Do standardised environmental management systems (EMS) lead to improved environmental performance? This depends on to what extent these systems lead to changes in important flows of material and energy, which for manufacturing companies, in turn, mean that the product development process is important. Consequently, it appears vital to investigate the connection between EMS and ‘Design for the Environment’ (DFE), i.e. the connection between these management systems and concepts that deal with environmental issues in product development.

This paper presents product-oriented environmental management systems (POEMS), including characteristics of existing models, experiences from projects where these models have been tested and experiences concerning the product connection in ‘normal’ EMS. It includes a discussion of important factors influencing to what extent DFE activities are integrated into EMS and/or the outcome of such integration.

There are many motives for integrating the two concepts. Firstly, DFE thinking might enrich EMS by contributing with a life-cycle perspective. If EMS encompassed products' life cycles to a greater extent, they would be a better complement to the often facility-oriented legal requirements and authority control. Secondly, EMS might remove the pilot project character of DFE activities and lead to continuous improvement. Thirdly, integration could lead to successful co-operation, both internally and externally. However, existing studies show that there is a mixed picture concerning the extent ‘normal’ EMS currently encompass products.

For standardized environmental management systems (EMS) to be environmentally effective tools, they should affect important environmental aspects related to flows of materials and energy, which for manufacturing companies are closely connected to their products. This paper presents how external environmental auditors interpret and apply important product-related requirements of ISO 14001 at manufacturing companies in Sweden.

The results indicate that the link between EMS and products is rather weak. Products are seldom regarded as significant environmental aspects and are therefore not within the main scope of many EMS, which are mainly focused on sites. However, all of the interviewed auditors require that some kind of environmental considerations be incorporated into product development, but these considerations are to large extent site oriented; how they are prioritized in relation to other factors such as economics and other customer priorities appears to be up to the companies.

The paper includes some recommendations to strengthen the role of products within the framework of standardized EMS.

This thesis was conducted at Linköping University and SAAB Aerostructures, Linköping, and focuses on the automation of flexible fixturing in machining applications. At Linköping University a project called "Koofix" is conducted with support from Strategiska stiftelsen and several manufacturing industries including SAAB Aerostructures. The purpose of this project is to develop a more cost-effective, flexible, technique for fixation of workpieces during processing and assembly.

Fixtures are an important part during the machining process, especially if you process the parts with high accuracy. Today a large number of fixtures are used at SAAB and they would prefer to reduce the number of fixtures by using flexible fixtures instead. SAAB uses one fixture for each article and this result in a high fixture cost and it also takes time to design and construct a new fixture.

There are several advantages with using a flexible fixture such as that you can process workpieces with different length, height and thickness in the same fixture. Bigger workpieces takes time to fasten in the fixture because the machine operator must tighten the clamps by hand. By automating the fixture with for example grippers or clamping cylinders the set time would be reduced because the clamping process is automatic.

In this report there is also a mapping of various flexible fixture components such as grippers, clamping cylinders and linear units. These components are quite common today in the processing industry and are also used in fixtures. The idea of flexible components is to provide a more flexible and automated fixture then the currently used at SAAB. These components were also linked to a concept idea and based on this idea, several concepts were sketched. The result of the concept idea was two concepts that were generated in the CAD program CATIA.

The first concept uses grippers for the clamping process and for additional flexibility the grippers can also be rotated with rotary actuators. Linear units are used to automatically position the beams to reduce the set time. The second concept uses clamping cylinders and rotary grippers to clamp the workpiece. Beams are positioned by an operator, but linear units could also be used in this concept as well.

Finally, the concepts were evaluated according to a method from Ullman with a so called decision matrix. The concept that fulfilled the criteria best was concept 1, which uses grippers and linear units. Another method that was used from Ullman was a QFD (Quality Function Deployment) chart and this chart shows the design requirements that are important and that should be fulfilled.

The components that are presented in this report have not been tested. This could be a suggestion in an upcoming work to test these components. For example the pneumatic linear units with passive or active brake could be tested to make sure that the braking force is sufficient.

