Project Design, Implementation, and Evaluation - Case Study Example

Unit Title: The Design, Imрlеmеntаtiоn and Еvаluаtiоn of a Рrоjесt Unit Number: 3. Qualification: Pearson Level 4/5 - HNC/HND Engineering. Assignment Title: Assignment No: 2. Date: ------------ Tutor name: ---- Student Name: Contents 1. SUMMARY A project involves any form of activity to formulate components or undertake an assignment over a specified period of time. This paper is an implementation report on the project carried out, formulation of a lathe chuck lift in the workshop. The project was involved undertaking different activities that lead to the finalization and presentation of the final product. These activities are planned and carried outstep by step and progressively until the final product is implemented. The procedures and specifications for the implementation of the project are the basis of the project success. This paper is a description of the designs we come up with and the criteria and processes we employed in ensuring that the assignment was complete in time. Various necessary materials were identified after which he project was carried out. The paper is divided into different tasks: TASK 1: Conceptualization of the design and evaluation of the chosen design project TASK 3: Record of the processes undertaken during the project together with a synopsis of the research activities 2. INTRODUCTION Following the design specifications and procedure for any project is very important because it helps reduce redundancies while increasing efficiency and being economical. Project planning uses tools such as Gantt charts, logbooks, and tables to assign time frames to activities in a project so that project implementation is smooth and effective. These tools are used to also group similar activities in a project and also break activities into manageable portions. This report is a description of a movable lathe lift for the purpose of moving the chuck of the lathe machine. The various designs conceptualized in this assignment were analyzed and each assessed to come up with the best of the designs basing on various design criteria for example: Target Costs What is the end user cost of the product? What is the maximum cost of production to be realized? Performance What is the maximum weight that the portable winch can tolerate? What is the rate of the draw in cable? What is the braking torque produced when a braking system is employed? What is the desired weight of the final product? Manufacturing Processes Is there capacity to increase in terms of manufacturing? Who are the main raw material suppliers? Quality and Reliability In terms of quality, are we able to offer our clients a guarantee? How safe are our devices? Standards and Specifications Which standards should we adhere to during production? Safety Are all the safety standards already met? Disposal How are we going to get rid of the non-biodegradable components? (Roozenburg and Eekels, 1995) 3. REPORT AND ANALYSIS TASK 1D SAFETY Safety is a very important factor in the design of any engineering component; this is because these components are designed to be operated by humans and therefore the safety of the operator while handling the equipment is paramount. Design B in this case has really factored in the aspect of safety of the operator. His can be evidenced by a number of things as illustrated below: Stable and wide base: The base of the lift will ensure it does no topple because the base is wide and extends beneath the lathe machine by about 2 meters during operation of the lift. Strong cables: The types of cables employed in the case of design B are very strong and will ensure they do not snip while in operation. This will ensure that the lift will not fail in the area of safety overload device. Safety standards: we ensure that all the safety standards are met in the design. Some of the standards adhered to include: BS 6105 and BSEN 20898(1) Bolts and BS 6322(2) & BS 4320 Nuts and washers. Maintenance: The lift should not operate while maintenance is being carried out. MANUFACTURE The manufacturing process for the lift should be a systematic and with an orientation for future expansion. For this case, the parts of the lift are easy to manufacture considering there are several connecting rods making the manufacturing process easy. The parts are easily available and easy to assemble making this design score highly on the design matrix. Capacity is also available for the market of the lift for increase in production without investment. COSTS What are the end user costs? The design uses readily available resources assembled to make the component. Use of readily available and recyclable materials found in the workshop for example metal pieces for connecting links and other connecting rods make the design simple yet efficient and inexpensive at the same time. This goes a long way in ensuring that the end user cost is highly reduced to make the product available for the market and to attract customers wanting to consume the product. What is the maximum cost to be realized? The component was assembled and manufactured using readily available materials in the surroundings. Some of the materials are recyclable and can be easily replaced. The design is also not complicated as clearly indicated in the sketch in the tasks above. This lowers the cost of production because we did not source the materials for production from anywhere else to incur transformational costs for example. We also ensured that the cost of production is minimal