Cost-based producibility assessment: analysis and synthesis approaches through design automation

Abstract

The demand on high levels of reliability and accuracy of cost estimation increases in a competitive environment and as the products are getting more optimized. When different courses of action are to be evaluated, changes in customer requirements, design features and parameters, and production properties have to be handled with caution. Even small changes can imply: low level of conformability with the production system, highly increased cost, and extended manufacturing lead-time. It is of paramount importance for the product success and the company's profit that a system for automated producibility assessment is sensitive and can reflect these effects. Two central tasks in the development of such a system are the definition of a cost model and the modelling of producibility rules. Each organization is very different and therefore has to define their individual cost model and set of producibility rules. This work presents an approach that provides a framework for the development of company specific automated producibility estimation systems. Further, the concepts of analysis driven and synthesis driven producibility estimations are described and some examples of their use are given.

Keywords:

• Cost estimation
• Design automation development
• Producibility evaluation
• Variant design

Acknowledgements

This work was conducted within the Vinnova programme for Information Technology in the Manufacturing Industry, and financial support is gratefully acknowledged. The authors would also like to express their gratitude to Kockums Naval Systems and IVF Industrial Research and Development Corporation, who have been vital project partners.