The project ProFlexA aims towards automating the cleaning of die-casted steel goods at lowvolumes by using new adaptive technology such as flexible fixtures and grippers and forcefeedback. The project is run by Linköpings Tekniska Högskola and Lunds TekniskaHögskola, with support from three foundries from the middle of Sweden together with systemintegrators and suppliers.Automation of the cleaning of die-casted goods has been a subject of both scientific andcommersial interest for a long time. There are working solutions today, but these are mostlyaimed towards aluminum goods and larger volumes.The purpose of this thesis was to examine if Robotstudio, and more specifically its add-inmodule Machining, was suitable for usage in the cleaning of die-cated goods. To make thispossible when using harder materials force feedback is required, which is possible to use inthis earlier mentioned module.To be able to test the machining module and get an understanding of what Robotstudio iscapable of, a self-study of the program was conducted. As a partial goal of the self-study avisual robot cell was generated according to one of ProFlexA:s earlier concepts for cleaningof die-casted goods. This process involved both the part of Robotstudio that handles thegeometry and the part that handles the robot programming, which is the one that was going tobe the most important during the tests later on. After this, Robotstudio was connected to theexisting robot system and the physical tests were planned and prepared. The tests were thenconducted to examine the user friendliness and exactness of the machining module.

Conclusion

• Robotstudio is easy to use for a new user with previous experience in robot controland RAPID programming.

• Generating robot paths in the machining module usually takes less time.

• Further tests aimed at force feedback should be conducted when possible.

ldentifying and attending to faults and shortcomings in the design before it reaches the market is crucial in order to achieve a profitable product. Letting the customer detect the shortcomings in the design is not an acceptable approach today, and will inevitably lead to unsatisfied costumers. Activities aimed at identifying faults in the product may becarried out during the entire design process, but faults identified late in the design process will require more resources to put right, and may affect the performance negatively to a higher degree than faults identified upstream in the process. This article aims to develop the theory and methodology regarding identification of potential failures in a system upstream from the design process. The result presented in this article comprises a method for modelling failuresand a process for identirying potential failures in conceptual solutions. The result is based onqualitative system modelling, where the known physical phenomena are compared to the system in order to evaluate the potential of different behaviour occurring. The effects the behaviour emits determine its impact on the system, and thus the potential for a failure. The article concludes with a comprehensive example demonstrating, and to some extend verirying, the method of identifying potential failures.

This dissertation embraces the issue of evaluating design concepts. Being able to sort out the potential“best solutions” from a set of solutions is a central and important part of the design process. The subjectdiscussed in this dissertation has its origins in the lack of knowledge about design concepts, somethingwhich is characteristic of the initial part of the design process and which frequently causes problems whenit comes to evaluation and selection of solutions. The purpose of this dissertation is to develop aids andmethods that enhance the understanding of design concepts in the early phases of the design process.

From deductive reasoning about the fundamental mechanisms of the evaluation activity, the work hasbeen divided into three different areas: process and system modelling, concept optimisation, andidentification of potential failures.

The bearing of the work within the area of process and system modelling has a verifying character. Theobjective of the work has been to analyse how established design methodology, which has its commonapplications within traditional engineering industry, may be applied within an area that is characterised bymore multidisciplinary interfaces, like biotechnology. The result of a number of case studies, in whichdifferent types of biotechnical systems where analysed and modelled, shows that the methodology isapplicable even for biotechnical products. During the work the methodology has also been furtherelaborated on in order to better suit the distinguishing characteristics exhibited in the development ofbiotechnical systems.

Within the area of concept optimisation, an approach for optimising the concept generation has beenelaborated. By formalising the step in both concept generation and evaluation, it has been possible toapply genetic algorithms in order to optimise the process. The work has resulted in a model thatautomatically creates and sorts out a number of potential solutions from a defined solution space and adefined set of goals.

The last area, which deals with identification of potential failures, has resulted in a rather novel way toconsider and model the behaviour of a system. The approach is an elaboration of the modellingtechniques within system theory, and deduces the system’s behaviour from known physical phenomenaand the system’s ability to effectuate them. The way the different behaviours interact with one another, byaffecting the properties of the system, determines the potential for a failure to occur. A “failure”,according to the model, is described as an unintended behaviour which obstructs the system’sfunctionality, i.e. which affects the conditions of a desired behaviour.

The dissertation has resulted in three different means for approaching the difficulties associated with theevaluation of design concepts. The means are applicable during different parts of the design process, butthey all address the same issue, viz. to enhance the understanding of the design solutions.

Decisions made during the conceptual phase of the design process are crucial for long-term economic success. The correction of late-identified failure is often both difficult and time consuming, and may have a negative effect on performance. In the prevalent design methodologies, there are shortages concerning systematic and objective methods to evaluate solutions with respect to weak spots and errors, especially early in the design process. The objective of this article is to strengthen the evaluation methodology by examining the possibilities to identify potential problems within conceptual solutions, and to develop a means that facilitates the evaluation regarding this matter. The results presented in this article may be divided into two parts: a descriptive part where a generic approach of modelling the failure behaviour is proposed and a prescriptive part where a foundation of a methodology for identification of potential failure is outlined.

