Integrated Product and Process Design Environment Tool for Manufacturing T/R Modules

R. K. Karne, J. S. Baras, M. O. Ball, S. Bashyam, A. Kebede, J. Williams, V. S. Trichur, M. Karir, H. T. Lai and S. V. Dandekar

6th IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Factory Automation, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, September 9-12, 1997

Abstract

We present a decision making assistant tool for integrated product and process design environment for manufacturing applications. Specifically, we target microwave modules which use electro-mechanical components and require optimal solutions to reduce cost, improve quality, and gain leverage in time to market the product. This tool will assist the product and process designer to improve their productivity and also enable to cooperate and coordinate their designs through a common design interface. We consider a multiobjective optimization model that determines components and processes for a given conceptual designs for microwave modules. This model outputs a set of solutions that are Pareto optimal with respect to cost, quality, and other metrics. In addition, we identify system integrations issues for manufacturing applications, and propose and architecture which will serve as a building block to our continuing research in virtual manufacturing applications.