Applications of Supportive Technologies for Design and Product Development - Coursework Example

Introduction Recently, the opening up of the locally available markets to be able to compete in the global market has led to major fundamental changes in the development of new products. In order for the customers to remain in the market, they should be able to rise to a level of world class manufacturers and be able to sustain that level for the entire period they are in operation. This involves customer satisfaction through production of goods of high quality, a short delivery time at a very reasonable cost and a safe working environment (Wohlers and Terry, 1999). New designs in the manufacturing industry normally come with a number of unexpected problems and in this case, a prototype is often used a component of the process of product design in order to allow the engineers and manufacturers to explore design alternatives and also test the performance and hence improve the design and workability of the design. The technology of rapid prototyping makes use of a number of computer controls, engineering and software techniques such as 3D CAD models and in this way proper models can be produced (Friedrich, 2001). Question 1 Conceptual design Normally, the phase of conceptual design commences once an analysis of the needs of the customer which actually dictate the aesthetic and technical features of the product. In this phase, we try to define the actual needs that are connected to the type of product which intend to design and also the needs of the customer. From the analysis of the needs of the customers, we can easily identify the target of the project and also the methodology to be followed in order to achieve these targets. This must be done while at the same time giving priority to the critical issues of the model (Friedrich, 2001). In conceptual design, some very important tools are used including quantity function development (QFD) which gives a connection between needs and the corresponding measuring value. Another tool used in this phase is the concept screening and storing arrays which supports the generation of concepts and determination of final phases. The selection of the concepts is normally based on an identified criterion (Chua and Leong, 2003). Embodiment and detail design. This phase starts after the conceptual has been completed. In this phase, a number of activities are involved including: finalization of the architecture of the product, quantification of the important parameters of design and the determination of the form and the shape of various parts that will satisfy the desired functions (Jerome, 2004). The following are some very important elements of embodiment and detail design. a. The architecture of the product The architecture of the product refers to the arrangement of the physical elements of any given product in order to be able to carry out its functions. It deals with the physical structure of the product. The physical building blocks of a given product include chunks, sub systems, sub assembly, clusters and modules. The styles used in analysis of the architecture of the product include both modular style and integral style (Joseph, 2002). The interfaces that exist between two or more modules are very critical when one is deciding on the product architecture. A process which has four steps is used to establish the product architecture. The four steps include the following: 1. Creation of a schematic diagram of the product 2. Clustering the elements of the given scheme 3. Creation of a rough geometric layout 4. Identification of the fundamental and incidental interactions. b. Design of the configuration This involves the establishment of the shape and the general dimensions of the components. The components that are used in this configuration include: special purpose parts, standard paths, assembly, sub assembly and modules. In this process, we establish the spatial constraints, create and refine the interfaces, establish some very critical dimensions and then begin to make considerations for the process of manufacturing the product (Joseph, 2002). The elements of a configuration of a given part are usually typical features such as solid elements, walls and add-ons to walls. Some very important factors must be considered in this process including excessive stress, fatigue, buckling and shock loads. c. Parametric design In this process, the attributes that had been established in configuration design become the design variables in this phase. This includes attributes such as dimensioning, tolerance, materials, surface finish and heat treatment. Parametric design aims to set values for the existing design variables in such a way that they are able to produce the most appropriate design taking into consideration the manufacturing process and the performance of the product (Joseph, 2002). Parametric design takes into consideration some very crucial aspects including: 1. Failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) 2. Design for the reliability of the product 3. Robustness of the design 4. Tolerance of the product At the end of this process, the expected product is a developed prototype of the product. d. Detail design This is the final phase of design. It involves preparation of detailed technical drawings of the product, preparation of bills of materials and making decisions on the subsequent operations of the process of manufacturing the final product (Jerome, 2004). Manufacturing The basic idea of the process of manufacturing is to create a product that has a form that is useful. The form of the product is usually predetermined and pre calculated in the previous phases of design and has a particular physical geometry. The geometry normally has certain tolerances that must be met for it to be accepted. The main goals for all the processes of manufacturing are: 1. Ensuring that the performance requirements have been met 2. Ensuring that the requirements for the cost of production have been met 3. The ability to ensure that there