Four complex biotechnology products/product systems (a protein purification system, a bioreactor system, a surface plasmon resonance biosensor, and an enzymatic glucose analyzer) are analyzed using conceptual design principles. A design model well-known in mechanical system design, the Hubka-Eder (HE) model, is adapted to biotechnology products that exemplify combined technical systems of mechanical, electronic, and biological components, here referred to as bio-mechatronic systems. The analysis concludes that an extension of the previous HE model with a separate biological systems entity significantly contributes to facilitating the functional and systematic analyses of bio-mechatronic systems.

Global warming and peak oil are drawing attention to new types of energy technologies. Since transportation is one of the main contributors to carbon emissions and one of the biggest consumers of oil, new technologies to propel vehicles are being introduced. For the automotive industry, where the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) has had complete dominance for some hundred years, the transition to new powertrains will be challenging for the entire operation.

These new powertrain vehicles must not only be developed and tested, which is an enormous challenge in itself; they must also be manufactured with the same efficiency as ICE vehicles in order to reach a competitive price. There is great uncertainty regarding which powertrain solution will become the next paradigm, or even if there will be a new propulsion paradigm as dominant as the ICE. This, in combination with the fact that these new powertrain vehicles will initially be produced in relatively small volumes, probably calls for them to be produced in current manufacturing facilities mixed with ICE vehicles. This challenge is the foundation for this research.

In order to manage the manufacturing challenges related to the introduction of new powertrain vehicles, both theoretical and empirical data have been analysed in this research. The empirical data is taken mainly from interviews, the author’s own observations and workshops with Volvo Cars and SAAB Automobile.

In order to produce new powertrain vehicles in existing facilities, flexibility are identified as central components in this research. However, the flexibility needs to be achieved without affecting the efficiency of the manufacturing system. To achieve flexible automotive final assembly, four key flexibilities are identified in this research:

• Mix Flexibility
• New Product Flexibility
• Modification Flexibility
• Volume Flexibility

To achieve these flexibilities, three key factors are identified and investigated in this research:

• Mixed Model
• AssemblyModularity
• Platform Strategy

This research describes these key factors’ relationship with one another, as well as their relationship to the key flexibilities. This research describes how the key factors are used to achieve flexibility in current final assembly, and how they can be used in future automotive final assembly. This is presented as a relationship model to combine flexibility and efficiency in automotive final assembly.

A first step towards a stringent automotive product architecture-platform-vehicle structure is presented, along with key factors that are important in a successful automotive platform strategy. Guidelines are also described for how new powertrain vehicles should be designed in order to achieve as efficient final assembly as possible.

For the automotive industry, where the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) has had complete dominance, the transition to new powertrains will be challenging. The new powertrain vehicles must be manufactured with the same efficiency as ICE vehicles in order to reach a competitive price. This article explores some of the manufacturing challenges related to workload differences in current products and those associated with the introduction of new powertrain vehicles in a Mixed Model Assembly line for ICE vehicles. Three possible solutions to workload differences are described in theory, including how they are used in the current manufacturing system and how they might be used when introducing new powertrain vehicles. The solutions found were sequencing, dedicated assembly stations and modularity. In conclusion, it is suggested that modularity is the most efficient method in terms of flexibility and utilization, and some design approaches to facilitate efficient manufacturing are also suggested.

This article aims to describe the benefits, problems and challenges associated with a platform strategy. Based on theoretical and empirical studies, some key factors for a successful platform strategy are identified and discussed. This paper also explores how a successful platform strategy in the automotive industry should be designed. There is no stringent platform definition in the automotive industry, and the definition varies between different manufacturers and over time. A literature review has been completed to identify some key factors in successful platform strategies. The identified factors are as follows: Bill of Process, Hard Points, Wheelbase, Track Width, Powertrain Architecture and Drive Wheel Positioning. These factors were then investigated at both SAAB Automobile and Volvo Cars through the authors´ own observations conducted during factory visits and interviews. This was done in order to evaluate the identified factors from their effect on the production system and the final product. These factors are considered important to be able to get scale benefits from the use of common components and production processes, at the same time as they allow vehicles to be tailored for different markets and customer needs.

The undergoing adaptation of mass customization, alongside the development and demand for new power trains, is challenging the manufacturing system of automotive manufacturers. This, in combination with demands from emerging markets and constantly decreasing product lifecycles, calls for increased flexibility. Based on the research findings, key flexibility types for the automotive industry were identified as Mix, New Product, Modification and Volume flexibility. To achieve these flexibilities, the mixed model assembly, modularity and platform strategies are identified as important factors. A generic BOP as part of the platform strategy is central to enable transferring of production.

