New integrated model to estimate the manufacturing cost and production system performance at the conceptual design stage of helicopter blade assembly

Abstract

This paper describes a new integrated model development to estimate the manufacturing cost and production system performance at the conceptual design stage. A fully automated conceptual framework for design for manufacturing (DFM) has been developed. An integrated product process design concept using activity based costing is applied in this paper. The new integrated model consists of four sub-modules: the geometric parameters generation module, processing time estimation module, activity based costing (ABC) module and production system performance module. All of the input-output data flows of developed modules are fully integrated for automated manufacturing cost analysis and production system performance. A developed integrated model is very useful for designers or integrated product development team to make a decision for evaluating the design alternatives and trade-offs between design and manufacturing phases at the conceptual design stage. A case study for a composite helicopter rotor blade is included.

Keywords:

• integrated product process design (IPPD)
• cost estimation
• design for production (DFP)
• design for manufacturing (DFM)
• activity based costing (ABC)
• composite helicopter rotor blade

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Korea Foundation for International Cooperation of Science and Technology (KICOS) through a grant provided by the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) in project reference K20610010001-07E0101-00100 and Brain Korea-21 program (BK21). The authors are greatly appreciative to Ms Tin Nwe Aye, Research Associate, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Mr Abdulaziz Azamatov and Mr Im-Kwon Kim, Konkuk University (KU), for their assistance in this paper.