the common method previously used to solve the problem of deformed belts was to turn the belt over i.e. what was previously the back of the belt is then used to form the new product side. The belt became flatter being turned because of an equalization of the stresses on the two sides.
However, the belt usually continues to change its shape so that it eventually acquires the same shape as before being turned but in the opposite direction.
Because of this, turning the belt again after a period of approximately one year was often necessary. This method is very time-consuming and thus very costly since it involves cutting the belt, dismantling it from the press, turning the belt and re-installing it in the press followed by the belt joining operations (welding and grinding of the joint) and running-in procedures. All these operations also require equipment for handling the belt as well as special welding jigs and skilled personnel for the joint-welding. Added to this is the loss of production during the operation – a stoppage in production of one week being not uncommon. The steel belt shot peening process was developed as a superior solution to the Belt cross curvature problem.


Pickering Interfaces

Pickering Interfaces is a test and measurement company headquartered in Clacton-on-Sea, United Kingdom. Pickering designs, manufactures and markets a range of switching, simulation and cabling products in the LXI, PXI, and PCI platforms. These products are sold into the functional test, hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) and design verifications markets.
Pickering is a privately owned company with design and manufacturing facilities in Clacton-on-Sea, UK and Trinec in the Czech Republic, together with additional company operated direct sales and support operations in the US, Germany, France, Sweden and China.
Principal product range.
Pickering's primary products are in the PXI, LXI, USB and PCI platforms, specifically in switching, programmable resistors, attenuators, power supplies, basic instrumentation, software and cabling for these products.


Methods of production

Production methods fall into three main categories: job (one-off production), batch (multiple items, one step at a time for all items), and flow
Job production.
Job production is used when a product is produced with the labor of one or few workers and is rarely used for bulk and large scale production. It is mainly used for one-off products or prototypes (hence also known as "Prototype Production"), as it is inefficient; however, quality is greatly enhanced with job production compared to other methods. Individual wedding cakes and made-to-measure suits are examples of job production. New small firms often use job production before they get a chance or have the means to expand. Job Production is highly motivating for workers because it gives the workers an opportunity to produce the whole product and take pride in it.
Batch production.
Batch production is the method used to produce or process any product of the groups or batches where the products in the batch go through the whole production process together. An example would be when a bakery produces each different type of bread separately and each product (in this case, bread) is not produced continuously. Batch production is used in many different ways and is most suited to when there is a need for a quality/quantity balance. This technique is probably the most commonly used method for organizing manufacture and promotes specialist labor, as very often batch production involves a small number of persons. Batch production occurs when many similar items are produced together. Each batch goes through one stage of the production before moving onto the next stage.
Flow production.
Flow production (mass production) is also a very common method of production. Flow production is when the product is built up through many segregated stages; the product is built upon at each stage and then passed directly to the next stage where it is built upon again. The production method is financially the most efficient and effective because there is less of a need for skilled workers.
Lean Production.
Contrary to job production, the method Boutique Manufacturing (Lean) is suitable for the production of very small to small batches, i.e. orders of a few units up to several dozens of similar or equal goods. The workflow organization of a Boutique Manufacturing entity can be a mixture of both jobbing and batch production but involves higher standardization than job production. Boutique Manufacturing is often organized with single workplaces or production cells carrying out a number of subsequent production steps until completion of certain components or even the whole product; large assembly lines are generally not used. The flexibility and variety of products able to be produced in the entity therefore are much higher than with the more standardized method of batch production.


KCC Corporation

KCC Corporation (renamed from Kumkang Korea Chemicals Co., Ltd. on February 25, 2005) is a Korean chemical and auto parts manufacturer, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea.
Operations.
KCC's products include various kinds of paints, float glass, soft sponges, silicon, chassis, and car parts. This company is the biggest provider of construction materials and paints in South Korea. Various types of industrial materials such as epoxy moulding compound, alumina metallizing, silicone etc. are produced in 13 domestic locations.
KCC Corporation has 9 overseas liaison offices and 7 overseas factories over the world:
Main Rivals in Silicone Markets.
KCC's silicone is one of major market which is developing. There are some main rivals for this Korean company to develop market as the list below:
Purchasing Basildon Chemical.
April 2011, Basildon Chemicals was purchased by the KCC Corporation of Korea. In this partnership, KCC gains a company with a history in silicone emulsification.


Stamped circuit board

A stamped circuit board (SCB) is used to mechanically support and electrically connect electronic components using conductive pathways, tracks or traces etched from copper sheets laminated onto a non-conductive "substrate". This technology is used for small circuits, for instance in the production of LEDs.
Similar to printed circuit boards this layer structure may comprise glass-fibre reinforced epoxy resin and copper. Basically, in the case of LED substrates three variations are possible:
Using the SCB technology it is possible to structure and laminate the most widely differing material combinations in a reel-to-reel production process. As the layers are structured separately, improved design concepts are able to be implemented. Consequently, a far better and quicker heat dissipation from within the chip is achieved.
Production.
Both the plastic and the metal are initially processed on separate reels, .i.e. in accordance with the requirements the materials are individually structured by stamping (“brought into form“) and then merged.
Advantages.
The engineering respectively choice of substrates actually comes down to the particular application, module design/substrate assembly, material and thickness of the material involved.
Taking these parameters it is possible to attain a good thermal management by using SCB technology, because rapid heat dissipation from beneath the chip means a longer service life for the system. Furthermore, SCB technology allows the material to be chosen to correspond to the pertinent requirements and then to optimize the design to arrive at a “perfect fit”.


Scotland Manufacturing

Scotland Manufacturing, Inc. is a full-service stamping company and manufacturer of deep drawn metal stampings, progressive stamping (die manufacturing) and value-added assembly solutions. Scotland has presses running from 110 to 1,000 tons and the company provides refrigerant, compressor housing, filter shells and other deep-drawn stampings from the industrial, automotive and heavy truck industries.
Scotland Manufacturing is ISO 9001 certified and produces stampings from a variety of metals including cold rolled steel, electro tin plate and stainless steel. Their facility has more than of manufacturing space.
History.
Scotland Manufacturing, located in Laurinburg, North Carolina, was founded in 1979 as a supplier to the filter industry. Named for Scotland County located in Southeastern North Carolina, the company is situated between Charlotte, the state’s largest city and Wilmington, the state’s largest port. From an $8-million business in 2001, Scotland Manufacturing has grown to a $20-million business in 2009.
Scotland Manufacturing is part of The Reserve Group (TRG), a private equity group based in Akron, Ohio. The Reserve Group’s philosophy is to provide strategic business support and investment capital, allowing its portfolio of companies to remain competitive in the marketplace. Scotland Manufacturing is the oldest member company in the TRG portfolio.
Products.
For the automotive industry, Scotland Manufacturing creates door panels for the high-end automotive OEM, clutch plates, transmission plates, brackets and filter cans. Additionally, the company uses a variety of metals, from flat steel to stainless steel, to produce components for the construction industry such as chimney caps, and brackets and braces for pre-fabricated buildings. Scotland also creates railway brake intercasings, rail shoes, rail pads and rail friction products as well as fire extinguishers and other components for the aerospace industry.
Scotland Manufacturing offers shell supply in either low cost cold rolled steel or stronger, more corrosion-resistant tin plate steel. Deep drawn stampings are manufactured in diameters from 2 5/8 inches to 5 inches wide and up to 12 inches tall. The company’s production capacity offers low, medium and high volume capabilities on presses ranging from 110 to 1,000 tons. Stampings are manufactured in steel, stainless steel, pre-coated steel and aluminum.
Scotland Manufacturing products are used to create filters, Mack trucks, John Deere Tractors, Dodge pick-up trucks, chimney caps, fire extinguishers, railroad car brakes, end caps and retainer plates. The production facility offers welding, assembly, and pressure testing.
Associations.
Scotland Manufacturing is a member of the following associations: Filter Manufacturers Council and American Filtration & Separations Society.
In addition, Scotland Manufacturing has partnered with Richmond Community College of Hamlet, North Carolina for an Industrial Training Program.