With recent technical development computer aided design and manufacturing has taken amore important role in the product life cycle. New business segments such as Product/ServiceSystems and remanufacturing is emerging. This development demands better control of theproduct data throughout the entire product life cycle. Computer aided design is widelyrecognized and used within the manufacturing industries and in recent years the importance ofDigital manufacturing has increased. One part of Digital manufacturing is paperlessproduction which involves all orders and working instruction shown for example on a screenrather than on a piece of paper. In order to aid companies in creating better workinginstructions Dassault Systémes has launched the product 3Dvia Composer.The company DELFOi is working with digital manufacturing on the Nordic market and is areseller of Dassault Systémes products. DELFOi wants to know if 3Dvia Composer hasanything valuable to add to their product portfolio, what profits may be gained from it andwhat type of costumers that can make use of the product. DELFOi also wants to know whatparts of the product life cycle that can be covered by 3Dvia Composer and how to implementthe program into their product portfolio.To achieve this five companies that operate in different parts of the product life cycle wasinterviewed in order to map how they work with instructions and to identify their needsregarding their methodology. Theories about man/machine-interface have been studied andthese theories, together with the result from the interviews, form the base from which thepossibilities of 3Dvia Composer are evaluated. The software is also compared to other similarsoftware in a benchmarking. A document that describes the implementation process for 3DviaComposer at a customer site is compiled and presented.The study shows that interactive working instructions has a lot of advantages and can solve alot of problems related to work instructions that are identified in this study. 3Dvia Composeris a competent software for creating interactive work instructions. Regardless, great deals ofresources are required to sell 3Dvia Composer due to that most companies, even though theyidentify a lot of problems, seem satisfied with the current method for working instructions,and therefore do not seek change.

The remanufacturing industry as a whole, and the automotive sector in particular, have over the years proven to be beneficial to the environment and economically lucrative to the companies involved as well as to their customers. However, the different processes within remanufacturing are associated with complicating characteristics, not least to mention the process of core acquisition, which is not present in traditional manufacturing.

This paper presents a qualitative study based on interviews from six SMEs regarding challenges linked to the reverse logistics of SMEs remanufacturing and trading automotive components, acting as a first attempt to identify the specific challenges concerning the collection phase of automotive mechatronics and electronics remanufacturing. Challenges previously identified by researchers are confirmed, additional challenges within the collection phase are recognized and challenges expected to arise when remanufacturing and trading automotive CAN bus components are identified and discussed. The major concern for the involved companies when auspicating future challenges is the handling, transportation and storing of cores. Even though the cores today mainly consist of mechanical components, these challenges are still present; they are expected, however, to become even more crucial when cores contain electronic components.

Plastic recycling is an increasingly important issue intoday’s society. The number of plastics and theirvariation with additives has increased lately, affecting inturn the possibilities for plastic material recycling.However, trends in e.g. Japan show a reduction in thenumber of plastics used in e.g. household appliances.This reduction has been put into force in order to easeplastic recycling for those kinds of products.In Sweden, more efforts are put on collecting plasticfor material recycling. The intention for doing this is tohave more plastic material recycled rather thanincinerated and energy recovered. This paper deals witha conceptual investigation and development of anautomatic plastic recycling plant in Sweden. In order toreach a recycling plant that fulfills required technical andeconomic specifications, a large investigation of existingtechniques was performed. This investigation revealedmany techniques described in research, but also whichtechniques that were used by recycling industry today.The results of these studies became a conceptual andpotential well-functioning material recycling plant forplastics which is fully automatic. However, the focus ofthis development has been to sort out and materialrecycle the most common plastics, namely polyetene(LDPE and HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene(PET), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polystyrene (PS)whereas the other plastics have been sorted out forenergy recovery. Having these delimitations, a goodrecycling process plant can be achieved.

Sales of television sets and computer monitors with flat panel displays have increased dramatically in recent years, and are expected to result in approximately 2.5 billion liquid crystal displays in Europe in the near future. A large investment will be required in Europe as well as globally to handle the large numbers of flat panel displays that are beginning to enter the waste stream today.Given the long-term effects of increased energy and raw material costs, as well as political directives to effect climate change and environmental pollution, it will be a necessity as well as a business opportunity to recycle both the raw materials and components from electronics waste. It is already an accepted truth that “today’s waste is tomorrow’s resources”.The research for this paper aims at exploring what process concepts there are for making an automatic recycling process of flat panel displays. The recycling process shall be both economical and practical to implement in the existing recycling industry.This paper is based on the requirements and needs facing Swedish electronic recycling companies due to the growing amount of electronic waste. This includes the material that will enter an automated flat panel display recycling facility, together with the material and components of interest.The conceptual process has been developed by conducting literature reviews and interviews with recycling companies, as well as by performing practical tests and financial calculations. The result of the evaluation of concepts shows that a circle-saw concept is most suitable, since it has high capacity and provides a good working environment in comparison to the other concepts studied.