constant reproduction of quality products in mass production 4. The ability to ensure that the components that are to be manufactured have uniform properties across the component. A common property about all manufactured products is that they are all made from a particular material. Selecting materials of high quality is very important and should be a concern to every manufacturer. At the same time, one must consider the process to be used in manufacturing the product (Jerome, 2004). The materials may be of high quality but the process may not be effective or economic. There should be a proper feedback mechanism existing between the process of manufacturing and the optimization of the materials. This will help one to monitor the variations in the whole process including both the dependent and the independent functions. For quality assurance after the product has been produced, tests and checks must be done. Sales market After the product has gone through the manufacturing process, it is now ready for marketing and distribution to the potential customers. Marketing will involve coming up with a marketing strategy through creation of a business plan. Computer related skills such as word processing and spreadsheets come in handy to boost the creation of marketing strategies. For proper marketing, a widget for the product with the brand name should be created and used to sell the product. A strong marketing team should be set up to ensure the product is properly marketed. Question 2 Reverse engineering Reverse engineering refers to the process of duplicating a component that already exists, a subassembly or a product without the aid of any drawings, documentations or computer models. It can actually be said to be a process whereby one analyses the system with the following intentions: 1. Identification of the components of the system and how they are interrelated 2. Creation of some representations of the existing system in another different form that may have a higher level of abstraction. 3. Creation of a physical representation of the system. In this section the focus will be mainly on the application of reverse engineering in the design of new products and re-design of a component of a product that was broken or failed to function or functions improperly. a. Design of new products Reverse engineering is commonly used in different fields of engineering including software engineering, automotive engineering, consumer products, microchips, electronics and entertainments (Jerome, 2004). In the design of new products, designers normally assign a shape to their ideas using any available materials such as wood, plaster or foam and then these ideas are modeled into CAD software. The CAD model is crucial in the process of manufacturing the product. There is normally a big challenge in modeling the product on CAD as it becomes more organic and hence there is not guarantee that the model will turn out to be as acceptable as the model that has been sculpted. In this case, reverse engineering provides a good solution in a process called part to CAD. This process helps to shorten the time taken in production of physical representations from the CAD models. CAD models are produced from point data using surface fitting algorithms in order to generate surfaces accurately (Graham, 1996). However, most CAD systems are not usually designed to process large data sets of point data and therefore the amount of data that must be generated needs to be well monitored. Surface data can be generated from cloud data although there has a major development of feature based algorithms which are now in use and these enable designers to work with point data to produce solid models. b. Re-design of a component of a product that was broken or failed to function or functions improperly. In this case, redesign of already existing products is mainly focused on the geometric model of the product and also the ISOG code that can be used to replace the tool in the shortest time possible. Reverse engineering can be used to perform this task by importing the designed CAD model and then the scanned points of the scanned parts are superimposed (Flowers & Moniz, 2002). The software used in reverse engineering gives the user an opportunity to make a comparison of the two manufactured parts. The existing joints can also be scanned and new ones designed around the specified area. The output of this process is usually in formats such as IGES, VDA, STL, DXF, OBJ, VRML and ISO G Code (Graham, 1996). Question 3 Role of the supportive structures in RP&M The basic principle of manufacturing of RP&M technology is slicing and stacking. Several support structures exist and usually come in to support and ensure that there is a much more efficient process of production of the products. The following are the roles of the support structures. 1. They help in the identification of crucial problems that are existent in the processes of manufacturing. 2. The supportive structures also help in the determination of the most vital factors that need to be measured, analyzed, improved and put in control. 3. They also help in the definition of the performance standards. 4. The supportive structures are also used to validate the system of measurements. 5. These structures also come in handy in establishment of relationships between different variables. 