by utilizing minimal labor from outside and most of the work was by me. EASY TO USE This design has scored greatly on the ease to use part due to the design consideration it has put in place to ensure that the operator will be able to carry out the tasks the machine was meant to handle with ease. The various considerations employed in the design are for example: Mobility: the design has wheels on the base to ensure that it moves along any surface. The wheels rotate and hence making the design move in any direction during operation and afterwards. There is also a lever help with the mobility of the equipment. Stability: during operation, the equipment is very stable due to the presence of locks on the wheels to ensure that it is stationery. This goes a long way to ensure also the safety of the operator. The component also has an extended base that gets under the lathe bed and hence providing stability against toppling and preventing the user from holding the equipment against fail. RELIBIALITY Quality and reliability of the lift should be such that it does not fail within a period of five years. The materials used to making the product are durable and it is ensured that they met the different standards for manufacture. The different materials were sampled and tested for this for durability. Some of the tests include the tensile test for strength for example. The component is also put o test runs to correct any mishaps and ensure that it is working as outlined. RECYCLABILITY To reduce on the waste materials, the design is to use recyclable materials in the manufacture. The parts used in the manufacture are also to be disposed correctly and most of them are to be reused for other purposes like the construction of other parts of machines. Other factors to do with the environment include the noise levels which are to be kept at a minimal by use of this machine to avoid noise pollution. Recycling of the parts of the mechanism is very viable owing to the fact that the frame is made of metal that can be recycled into other forms in the foundry workshop for example. Other parts that can be recycled include cables and winch of the mechanism. All measures should be put into place to ensure that all these components are not discarded to pollute the surrounding but can be also reused as spare parts for other mechanisms for example. PRODUCTION The production of the components should be done on a small scale then growth is anticipated to be gradually to reach to outside markets. The production process of the component is easy to carry out as the materials are easily available and easy to form too. Local procedures are carried out on the materials. Some of the process to be undertaken for production of the element include: welding of bar joints to form the base of the design and generally the support structure. The product is intended to stay in the market for a period of not less than 10 years. The spare parts will also be available for 10 years afterwards. The life in service for the component will be assessed against the criteria outlined in the performance and environmental categories. EFFICIENCY Efficiency is a very important factor I consideration of any engineering components, it is the rate of measure of how the energy applied is converted into useful work. The design should ensure that this is the case in lifting the chuck heads and any other products in the workshop. The lift should be able to lift up to 250kg and draw the cable at a rate of 0.2 m/s. the winch drive should snap when the load is in excess of 10% of the specified load. The overall design efficiency for the design should be above 95%. TASK 3B Stages of the Project Tasks Set Day for Accomplishment Actual date for accomplishment Date Submitted Conceptualization of the Idea 7/04/2017 7/04/2017 7/04/2017 Establish a data collection plan 10/04/2017 10/04/2017 10/04/2017 Collection of data 11/05/2017 14/05/2017 14/05/2017 Project design 20/05/2017 20/05/2017 20/04/2017 Design presentation 24/05/2017 24/05/2017 24/04/2017 Awaiting approval 05/06/2017 08/06/2017 13/06/2017 Patenting 29/06/2017 29/06/2017 29/06/2017 Patent presentation 30/06/2017 30/06/2017 30/06/2017 Carry out a pilot run 02/07/2017 02/07/2017 02/07/2017 Testing the first products 09/07/2017 11/07/2017 11/07/2017 Requesting for more resources 18/07/2017 18/07/2017 18/07/2017 Requesting for more materials 25/07/2017 25/07/2017 25/07/2017 Massive production 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 Documentation 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 Forming a marketing team 02/08/2017 02/08/2017 02/08/2017 Strategy development 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 01/08/2017 Doing adverts 13/11/2017 13/11/2017 13/11/2017 TASK 3C Title: Synopsis of Research Activities The project entailed observing standards and laws of physics; this means therefore that a lot of research had to be carried out in order to meet design specifications. The different materials involved in handling the project and the activities undertaken are described in the synopsis below. This is a kind of self-managed learning where I had to do the research and seek extra self-learnt knowledge about the project design and specifications. Project category: Engineering Design/Formulating a Project Process Descriptions Internet The internet was a major source of information for the project regarding the design specifications. Most of the design specifications for example the specifications for the bolts and nuts were obtained from web