The element mercury is one of the most hazardous substances known. Still, it is common in the air, water, soil and products we use in our daily life. LCD TVs is one of these products. To prevent the mercury in the LCD TVs from polluting the environment, the LCD TVs are recycled. This is done through automatic shredding or manual disassembly where the mercury can spread in the work environment, the process equipment or to the recycled material. This is due to broken CCFLs in the LCD TVs which contain the mercury. The aim of this paper is to investigate, through a literature review and an empirical study, the amount of mercury released into the work environment due to broken CCFLs from LCD TVs. In the literature review there were found the amount of mercury other researchers has found in CCFLs from LCD TVs, and also where the mercury was found. In the empirical study, the amount of mercury in a LCD due to broken CCFLs were measured and validates the results from other researcher and states that the mercury is difficult to predict.

The amount of flat panel displays in the World is increasing and the day whenthe displays will start to end up in the waste stream in great number is getting closer. Themost common flat panel display, the liquid crystal display, contains liquid crystals, indiumand mercury. The capacity of the recycling plants is not dimensioned according to theamount of displays that needs to be recycled in the near future. To increase the capacity ofthe recycling plants and achieve a better work environment there is a possibility to automatethe recycling process in a greater extends comparing with today. The requirements andneeds of the automated processes are to handle; all incoming material, e.g. liquid crystaldisplays, plasma display panel, organic light emitted diode, other types of displays andother electronic waste, identify and separate the different incoming materials, disassemblethe material and separate the components and materials of interest.

Recycling is a new and developing industry, which has only been researched to a limited extent. This article describes the development and use of instruments for data collection within a multidisciplinary research programme "Recycling centres in Swede - working conditions, environmental and system performance". The overall purpose of the programme was to form a basis for improving the function of recycling centres with respect to these three perspectives and the disciplines of: ergonomics, safety, external environment, and production systems. A total of 10 instruments were developed for collecting data from employees, managers and visitors at recucling centres, including one instrument for observing visitors. Validation tests were performed in several steps. This, along with the quality of the collected data, and experience from the data collection, showed that the instruments and methodology used were valid and suitable for their purpose.

Denna bok baserar sig på de forskningsresultat och erfarenheter som kommit fram inom forskningsprogrammet ”Framtidens återvinningscentral” som är ett multidiciplinärt forskningsprogram som drivits vid Linköpings universitet under åren 2002-2007.Boken vänder sig till alla som är involverade vid planering, byggnation, ombyggnation och drift av återvinningscentraler. Dessa kan vara ansvariga inom kommuner, arkitekter, konsulter, arbetsledare på återvinningscentral, skyddsombud, fackliga förtroendemän med flera.

The objective with this thesis project was to with the simulations software Delmia make a working build philosophy for the new concept of the fixed leading edge for the Airbus A320 airliner, but also to make two conceptual fixtures in the modular framework BoxJoint for pre-drilling of two sub assemblies.

Everything started with a study in Delmia to both recap on previous knowledge and to learn more about it. This was followed by early simulations on the new concepts that were provided by project partners. Then a study was made in the Affordable Reconfigurable tooling, ART-concept. A suggested build philosophy was created and possible areas for automation were identified. These areas were all the drilling and fettling operations except the drilling in the last stage where the pre-drilled holes are opened up. More investigations needs to be done to see if a robot can install and remove slave pins that are used in the last stage. Two conceptual designs on fixtures were created where one uses two industrial robots with vision systems to get the correct accuracy when drilling the product. The other was build to be able to use a Tau-Gantry robot solution together with a vision system.

The objective of this paper is to present examples of how to realize a flexible and reconfigurable production system. An ongoing research project in Sweden called Factory-in-a-Box will be presented which is one research initiative within this area. The purpose of the Factory-in-a-Box project is to develop solutions for mobile production capacity on demand. Three key features have been identified as enablers for these kinds of production capabilities: mobility, flexibility, and speed. The concept consists of standardized modules that can be installed in e.g. containers and easily transported by trucks, rail vehicles, and boats. The modules can easily be combined into complete production systems and reconfigured for new products and/or scaled to handle new volumes. The goal of the Factory-in-a-Box project is to build fully operative production modules that are developed in close cooperation between different academic and industrial partners. This paper will present the results from these demonstrators giving examples of the usability of the Factory-in-a-Box concept in industry.