6. Lastly, the supportive structures enable early detection of existing design errors. The supportive structures are required for fabrication of 4 parts shown below in special instances whereby it is not possible to use the two methods of fabrications which are Stereolithography (SLA) and Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) machines (Graham, 1996). The first case whereby support structures may be required in where the polymers used have an extremely high level of density. Since Stereolithography normally involves building of parts by use of light to project the photo curable resin and hence make it to solidify and form a layer, the elevator of the system must be lowered by a small distance of the thickness of the layer. The recoating mechanism must be used as a supportive structure to ensure that the parts shown below are formed (Graham, 1996). (A) (B) (C) Question 4 Methods used for the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in the UK In order to protect the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in UK of the manufactured products, the following steps will be followed. a. Determination of the type of the intellectual property the product has through conduction of an internal intellectual property audit in order to identify the following: 1. The copyrights 2. The design rights 3. The registered designs 4. The confidential information 5. The patents and 6. The trademarks b. Conduction of an internal IP audit In this step, the following factors will be considered. i. Trademarks a) Registered marks of the products b) Business names for the product c) Logos d) Design of the websites e) Slogans for the product f) Product packaging ii. Copyrights a) The registered copyrights of the products b) Photographs of the product c) Illustrations d) The content in the websites about the products iii. Patents a) The issued patents a) The pending applications b) The mechanical devices used in the manufacture of the products c) The computer based business processes. d) Confidential information e) Knowledge about both the inside and outside environment of the product f) Value of the products g) Customer details h) Pricing of the product. i) Business plans or the product c. Prioritization of the intellectual property In this step, one must take into consideration the cost of the product and compare it against the benefits of the product. One should also compare the offensive side of the product against the defensive side of the product. d. Implementation of measures to protect the intellectual property Implementation can be either internal or external. For internal properties to be considered are: a) Registration of the intellectual property b) Payment of the registration fees c) Protection of any confidential information For the external implementation, the following must be done: a) Identifying the intellectual property which in this case is the manufactured product b) Renewal of any underlying documents c) Conducting your own policing activities for your intellectual property e. Enforcement of the intellectual property This will be achieved through the set u systems such as the UK boundary and customs offices and the patents and the trademarks offices. f. Seeking local and legal support to protect the intellectual property This will help to promote the product and also safeguard the product against any illegal infringement. The legal system can either be followed as a civil case, a criminal case or an administrative process depending on the nature of the infringement (Stamper et al, 2000). Question 5 SKILLS FOR EMPLOYABILITY TICK ONLY THOSE CRITERIA THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THIS COURSE 1 Writing skills √ 2 Understanding of self and self- promotion. Confidence building. √ 3 Presentation skills 4 Networking Skills √ 5 Introduction to the job market and the recruitment process √ 6 Use of basic office tools: e-mail, word-processing, spreadsheets √ 7 Career planning √ 8 The basic requirements necessary to get a post on leaving university √ 9 Interview techniques/Assessment Centers and practice √ 10 Job search and application techniques. Job profiling related to self. 11 CV writing 12 Understanding workplace culture √ 13 Team working √ 14 Problem solving √ 15 Basic financial skills and economics √ 16 Business case writing √ Many employers are usually on the lookout for employees who have high level of self-esteem and are confident of their abilities and skills. Additional computing skills in word processing and documents come in handy in marketing of the products and serving of clients and these additional abilities appeal to many employers. Job seekers who easily bond with other people and are able to work in a team with the other employees are in a much better position to get hired for a certain job as compared to their counterparts who are generally antisocial. In addition, business skills such as financial and marketing skills may also give a job seeker added advantages as these skills also appeal to many employers and hence increase the chances of one getting hired. Conclusion From the foregoing, it is important to point that RP&M technology is an efficient and modern strategy in the manufacturing industry. Many manufacturing companies are adopting this technology to make their operations more efficient. More intensive research continues to be done on improving this technology. References Wohlers, Terry T. (1999), Rapid prototyping & tooling, state of the industry: 1998 worldwide progress report, Fort Collins, Colo.: Wohlers Associates, Inc. Friedrich B. Prinz (2001), JTEC/WTEC panel on rapid prototyping in Europe and Japan: final report, Baltimore, Md.: Rapid Prototyping Association of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Chua Chee Kai, Leong Kah Fai. (2003), Rapid prototyping : principles & applications in manufacturing, New York : John Wiley & Sons Jerome L. Johnson (2004), Principles of Computer Automated Fabrication, Irvine, Calif. : Palatino Press, c1994 Joseph J. Beaman (2002), Solid freeform fabrication : a new direction in manufacturing : with research and applications in thermal laser processing, Dordrecht ; Boston : Kluwer Academic Publishers(Request) Graham Bennett (1996), Second National Conference on Developments in Rapid Prototyping and Tooling, Bury St. Edmunds : Mechanical Engineering Publications Nostrand Reinhold Flowers, J., & Moniz, M. (2002). Rapid prototyping in technology education. The Technology Teacher, 62, 7–11. Stamper, R.E., Dekker, D.L., "Utilizing rapid prototyping to enhance undergraduate engineering education, Frontiers in Education Conference, 2000. FIE 2000. 30th Annual , vol.2, no., pp.F3C/1- F3C/4 vol.2, 2000doi: 10.1109/FIE.2000.896570 Read More