Fusion welding

Fusion welding is a generic term for welding processes that rely on melting to join materials of similar compositions and melting points. Due to the high-temperature phase transitions inherent to these processes, a heat-affected zone is created in the material (although some techniques, like beam welding, often minimize this effect by introducing comparatively little heat into the workpiece).
In contrast to fusion welding, solid-state welding does not involve the melting of materials.
Applications.
Fusion welding has been a critical factor in the creation of modern civilization due to its vital role in construction practices. Besides bolts and rivets, there are no other practical methods for joining pieces of metal securely. Fusion welding is used in the manufacture of many everyday items, including airplanes, cars, and structures.
Beyond construction, a large community uses both arc and flame contact welding to create artwork.
Types.
Electrical.
Arc.
Arc welding is one of the many types of fusion welding. Arc welding joins two pieces of metal together by using an intermediate filler metal. The way this works is by completing an electrical circuit to create an electrical arc. This electrical arc is 6500 °F (3593 °C) in its center. This electrical arc is created at the tip of the filler metal. As the arc melts the metal, it is moved either by a person or a machine along the gap in the metals, creating a bond. This method is very common as it is typically done with a hand held machine. Arc welding machines are portable and can be brought onto job sites and hard to reach areas. It is also the most common method of underwater welding. Electrical arcs form between points separated by a gas. In the process of underwater welding a bubble of gas is blown around the area being welded so that an electrical arc may form. Underwater welding has many applications. Ship hulls are repaired and oil rigs are maintained with underwater arc welding.
Resistance welding is done using two electrodes. Each comes into contact with one of the pieces being welded. The two pieces of metal are then pressed together between the electrodes and an electric current is run through them. The pieces of metal begin to heat up at the point where they come into contact. The current is passed through the metal until it is hot enough that the two pieces melt and conjoin. As the metal cools the bond is solidified. This process requires large amounts of electricity. In most cases transformers are needed to provide enough amps. Resistance welding is a very prevalent form of fusion welding. It is used in the manufacturing of automobiles and construction equipment.
Laser beam.
Conduction welding, also known as laser beam welding or radiation welding, is a highly precise form of fusion welding. "Laser" is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. The laser emits light in bursts called pumps. These bursts are aimed at the seam of the metals desired to be conjoined. As the laser bursts it is guided along the seam. These intense bursts melt the metal. The two metals when melted mix with each other. Once it has cooled the seam created is a strong bond. Lasers are efficient because they can be configured to make multiple welds at once. The laser beam can be split and sent to multiple locations greatly reducing the cost and amount of energy required. Laser beam welding finds applications in the automotive industry.
Induction.
Induction welding is a form of resistance welding. However, there are no points of contact between the metal being welding and the electrical source or the welder. In induction welding a coil is wrapped around a cylinder. This coil causes a magnetic field across the surface of the metal inside. This magnetic field flows in the opposite direction of the magnetic field on the inside of the cylinder. These magnetic flows impede each other. This heats the metal and causes the edges to melt together.
Chemical.
Oxyfuel.
Flame contact is a very common form of welding. The most popular kind of flame contact welding is oxyfuel gas welding. Flame contact welding uses a flame exposed to the surface of the metals being welded to melt and then join them together. Oxyfuel uses oxygen as a primary ignition source in tandem with another gas such as acetylene to produce a flame which is 2500 °C at the tip and 2800-3500 °C at the tip of the inner cone. Other gasses such as propane and methanol can be used for oxyfuel welding. Acetylene is the most common gas used in oxyfuel welding.
Solid reactant.
Solid reactant welding uses reactions between elements and compounds. Certain compounds when mixed create an exothermic chemical reaction, meaning they give off heat. A very common reaction uses thermite, a combination of a metal oxide (rust) and aluminum. This reaction produces heat over 4000 °F. Solid reactant compounds are channeled to the two pieces of metal being joined. Once in place, a catalyst is used to start the reaction. This catalyst can be a chemical or another heat source. The heat created melts the metals being joined. Once it cools, a bond is formed. From welding together train tracks to entering bank vaults, solid reactant welding has many niche uses.


Friction stir processing

Friction stir processing (FSP) is a method of changing the properties of a metal through intense, localized plastic deformation. This deformation is produced by forcibly inserting a non-consumable tool into the workpiece, and revolving the tool in a stirring motion as it is pushed laterally through the workpiece. The precursor of this technique, friction stir welding, is used to join multiple pieces of metal without creating the heat affected zone typical of fusion welding.
When ideally implemented, this process mixes the material without changing the phase (by melting or otherwise) and creates a microstructure with fine, equiaxed grains. This homogeneous grain structure, separated by high-angle boundaries, allows some aluminium alloys to take on superplastic properties. Friction stir processing also enhances the tensile strength and fatigue strength of the metal. In tests with actively cooled magnesium-alloy workpieces, the microhardness was almost tripled in the area of the friction stir processed seam (to 120–130 Vickers hardness).
Process.
In friction stir processing (FSP), a rotating tool is used with a pin and a shoulder to a single piece of material to make specific property enhancement, such as improving the material's toughness or flexibility, in a specific area in the micro-structure of the material via fine grain of a second material with properties that improve the first.(Ma) Friction between the tool and workpieces results in localized heating that softens and plasticizes the workpiece. A volume of processed material is produced by movement of materials from the front of the pin to the back of the pin. During this process, the material undergoes intense plastic deformation and this results in significant grain refinement. (Mishra) FSP changes physical properties without changing physical state which helps engineers create things such as “high-strain-rate superplasticity”. The grain refinement occurs on the base material improving properties of the first material, while mixing with the second material. This allows for a variety of materials to be altered to be changed for things that may require other difficult to acquire conditions. The processes branches off of friction stir welding (FSW) which uses the same process to weld two pieces of different materials together without heating, melting, or having to change the materials' physical state.
Tool.
The tool has a crucial part to creation of the final product. The tool consists of two main functions:
The tool at its most simplest form consist of a shoulder, a small cylinder with a diameter of 50 mm, and a pin, a small threaded cylinder similar to a drill. The tool itself has been modified to reduce displaced volume of the metals as they merged. Recently two new pin geometries have arisen:
Applications.
The FSP is used when metals properties want to be improved using other metals for support and improvement of the first. This is promising process for the automotive and aerospace industries where new material will need to be developed to improve resistance to wear, creep, and fatigue. (Misha) Examples of materials successfully processed using the friction stir technique include AA 2519, AA 5083 and AA 7075 aluminum alloys, AZ61 magnesium alloy, nickel-aluminium bronze and 304L stainless steel.
Casting.
Metallic parts produced by casting are comparatively inexpensive, but are often subject to metallurgical flaws like porosity and microstructural defects. Friction stir processing can be used to introduce a wrought microstructure into a cast component and eliminate many of the defects. By vigorously stirring a cast metal part to homogenize it and reduce the grain size, the ductility and strength are increased.
Powder metallurgy.
Friction stir processing can also be used to improve the microstructural properties of powder metal objects. In particular, when dealing with aluminium powder metal alloys, the aluminium oxide film on the surface of each granule is detrimental to the ductility, fatigue properties and fracture toughness of the workpiece. While conventional techniques for removing this film include forging and extrusion, friction stir processing is suited for situations where localized treatment is desired.
Fabrication of metal matrix composites.
FSP can also be used to fabricate metal matrix composites at the nugget zone where we need the change of properties. Al 5052/SiC and some other composites were successfully fabricated. Even nano composites can also be fabricated by FSP.
Aluminium Surface Composites with Superior Properties.
Aluminium surface composites with enhanced surface properties can be fabricated using FSP. Aluminium surface composites fabricated with the optimum friction stir processing parameters show better mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The processing parameters such as tool rotational speed and tool shoulder diameter affects the surface properties. Higher surface hardness is exhibited by the surface composites fabricated at higher tool rotational speed and lower tool shoulder diameter. The properties of the composite materials can be altered by changing the type of reinforcement. Reinforcement particles aids in the grain size refinement as well as the property enhancement in the processed materials. The surface composite properties can be varied by changing the reinforcement particles based on the end application. The reinforcement phases can be metallic, ceramic, or polymer materials.
Testing.
Mg based nano-composites.
FSP was used to modify a Mg alloy and insert nano-sized SiO2. The test was conducted a total four times with the average grain size varying from 0.5–2μm. This nearly doubled the hardness of the Mg and also increased the super-plasticity. At room temperature, the yield stress of the FSP composites was improved in the 1D and in the 2D specimens signifying a larger resistance of the product metal under high stress conditions without deforming. The tensile strength was shown to increase along with the yield stress.
Benefits.
FSP has benefits for when two materials' would be needed to be mixed. “FSP is a short route, solid state processing technique with one-step processing that achieves microstructural refinement densification and homogeneity” (Ma) FSW helps modify materials so that metaling down or changing the material drastically does not have to take place. FSP, for example, can easily change the form of a piece of material as sheets of metal, where before it may have had to be melted down before and put into a mold for it to cool and form. (Smith, Mishra) “The microstructure and mechanical properties of the processed zone can be accurately controlled by optimizing the tool design, FSP parameters an active cooling/heating.” (Ma) The same sheet of metal can be modified to fit various situations with the proper modification of the tool. FSP has shown to make metallic alloys bendable as for example an alloy modified with FSP would be able to bend to 30 degrees as before it could only bend to seven.