In the current situation is the straight tube cutter, that provides Luvata’s line of large recoolers with copper tubes, manually operated. To prevent damages and facilitate mounting the tubes must be properly arranged when they leave the machine. This report aims to investigate and present an automated solution where the operator does not need to participate in the process. A number of theories have been drawn up and tests have been done. The results show that the in principle best solution is to have a leaning carrier that’s automatically height-adjusted by two lift tables underneath. The height adjustment keeps a constant distance between the top tube layer and rollover protection bars on the machine. That is done to allow the carrier to have a high enough angle to ensure that the tubes roll down even if they aren’t completely straight, but without rolling over the previous tubes. To evaluate the solutions Ulrich and Eppingers method for Concept scoring was used. This method means that the various solutions are scored and weighted based on a number of criteria’s, and the output is measurable results.

Life cycle engineering deals with technologies for shifting the industry from mass production and mass consumption paradigm to closed loop manufacturing paradigm, in which required functions are provided for customers with the minimum amount of production. This subject is discussed from the various aspects, such as life cycle design, design for environment, reduce/reuse/recycle, life cycle assessment, and sustainable business models.

Advances in Life Cycle Engineering for Sustainable Manufacturing Businesses gathers together papers from the 14th CIRP Life Cycle Engineering Conference. This conference is the longest running annual meeting in the field, in which papers are presented regarding developments of leading edge technologies, proposals of new concepts, and prominent industry case studies.

The work presented in this report is written at IEIs department on Linköping Institute of Technology. The report aims to increase the assembly efficiency at Wigells AB. The report shall be used as a guide for the implementation of changes at other workstations in the company. Together with Träcentrum in Nässjö, Wigells AB has identified the needs of this study and contacted IEI at Linköping Institute of Technology.

In order to implement an efficient assembly line at the company, studies on lean production have been made. This theory has been studied and together with our own views and findings at the company we have analyzed the assembly area.

Wigells is a small company that manufactures wood furniture. A major problem for the assembly of the pin seats is that the company has a wide range of different models and designs.

In order to identify problems and possible improvements we first carried out a current state analysis of the assembling area.

The current state analysis shows that there are many operations in the manufacture of pin seats which are routine. Production consists today of manual operations and no automatic equipment. The company does not wish to acquire any automatic equipment.

The assembly location is perceived by outsiders and employees of the company as disorganized. After the current state analysis was conducted and compiled, problems were identified in order to enable improvements.

Identified difficulties in assembly:

• Difficult to get an overview of the assembly area, it is perceived disorganized and cluttered assembly area
• No documentation for assembly
• Defective components from external suppliers
• Defective components from internal machines

In order to create solutions to problems discovered we had to link theory and our own views together to suggest new proposals. The major problem requiring a solution is how to pass on the existing craftsmanship and knowledge.To enhance the efficiency of the assembly area many small changes that are suggested must be implemented. The company should get the staff involved in the changes proposed in this work to get best result.

The trend of outsourcing within the electronic industry has contributed to the creation of new types of extended enterprises. These extended enterprises must be able to manage a challenging situation with shorter product life cycles and increased collaboration between companies during the vital product introduction process. For the electronic industry, which is currently acting in an “era of hyper-competition”, it is a challenge to implement an efficient and flexible collaboration within an extended enterprise during the product introduction process. In the product introduction process, a product design is prepared for and transferred into production.

During the course of this research, the electronic industry has changed continuously. Empirical data were first collected within an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that was responsible for its own production. Based on a strategic decision at the OEM, a new extended enterprise was established. In general, these new extended enterprises within the electronic industry consist of: a “product owner” in the form of an OEM that owns the product design and its brand; a “producer” in the form of an Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) company that is responsible for the production; and suppliers of services, material, components, equipment etc. However, in the later stages of this research the studied EMS was responsible for the product introduction, production and distribution of the product to the end user. In order to compare and contrast trends and lessons learned in similar industries, case studies within the mechanical engineering and aerospace industries also were performed.

The dissertation primarily describes the process of collaborative product introduction (PI) within the electronic industry, and presents among other things a number of general conditions for efficient collaborative PI within an EE in that industry. First, a clearly communicated definition of what is included in product introduction is needed. A second condition is that early participation from all involved partners in the EE’s product introduction process supports efficient collaboration. Third, clear communication and information handling within the extended enterprise – both internally and externally – was found to facilitate collaboration. Fourth, business approaches should be built on trust, reliability and respect for each other’s competence. Finally, the importance of cultural awareness, both between different companies and countries, cannot be ignored. This research also presents a framework for supporting collaborative product introduction within an extended enterprise, which serves to both synthesize and summarize much of the research.

