Project investigates assembly system specification

The European E-Race project is currently developing a new, computer based, customer oriented, assembly system specification tool.

The European E-Race project is currently developing a new, computer based, customer oriented, assembly system specification tool.

This has now produced a working prototype, as the project enters it's final year.

The specification tool will aid the rapid and accurate definition of the product to be assembled and the automated assembly equipment on which it is produced.

It also enables collaborative design of the assembly system solution by all of the participants: supplier, system integrator and customer.

The other elements of the E-Race system assist in equipment specification for increased system flexibility.

There is also a model of the system with 3D visualisation, plus the system provides detailed predictions of all performance and cost data.

This European project is led by TQC, Nottingham and involves 23 partners in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK.

The E-Race project aims to develop a series of web-based tools that will: enable the rapid specification of a reconfigurable assembly system; assist in the negotiation and tradeoff analysis between the customer and system integrator; and will provide 3D visualisation and performance analysis of the design.

By achieving these goals, the E-Race tool will increase the accuracy of customer specifications and system reconfigurability while reducing both production lead times and overall costs.

The consortium has partially achieved some of these goals by the development of several different web tools as well as the architecture, state-of-the-art review and dissemination strategies necessary to support the tools.

The specific work areas are: analysis of the state-of-the-art and of industrial requirements; models and methodologies for requirements engineering and design for reconfigurability as well as the development of a knowledge meta-model; tools for assembly planning, conceptual design and module selection; visualisation, simulation, performance analysis and verification tools; economic analysis, providing full cost predictions for the system lifecycle; system architecture and legacy modelling; pilot implementation and assessment and the dissemination of the results.

Within the UK there are a total of nine consortium members.

The two main project development partners are TQC and The University of Nottingham.

TQC is the project co-ordinator and as such provides the overall management of the project.

TQC also provides information and research for the project.

The University of Nottingham is conducting research towards the system architecture, assembly planning and the requirement specification tool as well as the development of a prototype web portal.

There are five further industrial partners: Bespak Europe, Desoutter, GlaxoSmithKline, Riley Automation and System Devices.

These partners are providing the consortium with information and feedback from both a customer' s and a supplier's point of view.

They will also be assisting with the dissemination activities, which is the specialist role of the final two partners: The British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) and The PRIME Faraday Partnership.

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