List of bicycle part manufacturing companies

This article lists bicycle part manufacturers and brands past and present. For a list of bicycle manufacturers, see list of bicycle manufacturers.


Garter spring

A garter spring is a coiled steel spring that is connected at each end to create a circular shape, and is used in oil seals, shaft seals, belt-driven motors, and electrical connectors. Compression garter springs exert outward radial forces, while extension garter springs exert inward radial forces. The manufacturing process is not much different from the creation of regular coiled springs, with the addition of joining the ends together. Like most other springs, garter springs are typically manufactured with either carbon steel or stainless steel wire.
Types of Springs.
Compression Springs.
Compression garter springs are a type of coiled spring that exerts outward radial forces away from the center. They are typically made up of a thick steel wire with large coils; compression springs need to be able to handle very large loads while being able to return to their natural extended position. Compression springs store potential energy when they are compressed (length of spring decreases), and exert kinetic energy when released. Compression garter springs use this principle to withstand forces acting on it from outside. They may be placed inside a circular object to maintain the object's circular shape. This is similar to squeezing a rubber ball; the ball will contract when squeezed but will return to its natural state once the external pressure is released.
Extension Springs.
Extension garter springs are on the opposite side of the spring spectrum. Although they are also a type of coiled spring, extension garter springs exert inward radial forces that move toward the center. Extension springs store potential energy in their extended form and want to contract. Thinner wire and a greater number of coils allow extension springs to be able to contract quickly, which is essential when dealing with pressurized fluids and gases. Extension garter springs act against forces from the center, so they may be placed on the outside of a circular object to maintain the object's circular shape. They act similar to a bracelet, which is extended to fit around the hand and then snaps back into shape on the wrist. Extension garter springs are more common than compression garter springs because they use less material (smaller circumference and thinner wire) and they respond to changes quicker and more efficiently.
Manufacturing.
Process.
There are four main stages for the production of steel garter springs. The first step is to cut and coil reels of steel wire to produce normal coiled springs. The strength of the spring is proportional to the thickness of the wire. Compression springs are coiled in such a way that the coils are more spaced apart, while extension springs have no space between the coils.
The second step is to join each end of the spring to form the garter spring's unique circular shape. This can be accomplished through a few different ways:
The third stage is heat treating, which prevents the spring from being too brittle to function. Heat treating involves placing the spring in an oven at high temperature for a predetermined amount of time, and then letting it cool slowly.
The fourth stage is applying the finishing touches to the spring, which may include grinding (flattening the ends of the spring), shot peening (shooting tiny steel balls at the spring to harden the wire further), setting (permanently fixing the length and pitch of the spring), coating (electroplating or applying paint or rubber to the surface to prevent corrosion), and packaging.
Materials.
Carbon steel wire is typically used for garter springs due to its affordable price and usability, in comparison to stainless steel. Carbon steel springs tend to have very high yield strengths, and are able to return to their original shape when temporarily deformed. The carbon content in carbon steel wires range from 0.50 to 0.95 percent. This relatively small amount of carbon is enough to improve the toughness of the spring. The close proximity to oil and high-pressure engines mean heat treated garter springs are essential for enduring temperatures over 100 °C (212 °F). However, carbon steel is not suitable for highly corrosive environments; stainless steel would be a more viable option. Stainless steel differs from carbon steel in the amount of chromium present; stainless steel has between 10.5% to 11% chromium by mass, while carbon steel has about 1%.
Applications.
Most garter springs are used for oil seals and shaft seals. Since they are able to withstand forces from all directions, garter springs are effective at handling changes in volume, pressure, temperature, and viscosity.


Industrial oven

An Industrial oven is a heated chamber that is used for a variety of industrial applications including drying, curing, and baking components. These different types of ovens can be useful in different industries such as bakeries and industrial manufacturing. These ovens play a big factor in many industries and without these machines, work all together would be very difficult. Also, without these machines work in factories, bakeries, and curing manufacturers would be nearly impossible without the industrial oven invented by Jordan Mott in 1833. John created the first coal oven called a base burner and had a ventilation to burn the coal efficiently.
Such ovens are used in many different applications, including chemical processing, food production, and even in the electronics industry, where circuit boards are run through a conveyor oven to attach surface mount components.
Some common types of industrial ovens include:


Manufacturing supermarket

A manufacturing supermarket (or market location) is, for a factory process, what a retail supermarket is for the customer. The customers draw products from the 'shelves' as needed and this can be detected by the supplier who then initiates a replenishment of that item. It was the observation that this 'way of working' could be transferred from retail to manufacturing that is one of the cornerstones of the Toyota Production System (TPS).
History.
In the 1950s Toyota sent teams to the United States to learn how they achieved mass-production. However, the Toyota Delegation first got inspiration for their production system at an American Supermarket (a Piggly Wiggly, to be precise). They saw the virtue in the supermarket only reordering and restocking goods once they’d been bought by customers.
In a supermarket (like the TPS) customers (processes) buy what they need when they need it. Since the system is self-service the sales effort (materials management) is reduced. The shelves are refilled as products are sold (parts withdrawn) on the assumption that what has sold will sell again which makes it easy to see how much has been used and to avoid overstocking. The most important feature of a supermarket system is that stocking is triggered by actual demand. In the TPS this signal triggers the 'pull' system of production.
Implementation.
Market locations are appropriate where there is a desire to communicate customer pull up the supply chain. The aim of the 'market' is to send single unit consumption signals back up the supply chain so that a demand leveling effect occurs. Just as in a supermarket it is possible for someone to decide to cater for a party of 300 from the supermarket so it is possible to decide to suddenly fill ten trucks and send massively distorting signals up those same pathways. Thus the 'market location' can be used as a sort of isolator between actual demand and how supply would like demand to be, an isolator between batch demand spikes and the up upstream supply process.
For example, if the market were positioned at the loading bay, then it will receive 'spikes' of demand whenever a truck comes in to be loaded. Since, in general, one knows in advance when trucks will arrive and what they will require to be loaded onto them, it is possible to spread that demand spike over a chosen period before the truck actually arrives. It is possible to do this by designating a location, say a marked floor area, to be the 'virtual' truck and moving items from the market to the 'virtual truck' smoothly over the chosen period prior to the load onto the actual truck commencing. Smoothly here means that for each item its 'loading' is evenly spread across the period. For regular shipments this period might start the moment the last shipment in that schedule departs the loading bay. This has four key impacts:
This logic can, obviously, be applied upstream of any batch process and not just deliveries to another plant. It is a workaround for the fact that the batch process hasn't been made to flow yet. It therefore has some costs but the benefits in terms of reducing the three wastes should outweigh these.
Toyota use this technique and demand it of their suppliers in order to generate focus on the supply issues it uncovers. They then demand the preparation of loads for more frequent 'virtual' trucks than will actually appear in order to raise this pressure (see Frequent deliveries).
At low stocking levels for some items the 'market location' can require Just in Sequence supply rather than Just in Time.


Blood (automobile)

The Blood was an automobile manufactured in Kalamazoo, Michigan, by the Blood Brothers Auto & Machine Company from 1902 to 1905. They produced a five-seater tonneau with a two-cylinder opposed engine, costing $1,800. The drive system had a four-speed transmission and transferred power to the rear axle by a shaft.
Maurice & Clarence Blood were owners of a bicycle shop at 210 N. Rose St, in Kalamazoo. They sold a Mobile Steam car to Oscar Buckout in 1901, making them the first automotive dealership in Kalamazoo.
They eventually built and sold 150 Blood cars. In 1905, they ceased building automobiles, and concentrated on universal joints in a small factory. Maurice's son, Howard, later built the Cornelian Cyclecar.


The Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) is an international professional society for academics and practitioners with interests in production operations, operations management, and supply chain management. The society was established in 1989 by Kalyan Singhal, of Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore, in collaboration with three hundred professionals from the operations management field.
Since 1990, the POMS society has annually held national conferences focused on academic and practitioner research presentations in the operations management discipline. POMS also sponsors conferences held by its Colleges, joint conferences with the European operations management society EUROMA, and international conferences. The society maintains the website www.pomsmeetings.org as a current and historical repository of information about these conferences.
The current President of POMS is Chelliah Siskandarajah, who is the Hugh Roy Cullen Chair in Business Administration Information and Operations Management at Mays Business School, Texas A&M University. The President-Elect is Zuojun (Max) Shen from University of California Berkeley. POMS also is guided by Board Members made up of three Past Presidents, several Vice Presidents (e.g., Education, Finance, Meetings, Member Activities, Colleges, Publications, Communications, Industry, Americas, Africa & Middle East, Europe, and Australasia), a Secretary, and several at-large Board Members. POMS is also led by a Director of Strategic Planning, an Executive Director, Associate Directors (Global Outreach, Information Technology Services), a Web Editor, and a Social Media Coordinator.
The mission of POMS is to create, extend, and disseminate knowledge in the field of production and operations management.
POMS activities.
Publications.
Production and Operations Management (POM) is the flagship journal of the society. POM is a scientific peer-review journal that publishes research from areas covering operations management, supply chain management, and business analytics. The journal is published by Wiley. The editor-in-chief for the journal is Kalyan Singhal. Subodha Kumar is the deputy editor-in-chief. POM is included among several lists of top journals for the Operations Management and Supply Chain Management fields, including by the UT Dallas Top 100 Business School Research Rankings, the Financial Times list, and other lists. POM is included among the top eight operations management and supply chain management journals used to calculate The SCM Journal List, being considered as a primarily analytically-focused journal.
POMS Chronicle is the official newsletter of the society and is published twice a year.
Conferences.
The annual POMS conference is generally held in the early May. The most recent conference (2019 POMS Annual Conference) was held in Washington D.C. It was attended by more than 1900 professionals from around the world. In addition to the Annual conferences, several international conferences are held every year around the world. In 2019, international conferences were held in Brighton (UK), Tianjin University (China), Mumbai (India), and Hong Kong.
Chapters.
POMS society has chapters in Beijing, India, Hong Kong, Latin America, Caribbean, and Taiwan.
Awards.
POMS recognizes scholars and practitioners from POM field by bestowing awards in various accomplishments. They include:
History.
The society was established in 1989 by Kalyan Singhal, of Merrick School of Business at the University of Baltimore, in collaboration with three hundred professionals from the operations management field.
Presidents.
Presidents of POMS have included:


Vendor-managed inventory

Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is an inventory management practice in which a supplier of goods, usually the manufacturer, is responsible for optimizing the inventory held by a distributor.
Under VMI, the retailer shares their inventory data with a vendor (sometimes called supplier) such that the vendor is the decision-maker who determines the order size, whereas in traditional inventory management, the retailer (sometimes called distributor or buyer) makes his or her own decisions regarding the order size. Thus, the vendor is responsible for the retailer's ordering cost, while the retailer usually acquires ownership of the stock and has to pay for their own holding cost. One supply chain management glossary identifies VMI as although a 2008 article notes that there is no standard definition of VMI and the term's usage varies "significantly" among companies supporting VMI processes.
A third-party logistics provider may also be involved to help ensure that the buyer has the required level of inventory by adjusting the demand and supply gaps.
Overview.
One of the keys to making VMI work is shared risk. In some cases, if the inventory does not sell, the vendor (supplier) will repurchase the product from the buyer (retailer). In other cases, the product may be in the possession of the retailer but is not owned by the retailer until the sale takes place, meaning that the retailer simply houses (and assists with the sale of) the product in exchange for a predetermined commission or profit (sometimes referred to as consignment stock). A special form of this commission business is scan-based trading, where VMI is usually applied but its use is not mandatory.
This is one of the successful business models used by Walmart, Procter & Gamble and many other big box retailers. Oil companies often use technology to manage the gasoline inventories at the service stations that they supply (see Petrolsoft Corporation). Home Depot uses the technique with larger suppliers of manufactured goods. VMI helps foster a closer understanding between the supplier and manufacturer by using electronic data interchange formats, EDI software and statistical methodologies to forecast and maintain correct inventory in the supply chain.
Vendors benefit from more control of displays and more customer contact for their employees; retailers benefit from reduced risk, better store staff knowledge (which builds brand loyalty for both the vendor and the retailer), and reduced display maintenance outlays.
Usage of VMI can prevent stocking undesired inventories and hence can lead to an overall cost reduction. Moreover, the magnitude of the bullwhip effect is also reduced by employing the VMI approach in a buyer-supplier cooperation.
Consumers benefit from knowledgeable store staff who are in frequent and familiar contact with manufacturer (vendor) representatives when parts or service are required. Store staff have good knowledge of most product lines offered by the entire range of vendors. They can help the consumer choose from competing products for items most suited to them and offer service support being offered by the store.
At the goods manufacturing level, VMI helps prevent overflowing warehouses or shortages, as well as costly labor, purchasing and accounting. With VMI, businesses maintain a proper inventory, and optimized inventory leads to easy access and fast processing with reduced labor costs.
Variant models include "consigned VMI", where the supplier or manufacturer retains ownership, and "dynamic VMI", where the buffer inventory remains located with the supplier, which can be beneficial if the supplier and retailer are located close enough together, and allows for buffer stock to be shared among distributors.
As a symbiotic business relationship, VMI makes it less likely that a business will unintentionally run out of stock of a good and reduces inventory in the supply chain. Furthermore, vendor (supplier) representatives in a store benefit the vendor by ensuring the product is properly displayed and store staff are familiar with the features of the product line, all these while helping to clean and organize their product lines for the store. However, high-tech sector research undertaken in 2003 concluded that under VMI, "sizeable inventory burdens [are transferred] from the customer to the supplier" and that "significant additional operating expenses for the supplier" therefore arise.
Components.
1. Inventory location
In VMI practice, inventory location depends on the arrangement between the vendor and the customer. The first option is for the inventory to be located both at the customer's and the supplier's premises. For the supplier, this serves as a safeguard against short delivery cycles or unsynchronized production cycles. On the other hand, this arrangement can also lead to higher inventory holding costs because of the need for storage of the material, its tracking and handling, and the threat of inventory obsolescence.
Another option can be for the vendor to deliver to the customer's central warehouse or alternatively, to a third party's warehouse. The latter can be a solution for buyers that have outsourced part or all of their logistics operations. Managing the inventory at the central warehouse enables better optimization of deliveries, lower costs and ultimately enables the buyer to maximize economies of scale. However, it is not always an option, so third-party warehouses are often the solution to many different problems such as the supplier's warehouse being too far away from the buyer's or the buyer's inexperience in storing particular types of goods that are harder to store.
The inventory can also be located directly at the buyer's premises such as the buyer's on-site warehouse, production line or the shop floor itself. However, replenishing inventory levels at these specific locations can be more costly, less organized and overall more difficult to manage for the supplier.
2. Inventory Ownership
Inventory ownership refers to the ownership of the inventory and when the invoice is being issued to the retailer. In vendor managed inventory, there is a number of solutions in terms of payment and transfer of ownership.
In the first alternative, the vendor is the owner of inventory at the premises of the customer. Invoice is issued when the items are issued from the stock. In the second alternative, the retailer assumes ownership of the inventory, but receives an invoice upon delivery. However, the vendor is not paid until the customer issues the items from stock and within a delay according to agreed terms of payment. This enables risk-sharing between both parties, as the retailer carries risk of obsolescence while the vendor would have been accountable for capital costs and fluctuation in prices of the inventory.
In the third alternative, also referred to as a standard process in traditional order delivery, the retailer owns the inventory upon delivery, while the vendor invoices the retailer once the shipment has been made. In this setting, retailer is responsible for inventory investment and holding costs, but has an option of protecting themselves against price fluctuations.
3. Level of Demand Visibility
These elements refer to the type of demand information shared by customers to assist the suppliers in controlling their inventory. Many types of demand information are shared in the VMI Program. The demand information that are visible to the supplier are: sales data, stock withdrawal, production schedule, inventory level, goods in transit, back order, incoming order and return. It is argued that sharing data and inventory can improve the supplier’s production planning, make it more stable and increase its visibility. It also provides a better understanding of the seasonal changes, and helps to figure out critical times. The supplier can therefore take advantage of this information and adapt its production to the customers’ requests, and respond faster. With the increasing visibility of information, the supplier has a longer timeframe for replenishment arrangement.
The supplier also gets real time visibility, which allows him to have a hand on the inventory for the buyer demand forecast, which allows for projecting inventory based on future demand to target his inventory (minimize or maximize it). This stability and coordination allows to reduce the bullwhip effect, as the manufacturer has a clearer visibility on the supply chain and an overview of the incoming demand. On the retailer’s side, all the costs associated with inventory management, (holding costs, shortage costs, spoilage costs, etc.) are greatly reduced. E.g., the retailer will rarely face stock shortage and holding costs are kept at a minimum since just enough inventory is held.
Data is usually updated every week and is transmitted through an EDI, which allows forecasting actual market trends. The data is based on real quantities of produced and sold items. This agreement to share information is aimed at maintaining a steady flow of necessary goods.
Classes of mathematical model.
1. Bi-Level VMI Mathematical Models
The first class of VMI, bi-level VMI mathematical model, includes two levels (or echelons) in a supply chain: vendor and retailer. There are three types of VMI mathematical models developed from this class, which are single-vendor single-retailer VMI model, single-vendor multi-retailer VMI model, and multi-vendor multi-retailer VMI model. This class has been significantly developing. For example, single-vendor single-retailer VMI model was extended for multi-product case, the consignment stock (CS), and discount.
2. Multi-Level VMI Mathematical Models
The second class is a multi-level VMI mathematical model such as a single manufacturer-single vendor multi-retailer (SM-SV-MR) VMI model. Those studies [which] fail to model replenishment frequencies cannot be classified here.
Replenishment frequencies play an important role in integrated inventory models to reduce the total supply chain cost, but it has been noted that many studies fail to model it in mathematical problems.