The trend of outsourcing within the electronic industry has contributed to the creation of new types of extended enterprises. These extended enterprises must be able to manage a challenging situation with shorter product life cycles, increased co-operation between companies during product development, more individualized products, etc.

In general, these new extended enterprises consist of: a "product owner" in the form of an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) that owns the product design and its brand; a "producer" in the form of an Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) company that is responsible for the manufacturing; and suppliers of services, material, components, equipment etc. In some cases the producer has the responsibility for the product introduction process. In the product introduction process a product design is prepared for and transferred into production. The product introduction includes the design of the production system.

The challenging situation in the electronic industry demands an efficient and flexible manner of work during the product introduction process within an extended enterprise. The objective for this thesis is therefore to explore and describe, on a general level, factors, parameters, and conditions that are of importance for an efficient product introduction within an extended enterprise.

In the research empirical data were. first collected within an OEM that was responsible for its own manufacturing. Based on a strategic decision at the OEM a new extended enterprise was founded. This new extended enterprise consists of the original OEM as a product owner, an EMS as a producer with responsibility for product introduction and manufacturing, and their suppliers. After this strategic decision, further empirical data were collected within this newly founded extended enterprise.

The analysis of the empirical data made it possible to explore and describe a generic product introduction process. Furthermore, a generic structure of an extended enterprise is presented and the main conditions to fulfill in order to achieve an efficient product introduction within an extended enterprise are described. These main conditions are:

1. A clear defmition of what is included in product introduction.
2. Early participation from Production System Design in the product development project.
3. Clear communication and information handling within the extended enterprise - both internally and externally.
4. Business approaches built on trust, reliability and respect for each other's competence.

The outsourcing trend within the electronic industry during the last decade has founded new company networks - so called extended enterprises (EEs). Future products will, to a higher degree. be jointly developed and produced within these EEs consisting of product owners. producers and suppliers. The transfer of a design into production - product introduction (PI) or industrialization - needs to be suitable for co-operation within EEs with the aim of shorten the time from concept to volume production.

This paper will describe PI within an EE relevant for the electronic industry. A definition of the PI process will be presented. Furthermore. a performed case study gives the following overall and fundamental criteria to consider working with PI within EEs. 1) A clear definition of what is included in PI, 2) Early participation of all participants in the product development project. 3) Clear cormmmication and information handling within the EE and 4) Business approach build on trust. reliability and respect for each other's competence.

During the last four years the global annual production of mobile telephones has increased four times. To Ericsson Mobile Communications AB's supply unit in Linköping, Sweden, this has been a tremendous challenge. The supply unit has increased the produced volume of mobile telephones six times during this period at the same premises. The strategy for the production-engineering depattment was to change the manual assembly line into an automated assembly line. The automated assembly line was built up with SONY smart cells. During 1998 the volumes increased rapidly and the automation strategy where copied to the test stations for the mobile telephones.

This paper discusses the importance of how to link a manufacturing strategy to economical calculations. A case study at Ericsson Mobile Communications AB shows how financial calculations was used when changing from manual testing to automated testing of mobile telephones. Even though all benefits were not accounted for. the studied automation project for automated board test had a calculated pay back period of 7 months. The decreasing production volumes for mobile telephones made that the real yearly cost for the investment increased dramatically compared to the calculated investment cost. The decision-makers need to analyze the risks in an investment calculation due to the uncettai.nty in data used in the calculations. For example, it can be difficult to analyze the risks depending on the difficulty to predict the development for the product market and the future product volumes. The investment calculation result can also differ depending on who is delivering the numerical data that are included in the calculations.

Many companies collaborate in company networks in order to increase the competence available for development and manufacturing of products. These companies need to exchange information during all phases in a product realisation project. This information may be very sensitive, eg in the early concept phases for a new product or very important for the production output in the later phases. The objective of this paper is to investigate opportunities and challenges with IT support for interorganisational complex product realisation for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing industry. Based on three industrial cases the findings show that there are three types of challenges to manage for SMEs that want to collaborate; (1) strategic collaboration, (2) im-provement collaboration, and (3) operative collaboration. These three types of collaboration are critical in order to improve the way customers are served by SMEs.