sources. The internet was also as source of information on the type of material to use so that the production cost is cheap and the recyclability of the design is heightened. The design also utilized cost, dimension, and other design approximations basing on the provided approximations found on various websites for example (DeSimone, 2017). Books Books written by early scholars provide insight on how to handle project designs in engineering. There are product design specifications guiding the formulation of the projects for example. Engineering books also provide content on the standards in engineering for example safety standards, welding standards, bearing standards and nuts and washers (Lewis, Chen and Schmidt, 2006). . Examples: BS 5000 part 99 Motor Performance BS 6105 and BSEN 20898(1) Bolts BS 3019 Welding BS 5989 Bearings BS 6322(2) & BS 4320 Nuts and washers Speaking to Experienced Personality People who had already handled similar projects or any other projects have perspectives, ideas and the experience on handling projects. They may give ideas on how to handle the project in terms of time saving, management of tasks and project planning. From their experiences, we can learn what to avoid and what to carry out. An illustration of the areas I learnt from speaking to people with experiences is shown by the project planning of activities in the previous task where I have listed the activities undertaken and allocated them the different time as shown. Seminars and Conferences In seminars people present new ideas and concepts on doing things. It is here that different perspectives can be easily obtained on how to handle different designs in engineering. People are also open about their experiences in manufacture and you get to learn how to handle a certain problem better or with ease. It is easy to relate with certain situations as they are presented to you in a seminar scenario. You reflect upon what is being said and connect it to the problem you had then come up with a solution. In this design for example, different manufacture ideas were obtained from the seminar and conferences we attended before and during the time we working on the project (Seminarsforengineers.com, 2017). In conclusion, the different methods of research and learning discussed above are paramount in ensuring that resourceful data and information about project design is attained. This methods are a source of information that might not been obtained from anywhere else and provide an aid in how well to carry out the project with ease and efficiency and without much strain. Other methods could be employed in future for example engagement in small but well organized groups of colleagues to discuss ideas and how the product can be handled. 4. DISCUSSION The project is about the formulation of a lift winch used to lift chuck head in the workshop. The project has put into consideration the various design specification and considered various design standards and made sure they were considered ion the formulation of the design. For ease of manageability, the project was divided into subgroups by use of tool like Gantt charts and logbooks. The advantages of using these tools are that: Division of the project into manageable and convenient tasks Grouping of similar tasks together Saves time because the project is subdivided into easy subgroups that are easy to manage. The project involved materials that were recyclable, simple and easily available in the surrounding but maintaining the quality of the component. Design specifications were paramount in the design procedure for the component. To come up with a good quality Product Design Specifications had to be adhered to and these included looking at: Performance of the product Life span Target costs Manufacturing process Quality and reliability Standards and specification Safety CONCLUSION In conclusion, this report entails discussions on implementation of the project assignment. The implementation of this project was carried out successfully and this will be illustrated in the prototype showcased during the presentation. The project was managed using logbooks and Gantts charts that were used to group similar tasks together for ease of working. these tools also enable saving of time due to the fact that one task can continue simultaneously with the other task going on to maximize on the available time and deliver the end product in time. Having adhered to the specifics and all other design parameters and standards of manufacture, it is without doubt that this project was implemented with the efficiency and quality it deserves. It is also of importance to mention that the design is an engineering solution to save operators the burden of manually lifting the heavy chuck heads during operations on the lathe that require moving the chuck head for example during replacing or cleaning components at the chuck head. References DeSimone, B. (2017). Bins, Hoists, Benches, Lockers, Conveyors, Shelving, Trash Receptacles, Winches. [online] Gilmorekramer.com. Available at: http://www.gilmorekramer.com/cgi-bin/quikstore.cgi?category=Winches_-_All_Types [Accessed 28 Jun. 2017]. Lewis, K.E., Chen, W. and Schmidt, L.C. eds., 2006. Decision making in engineering design (p. 3). New York: ASME Press. Seminarsforengineers.com. (2017). Seminars for Engineers. [online] Available at: http://www.seminarsforengineers.com/ [Accessed 28 Jun. 2017]. Roozenburg, N.F. and Eekels, J., 1995. Product design: fundamentals and methods (Vol. 2). Chichester: Wiley. Read More