Abrasive jet machining

Abrasive jet machining (AJM), also known as abrasive micro-blasting, pencil blasting and micro-abrasive blasting, is an abrasive blasting machining process that uses abrasives propelled by a high velocity gas to erode material from the workpiece. Common uses include cutting heat-sensitive, brittle, thin, or hard materials. Specifically it is used to cut intricate shapes or form specific edge shapes.
Process.
Material is removed by fine abrasive particles, usually about in diameter, driven by a high velocity fluid stream; common gases are air or inert gases. Pressures for the gas range from 25 to 130 psig (170–900 kPa or 4 bars) and speeds can be as high as 300 m/s (1,000 km/h).
Equipment.
AJM machines are usually self-contained bench-top units. First it compresses the gas and then mixes it with the abrasive in a mixing chamber. The gas passes through a convergent-divergent nozzle before entering the mixing chamber, and then exits through a convergent nozzle. The nozzle can be hand held or mounted in a fixture for automatic operations.
Nozzles must be highly resistant to abrasion and are typically made of tungsten carbide or synthetic sapphire. For average material removal, tungsten carbide nozzles have a useful life of 12 to 30 hours, and sapphire nozzles last about 400 hours. The distance of the nozzle from the workpiece affects the size of the machined area and the rate of material removal.
Advantages and disadvantages.
The main advantages are its flexibility, low heat production, and ability to machine hard and brittle materials. Its flexibility owes from its ability to use hoses to transport the gas and abrasive to any part of the workpiece. Normally inaccessible portion can be machined with good accuracy.
One of the main disadvantages is its slow material removal rate; for this reason it is usually used as a finishing process. Another disadvantage is that the process produces a tapered cut.


Surface grinding

Surface grinding is done on flat surfaces to produce a smooth finish.
It is a widely used abrasive machining process in which a spinning wheel covered in rough particles (grinding wheel) cuts chips of metallic or nonmetallic substance from a workpiece, making a face of it flat or smooth.
Sometimes a surface grinder is known as a "flick grinder" if great accuracy is not required, but a machine superior to a bench grinder is needed.
Process.
Surface grinding is a finishing process that uses a rotating abrasive wheel to smooth the flat surface of metallic or nonmetallic materials to give them a more refined look by removing the oxide layer and impurities on work piece surfaces. This will also attain a desired surface for a functional purpose.
The components of a surface grinding machine are an abrasive wheel, a workholding device known as a chuck, and a reciprocating or rotary table. The chuck holds the material in place by two processes: ferromagnetic pieces are held in place by a magnetic chuck, while non-ferromagnetic and nonmetallic pieces are held in place with vacuum or mechanical means. A machine vise (made from ferromagnetic steel or cast iron) placed on the magnetic chuck can be used to hold non-ferromagnetic workpieces if only a magnetic chuck is available.
Factors to consider in surface grinding are the material of the grinding wheel and the material of the piece being worked on.
Typical workpiece materials include cast iron and mild steel. These two materials don't tend to clog the grinding wheel while being processed. Other materials are aluminum, stainless steel, brass and some plastics. When grinding at high temperatures, the material tends to become weakened and is more inclined to corrode. This can also result in a loss of magnetism in materials where this is applicable.
The grinding wheel is not limited to a cylindrical shape and can have a myriad of options that are useful in transferring different geometries to the object being worked on. Straight wheels can be dressed by the operator to produce custom geometries. When surface grinding an object, one must keep in mind that the shape of the wheel will be transferred to the material of the object like a reverse image.
"Spark out" is a term used when precision values are sought and literally means "until the sparks are out (no more)". It involves passing the workpiece under the wheel, without resetting the depth of cut, more than once and generally multiple times. This ensures that any inconsistencies in the machine or workpiece are eliminated.
Equipment.
A surface grinder is a machine tool used to provide precision ground surfaces, either to a critical size or for the surface finish.
The typical precision of a surface grinder depends on the type and usage, however ±0.002 mm (±0.0001 in) should be achievable on most surface grinders.
The machine consists of a table that traverses both longitudinally and across the face of the wheel. The longitudinal feed is usually powered by hydraulics, as may the cross feed, however any mixture of hand, electrical or hydraulic may be used depending on the ultimate usage of the machine (i.e., production, workshop, cost). The grinding wheel rotates in the spindle head and is also adjustable for height, by any of the methods described previously. Modern surface grinders are semi-automated, depth of cut and spark-out may be preset as to the number of passes and, once set up, the machining process requires very little operator intervention.
Depending on the workpiece material, the work is generally held by the use of a magnetic chuck. This may be either an electromagnetic chuck, or a manually operated, permanent magnet type chuck; both types are shown in the first image.
The machine has provision for the application of coolant as well as the extraction of metal dust (metal and grinding particles).
Types of surface grinders.
Horizontal-spindle (peripheral) surface grinders.
The periphery (flat edge) of the wheel is in contact with the workpiece, producing the flat surface. Peripheral grinding is used in high-precision work on simple flat surfaces; tapers or angled surfaces; slots; flat surfaces next to shoulders; recessed surfaces; and profiles.
Vertical-spindle (wheel-face) grinders ..
The face of a wheel (cup, cylinder, disc, or segmental wheel) is used on the flat surface. Wheel-face grinding is often used for fast material removal, but some machines can accomplish high-precision work. The workpiece is held on a reciprocating table, which can be varied according to the task, or a rotary-table machine, with continuous or indexed rotation. Indexing allows loading or unloading one station while grinding operations are being performed on another. An alternative term is snow grinding.
Disc grinders and double-disc grinders..
Disc grinding is similar to surface grinding, but with a larger contact area between disc and workpiece. Disc grinders are available in both vertical and horizontal spindle types. Double disc grinders work both sides of a workpiece simultaneously. Disc grinders are capable of achieving especially fine tolerances.
Grinding wheels for surface grinders.
Aluminum oxide, silicon carbide, diamond, and cubic boron nitride (CBN) are four commonly used abrasive materials for the surface of the grinding wheels. Of these materials, aluminum oxide is the most common. Because of cost, diamond and CBN grinding wheels are generally made with a core of less expensive material surrounded by a layer of diamond or CBN. Diamond and CBN wheels are very hard and are capable of economically grinding materials, such as ceramics and carbides, that cannot be ground by aluminum oxide or silicon.
As with any grinding operation, the condition of the wheel is extremely important. Grinding dressers are used to maintain the condition of the wheel, these may be table mounted or mounted in the wheel head where they can be readily applied.
Lubrication.
Lubricants are sometimes used to cool the workpiece and wheel, lubricate the interface, and remove swarf (chips). It must be applied directly to the cutting area to ensure that the fluid is not carried away by the grinding wheel. Common lubricants include water-soluble chemical fluids, water-soluble oils, synthetic oils, and petroleum-based oils. The type of lubrication used depends on the workpiece material and is outlined in the table below.
Effects on work material properties.
The high temperatures encountered at the ground surface create residual stresses and a thin martensitic layer may form on the part surface; this decreases the fatigue strength. In ferromagnetic materials, if the temperature of the surface is raised beyond the Curie temperature then it may lose some magnetic properties. Finally, the surface may be more susceptible to corrosion.