Design and manufacture of fixtures are among one of the major cost drivers in product industrialization. Modular or reconfigurable fixture solutions that may be adapted to encompass a large variety of parts or products have been researched and employed in applications ranging from machining to assembly. These solutions have not only the potential to reduce fixture manufacturing cost, but they also render it possible for different solutions to facilitate and speed up actual design work. The process of designing fixtures today is complicated, time consuming and require long experience by the tool designer. In this paper we present the Configurator approach - add on programs to the CAD-software which aids the designer in the design process. The Configurators are semi-automated and interactive, designed to use in compliance with the ART-concept, a reconfigurable fixture concept for assembly applications. The Configurator approach has been tested on industrial cases and parts of the results are presented in this paper.

Variability in composite manufacture and the limitations in positional accuracy of common industrial robots have hampered automation of assembly tasks within aircraft manufacturing. One way to handle geometry variations and robot compliancy is to use force control. Force control technology utilizes a sensor mounted on the robot to feedback force data to the controller system so instead of being position driven, i.e. programmed to achieve a certain position with the tool, the robot can be programmed to achieve a certain force. This paper presents an experimental case where a compliant rib is aligned to multiple surfaces using force feedback and an industrial robot system from ABB. Two types of ribs where used, one full size carbon fiber rib, and one smaller metal replica for evaluation purposes. The alignment sequence consisted of several iterative steps and a search procedure was implemented within the robot control system. The technology has the potential to lessen the need for dedicated tooling, reduce the need for traditional workspace calibration and can be used in several other applications, such as pin and socket type assemblies found in pylons or landing gear or “part to part” assemblies such as leading edge ribs to spar.

Manufacturing processes are subject to increasing product changes, product diversity and customisation, higher quality demands and shorter lead times, all of which are drivers for new flexible approaches to manufacturing. As a result modular and reconfigurable fixture solutions have been both researched and commercialized. One of these is the ART, “Affordable Reconfigurable Tooling” concept, which relies on an external measuring system rather than internal accuracy of all fixture parts. Traditionally for dedicated fixtures shims are often used to achieve desired position and tolerances. This paper presents the “Mini Flexapod”, a small 6 degree of freedom reconfigurable device as part of the ART concept. The Mini Flexapod is designed to eliminate shimming and therefore has a small working envelope of approximately ± 4mm. Three different designs of the Mini Flexapod are presented, together with an illustrative application case from aircraft manufacturing. Further work will be done to improve design and to develop an intuitive operator interface for adjusting the Mini Flexapod.

The design and manufacture of fixtures and other dedicated tooling for positioning of workpieces are among the major cost drivers in product industrialization. This has spurred research and commercial interest towards other fixturing solutions like reconfigurable fixtures, with the ability to be changed, or  reconfigured , to suit different parts and products. When reconfiguring, the product interface not only has to be moved but moved to a desired position and orientation. Several different approaches have been used to move and position these devices, all with their own advantages and disadvantages. This article presents different methods used to position and reconfigure flexible fixture devices using a parallel kinematic device as a case. Discussing the different ways to reconfigure a flexible device, the article aims to arrange the techniques according to their key features.

To use thin wedges of metal to adjust fixtures, i.e shimming, has been a common approach to achieve desired position and tolerance. To build a fixture using shims is time-consuming and results in a fixture that is difficult to modify. The newly developed ART (Affordable Reconfigurable Tooling) concept addresses the need for flexible fixturing by means of reconfigurable supports that are set to desired position by guidance from an outer measuring system. The ART concept can be realized by means of several different reconfigurable devices, among these is the newly developed “Mini Flexapod”. This small 6 degree of freedom reconfigurable device was designed to eliminate shimming and therefore has a small working envelope of approximately 4x4x4 mm. The Mini Flexapod is a result of working with several manufacturing cases  described in this paper.

Drilling is one of the most costly and labour-intensive operations in aircraft assembly. Rather than automating with expensive fixtures and precise machinery, our approach is to make use of standard low-cost robot equipment in combination with sensor feedback. The focus is to eliminate the sliding movement of the end-effector during the clamp-up, called the skating effect, and to keep the end-effector orthogonal to the surface, thus avoiding holes that are not perpendicular. To that end, force feedback is used for building up pressure to clamp up an end-effector to the work-piece surface prior to drilling. The system, including the planning of force parameters for each hole to be drilled, was programmed in DELMIA. The drilling was accomplished with the aid of an extension to the ABB Rapid language called ExtRapid, which is an XML-like code that is interpreted by the force feedback controller downstream in the process. Although experimental results are from drilling, the conceptual idea is believed to be useful in many other applications requiring external sensor feedback control of industrial robots.