Die (manufacturing)

A die is a specialized machine tool used in manufacturing industries to cut and/or form material to a desired shape or profile. Stamping dies are used with a press, as opposed to drawing dies (used in the manufacture of wire) and casting dies (used in molding) which are not. Like molds, dies are generally customized to the item they are used to create.
Products made with dies range from simple paper clips to complex pieces used in advanced technology. Continuous-feed laser cutting may displace the analogous die-based process in the automotive industry, among others.
Die stamping.
Blanking and piercing are two die cutting operations, and bending is an example of a die forming operation.
Die forming.
Forming operations work by deforming materials like sheet metal or plastic using force (compression, tension, or both) and rely on the material's mechanical properties. Forming dies are typically made by tool and die makers and put into production after mounting into a press.
Differences between materials.
For the vacuum forming of plastic sheet only a single form is used, typically to form transparent plastic containers (called blister packs) for merchandise. Vacuum forming is considered a simple molding thermoforming process but uses the same principles as die forming.
For the forming of sheet metal, such as automobile body parts, two parts may be used: one, called the "punch", performs the stretching, bending, and/or blanking operation, while another part that is called the "die block" securely clamps the workpiece and provides similar stretching, bending, and/or blanking operation. The workpiece may pass through several stages using different tools or operations to obtain the final form. In the case of an automotive component, there will usually be a shearing operation after the main forming is done. Additional crimping or rolling operations may be performed to ensure that all sharp edges are hidden and/or to add rigidity to the panel.
Die components.
The main components of a die set (including press mounting) are as follows. Note that because nomenclature varies between sources, alternate names are in parenthesis:
Steel-rule die.
"Steel-rule" die, also known as "cookie cutter" dies, are used for cutting sheet metal and softer materials, such as plastics, wood, cork, felt, fabrics, and paperboard. The cutting surface of the die is the edge of hardened steel strips, known as "steel rule". These steel rules are usually located using saw or laser-cut grooves in plywood. The mating die can be a flat piece of hardwood or steel, a male shape that matches the workpiece profile, or it can have a matching groove that allows the rule to nest into. Rubber strips are wedged in with the steel rule to act as the stripper plate; the rubber compresses on the down-stroke and on the up-stroke it pushes the workpiece out of the die. The main advantage of steel-rule dies is the low cost to make them, as compared to solid dies; however, they are not as robust as solid dies, so they are usually only used for short production runs.
Rotary die.
In the broadest sense, a "rotary die" is a cylindrical shaped die that may be used in any manufacturing field. However, it most commonly refers to cylindrical shaped dies used to process soft materials, such as paper or cardboard. Two rules are used, cutting and creasing rules. This is for corrugated boards whose thickness is more than 2 mm. Rotary dies are faster than flat dies.
The term also refers to dies used in the roll forming process.
Wire pulling.
Wire-making dies have a hole through the middle of them. A wire or rod of steel, copper, other metals, or alloy enters into one side and is lubricated and reduced in size. The leading tip of the wire is usually pointed in the process. The tip of the wire is then guided into the die and rolled onto a block on the opposite side. The block provides the power to pull the wire through the die.
The die is divided into several different sections. First is an entrance angle that guides the wire into the die. Next is the approach angle, which brings the wire to the nib, which facilitates the reduction. Next is the bearing and the back relief. Lubrication is added at the entrance angle. The lube can be in powdered soap form. If the lubricant is soap, the friction of the drawing of wire heats the soap to liquid form and coats the wire. The wire should never actually come in contact with the die. A thin coat of lubricant should prevent the metal to metal contact.
For pulling a substantial rod down to a fine wire a series of several dies is used to obtain progressive reduction of diameter in stages.
Standard wire gauges used to refer to the number of dies through which the wire had been pulled. Thus, a higher-numbered wire gauge meant a thinner wire. Typical telephone wires were 22-gauge, while main power cables might be 3- or 4-gauge.


Stankoprom

Stankoprom  is a Russian designer and manufacturer of machine tools based in Moscow. It was established in 2013 as part as Russia's Import substitution strategy to reduce the country's reliance on foreign-made machine tools. It includes scientific centers as well as manufacturing plants.
Stankoprom is part of the state-owned holding company Rostec, and it incorporates 14 machine tool manufacturers.
Structure.
Structure of the company:


Job-shop scheduling

Job-shop scheduling, the job-shop problem (JSP) or job-shop scheduling problem (JSSP) is an optimization problem in computer science and operations research. It is a variant of optimal job scheduling. In a general job scheduling problem, we are given "n" jobs "J"1, "J"2, ..., "Jn" of varying processing times, which need to be scheduled on "m" machines with varying processing power, while trying to minimize the makespan – the total length of the schedule (that is, when all the jobs have finished processing). In the specific variant known as "job-shop scheduling", each job consists of a set of "operations" "O"1, "O"2, ..., "On" which need to be processed in a specific order (known as "precedence constraints"). Each operation has a "specific machine" that it needs to be processed on and only one operation in a job can be processed at a given time. A common relaxation is the flexible job shop, where each operation can be processed on any machine of a given "set" (the machines in each set are identical).
The name originally came from the scheduling of jobs in a job shop, but the theme has wide applications beyond that type of instance. This problem is one of the best known combinatorial optimization problems, and was the first problem for which competitive analysis was presented, by Graham in 1966. Best problem instances for basic model with makespan objective are due to Taillard.
In the standard three-field notation for optimal job scheduling problems, the job-shop variant is denoted by J in the first field. For example, the problem denoted by " J3|formula_1|formula_2" is a 3-machines job-shop problem with unit processing times, where the goal is to minimize the maximum completion time.
Problem variations.
Many variations of the problem exist, including the following:
NP-hardness.
Since the traveling salesman problem is NP-hard, the job-shop problem with sequence-dependent setup is clearly also NP-hard since the TSP is a special case of the JSP with a single job (the cities are the machines and the salesman is the job).
Problem representation.
The disjunctive graph is one of the popular models used for describing the job-shop scheduling problem instances.
A mathematical statement of the problem can be made as follows:
Let formula_3 and formula_4 be two finite sets. On account of the industrial origins of the problem, the formula_5 are called machines and the formula_6 are called jobs.
Let formula_7 denote the set of all sequential assignments of jobs to machines, such that every job is done by every machine exactly once; elements formula_8 may be written as formula_9 matrices, in which column formula_10 lists the jobs that machine formula_5 will do, in order. For example, the matrix
means that machine formula_13 will do the three jobs formula_14 in the order formula_14, while machine formula_16 will do the jobs in the order formula_17.
Suppose also that there is some cost function formula_18. The cost function may be interpreted as a "total processing time", and may have some expression in terms of times formula_19, the cost/time for machine formula_5 to do job formula_6.
The job-shop problem is to find an assignment of jobs formula_8 such that formula_23 is a minimum, that is, there is no formula_24 such that formula_25.
Scheduling efficiency.
Scheduling efficiency can be defined for a schedule through the ratio of total machine idle time to the total processing time as below:
formula_26
Here formula_27 is the idle time of machine formula_28, formula_29 is the makespan and formula_30 is the number of machines. Notice that with the above definition, scheduling efficiency is simply the makespan normalized to the number of machines and the total processing time. This makes it possible to compare the usage of resources across JSP instances of different size.
The problem of infinite cost.
One of the first problems that must be dealt with in the JSP is that many proposed solutions have infinite cost: i.e., there exists formula_31 such that formula_32. In fact, it is quite simple to concoct examples of such formula_33 by ensuring that two machines will deadlock, so that each waits for the output of the other's next step.
Major results.
Graham had already provided the List scheduling algorithm in 1966, which is -competitive, where m is the number of machines. Also, it was proved that List scheduling is optimum online algorithm for 2 and 3 machines. The Coffman–Graham algorithm (1972) for uniform-length jobs is also optimum for two machines, and is -competitive. In 1992, Bartal, Fiat, Karloff and Vohra presented an algorithm that is 1.986 competitive. A 1.945-competitive algorithm was presented by Karger, Philips and Torng in 1994. In 1992, Albers provided a different algorithm that is 1.923-competitive. Currently, the best known result is an algorithm given by Fleischer and Wahl, which achieves a competitive ratio of 1.9201.
A lower bound of 1.852 was presented by Albers.
Taillard instances has an important role in developing job-shop scheduling with makespan objective.
In 1976 Garey provided a proof that this problem is NP-complete for m>2, that is, no optimal solution can be computed in deterministic polynomial time for three or more machines (unless P=NP).
In 2011 Xin Chen et al. provided optimal algorithms for online scheduling on two related machines improving previous results.
Offline makespan minimization.
Atomic jobs.
The simplest form of the offline makespan minimisation problem deals with atomic jobs, that is, jobs that are not subdivided into multiple operations. It is equivalent to packing a number of items of various different sizes into a fixed number of bins, such that the maximum bin size needed is as small as possible. (If instead the number of bins is to be minimised, and the bin size is fixed, the problem becomes a different problem, known as the bin packing problem.)
Dorit S. Hochbaum and David Shmoys presented a polynomial-time approximation scheme in 1987 that finds an approximate solution to the offline makespan minimisation problem with atomic jobs to any desired degree of accuracy.
Jobs consisting of multiple operations.
The basic form of the problem of scheduling jobs with multiple (M) operations, over M machines, such that all of the first operations must be done on the first machine, all of the second operations on the second, etc., and a single job cannot be performed in parallel, is known as the flow-shop scheduling problem. Various algorithms exist, including genetic algorithms.
Johnson's algorithm.
A heuristic algorithm by S. M. Johnson can be used to solve the case of a 2 machine N job problem when all jobs are to be processed in the same order. The steps of algorithm are as follows:
Job Pi has two operations, of duration Pi1, Pi2, to be done on Machine M1, M2 in that sequence.
If the minimum belongs to Pk1,
Remove K from list A; Add K to end of List L1.
If minimum belongs to Pk2,
Remove K from list A; Add K to beginning of List L2.
Johnson's method only works optimally for two machines. However, since it is optimal, and easy to compute, some researchers have tried to adopt it for M machines, ("M" > 2.)
The idea is as follows: Imagine that each job requires m operations in sequence, on M1, M2 … Mm. We combine the first "m"/2 machines into an (imaginary) Machining center, MC1, and the remaining Machines into a Machining Center MC2. Then the total processing time for a Job P on MC1 = sum( operation times on first "m"/2 machines), and processing time for Job P on MC2 = sum(operation times on last "m"/2 machines).
By doing so, we have reduced the m-Machine problem into a Two Machining center scheduling problem. We can solve this using Johnson's method.
Makespan prediction.
Machine learning has been recently used to "predict" the optimal makespan of a JSP instance without actually producing the optimal schedule. Preliminary results show an accuracy of around 80% when supervised machine learning methods were applied to classify small randomly generated JSP instances based on their optimal scheduling efficiency compared to the average.
Example.
Here is an example of a job-shop scheduling problem formulated in AMPL as a mixed-integer programming problem with indicator constraints:
param N_JOBS;
param N_MACHINES;
set JOBS ordered = 1..N_JOBS;
set MACHINES ordered = 1..N_MACHINES;
param ProcessingTime{JOBS, MACHINES} > 0;
param CumulativeTime{i in JOBS, j in MACHINES} =
 sum {jj in MACHINES: ord(jj) <= ord(j)} ProcessingTime[i,jj];
param TimeOffset{i1 in JOBS, i2 in JOBS: i1 i2} =
 (CumulativeTime[i1,j] - CumulativeTime[i2,j] + ProcessingTime[i2,j]);
var end >= 0;
var start{JOBS} >= 0;
var precedes{i1 in JOBS, i2 in JOBS: ord(i1) < ord(i2)} binary;
minimize makespan: end;
subj to makespan_def{i in JOBS}:
 end >= start[i] + sum{j in MACHINES} ProcessingTime[i,j];
subj to no12_conflict{i1 in JOBS, i2 in JOBS: ord(i1) < ord(i2)}:
 precedes[i1,i2] ==> start[i2] >= start[i1] + TimeOffset[i1,i2];
subj to no21_conflict{i1 in JOBS, i2 in JOBS: ord(i1) < ord(i2)}:
 !precedes[i1,i2] ==> start[i1] >= start[i2] + TimeOffset[i2,i1];
data;
param N_JOBS := 4;
param N_MACHINES := 4;
param ProcessingTime:
1 2 3 4 :=
1 4 2 1
2 3 6 2
3 7 2 3
4 1 5 8;


Hyundai IHL

Hyundai IHL Co., Ltd. is an automotive components manufacturing company headquartered in Gyeongju, South Korea. It was established in 1993 as Inhee Industrial Co. and changed its name to IHL in 2005. Its principal products are car lights.
References.
https://web.archive.org/web/20110726114213/http://www.hankyung.com/news/app/newsview.php?aid=2008011466141


Lacoste & Battmann

Lacoste & Battmann, Lacoste et Battmann, was a French manufacturer of automobiles, based in Paris, from 1897 until 1913.
Company history.
Jacques Lacoste founded the company J. Lacoste et Cie in Paris in 1897 for automobile production. In 1901 the name was changed to Lacoste & Battmann and 1905 in Lacoste & Battmann Ltd.
The company sold limited numbers of finished vehicles under its own name, and via its own marques: (1905) and . In addition finished chassis, equipped with Aster, De Dion-Bouton or Mutel engines, were supplied to competing companies such as : , Horley Motor & Engineering Co. Ltd (sold as "Horley" and "No Name"), Imperial, Simplicia and , which completed the chassis and bodywork to offer complete cars under their own names.
Production ended in 1913.


Nova Measuring Instruments

Nova Ltd. (formerly Nova Measuring Instruments) is a publicly traded company, headquartered in Israel, a provider of metrology devices for advanced process control used in semiconductor manufacturing. Shares of the company are traded on the NASDAQ Global Market and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
History.
Nova Ltd. was founded in May 1993 by Giora Dishon and Moshe Finarov. Dishon graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a Ph.D in materials science. Finarov earned a Ph.D in semiconductor physics from the Technical University in Moscow.
Intel Corporation became a client of and investor in Nova in 1997. In 1999 Nova announced the establishment of a subsidiary in Japan, Nova Measuring Instruments K.K., and that it was opening offices in Singapore in order to expand its presence in the Asia-Pacific market. Nova executed its initial public offering on the NASDAQ exchange in April 2000. In 2006 Nova acquired HyperNex Inc., a Pennsylvania-based developer of microstructure analysis tools.


Item-level tagging

Item-level tagging (or RFID item-level tagging, also known as ILT) is the tagging of individual products, as opposed to case-level and pallet-level tagging.
Item-level tagging is used to track individual items in order to better control inventory, by providing retailers with the ability to tag individual items on the retail floor.
Previously, RFID tags were used to track pallets of merchandise, rather than individual items, through the supply chain. With the use of printed RFID tags, retailers are now able to track inventory at the item level, scan the tag, and know the location.
Retailers are pushing for tagging each individual item. In fact, large companies like Wal-Mart, JC Penney, and Dillard’s are issuing electronic product code mandates, where they request their suppliers to comply with these EPC protocols. In 2005, it was required that the suppliers use RFID tagging at the pallet and case level, but now it is required that they tag on the item-level as well. The reason why is it so important for them to implement this is because they want to avoid losing a sale over an out-of-stock item, which they believe accounts for a big part of their losses. Also, if they know where an item is at all times then it easier to move it to where it is supposed to be. By doing this they reduce transportation costs, they gain added shelf visibility and it drives down wasteful overstock.
Benefits.
Item-level tagging provides a quick, automated, cost efficient and accurate way to track inventory through the supply chain and in the retail environment.
Benefits to item-level tagging include better visibility and control of inventory and an expansion of customer experience capabilities.
Item-level tagging is critical in order to determine how much inventory is on the floor, what sizes and colors need to be restocked and what inventory is available in stock rooms. Other benefits include the ability to keep a fully stocked floor, increased time and labor savings, increase inventory accuracy, and reduction in clearance items due to incorrect inventory and excess ordering.


Motion control

Motion control is a sub-field of automation, encompassing the systems or sub-systems involved in moving parts of machines in a controlled manner. Motion control systems are extensively used in a variety of fields for automation purposes, including precision engineering, micromanufacturing, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. The main components involved typically include a motion controller, an energy amplifier, and one or more prime movers or actuators. Motion control may be open loop or closed loop. In open loop systems, the controller sends a command through the amplifier to the prime mover or actuator, and does not know if the desired motion was actually achieved. Typical systems include stepper motor or fan control. For tighter control with more precision, a measuring device may be added to the system (usually near the end motion). When the measurement is converted to a signal that is sent back to the controller, and the controller compensates for any error, it becomes a Closed loop System.
Typically the position or velocity of machines are controlled using some type of device such as a hydraulic pump, linear actuator, or electric motor, generally a servo. Motion control is an important part of robotics and CNC machine tools, however in these instances it is more complex than when used with specialized machines, where the kinematics are usually simpler. The latter is often called General Motion Control (GMC). Motion control is widely used in the packaging, printing, textile, semiconductor production, and assembly industries.
Motion Control encompasses every technology related to the movement of objects. It covers every motion system from micro-sized systems such as silicon-type micro induction actuators to micro-siml systems such as a space platform. But, these days, the focus of motion control is the special control technology of motion systems with electric actuators such as dc/ac servo motors. Control of robotic manipulators is also included in the field of motion control because most of robotic manipulators are driven by electrical servo motors and the key objective is the control of motion.
Overview.
The basic architecture of a motion control system contains:
The interface between the motion controller and drives it control is very critical when coordinated motion is required, as it must provide tight synchronization. Historically the only open interface was an analog signal, until open interfaces were developed that satisfied the requirements of coordinated motion control, the first being SERCOS in 1991 which is now enhanced to SERCOS III. Later interfaces capable of motion control include Ethernet/IP, Profinet IRT, Ethernet Powerlink, and EtherCAT.
Common control functions include:


Micro injection molding

Micro injection molding is a molding process for the manufacture of plastics components for shot weights of 1 to 0.1 grams with tolerances in the range of 10 to 100 microns. This molding process permits the manufacture of complicated small geometries with maximum possible accuracy and precision.
Basic concept.
The basic concept of the micro injection molding process is quite similar to the regular injection molding process. In this process, a micro injection unit is integrated in the injection molding machine. When it comes to the production of micro components the machine and process technology mainly depend on the below points:
Critical factors.
Parting line issue.
A parting line (PL) is the line of separation on the part where the two halves of the mold meet. The parting line matching for micro parts is a big issue. The interlocking features of mold cavity and core for precise mating are used to reduce such issues.
Degating issue.
Another major critical factor of micro injection technology is that the smaller part size causes problems with degating (gate removal).
Sprue and runner size.
Runner and sprue diameters are another concern. The total volume of the feed system (sprue, runners and gates) can exceed the volume of the parts by a factor of 100 or more.
Materials and applications for micro injection molding.
The most common polymers used in micro injection molding are reported in the table below:
Machine used for micro injection molding.
In the 1980s, micro injection molding techniques utilized traditional injection molding, but no dedicated machines were available until the mid-1990s. Currently, commercial micro molding systems are produced from Milacron, Arburg, and Sumitomo Demag as micro injection units for regular machines. At the same time, Wittmann Battenfeld, Babyplast and Desma are manufacturers of dedicated micro injection molding machines.
Milacron developed two types of micro injection units:
Arburg developed a micro injection molding machine with an 8 mm injection to ensure high degree of dosing precision. This type of machine is combined with a second screw, which is responsible for melting and homogenous mixing of the material.
Sumitomo Demag developed a customized micro molding injection unit suitable for micro parts weighing of 5 g to 0.1 g.
Applications.
Micro injection molding is widely applied for parts and devices in the medical, pharmaceutical, electronics, automotive, optical and other industries. In general, the medical micro injection molding market is the leading one, due to an increase in the usage of sophisticated micro components for endoscopic surgery, minimally invasive treatments, point-of-care testing and other advanced technology developments. Applications in other fields include parts for electric motors, micron-tolerance door components, thing-wall containers, etc.
Market prospects.
The miniaturization of automotive, medical, electronics, telecommunications devices is driving the need for micro molding of smaller components. The global polymer and thermoplastic micro molding market covering medical, automotive, electronics and telecommunications was valued at $308m in 2012. The micro injection molding plastic market was valued at $1,145.85 million in 2022 and is anticipated to reach $2,640 million by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.0% from 2023 to 2030.


Light resin transfer moulding

Light resin transfer moulding (Light RTM) is a process by which products of Composite materials are manufactured using a closed mold system.
Procedure.
Similar to the methods performed in resin transfer molding, Light RTM involves a closed mold process. A vacuum holds mold A and mold B together to result in two finished sides with fixed thickness levels. Vacuum rings around the tools hold the molds together for this process after dry fiber reinforcements are loaded into mold A before joining with mold B.
The air is vacuumed out of the molds with a lower vacuum level, separate from the tooling. After the air is removed the resin is injected into the part. The vacuum remains in effect into the resin is cured.


Green supply chain management

Green supply chain management (GSCM) is the consideration of environmental issues in supply chain management.
Definitions and scope.
GSCM has been defined as follows:
Srivastava (2007) defines GSCM’s scope as ranging "from reactive monitoring of general environmental management programs to more proactive practices implemented through various Rs (Reduce, Re-use, Rework, Refurbish, Reclaim, Recycle, Remanufacture, Reverse logistics, etc.).” From an entrepreneurial perspective, entrepreneurial GSCM is a new approach to environmental management executed by green entrepreneurs across whole supply chains instead of thinking in terms of individual non-environmental firms. This new holistic view can integrate individuals, companies, and supply-chains of different entrepreneurs from various countries together in an environmental friendly way.
GSCM criteria.
A nonexhaustive list of GSCM criteria from D. Kannan et al. (2014) is given below.
Relative importance of criteria.
Instead of concentrating equally on every criterion, more attention should be given to the most important criteria. D. Kannan et al. (2014) calculated the importance of criteria by taking the preferences of 3 decision-makers:
In this table, the preferences of criteria are given in terms of linguistic variables. From these linguistic variables, calculations were done to find out the ranking of the importance of criteria.
Form the above graph; it is clear that the top 4 most important GSCM criteria are
This result was obtained when the authors considered the GSCM criteria for choosing a supplier for an electronics company in Brazil (a developing country). Depending on the situation, it is possible that other GSCM criteria are deemed to be more important by the decision-makers. (For example, if the same research were done in a developed country instead of a developing country, other criteria might have received a higher ranking).
Barriers.
Tumpa et al., 2019 conducted a study to find the hurdles faced while implementing GSCM practices. The study was conducted in the textile industry of Bangladesh (a developing country). Some of the most important hurdles were found out to be
Other hurdles may be more important in different situations (Example – if the study were done in a developed country instead of a developing country)
Another considerable hurdle for firms trying to implement GSCM practices is the fact that many suppliers along the complete supply chain reside outside of any direct organizational control from the firm. Supply chains are often built upon a network of individual suppliers and a firm's ability to meet their Corporate Sustainability Standards can be hindered by suppliers with which they do not directly interact.