Welcome Message from the Editor
Message from the Head of Department
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Welcome to the 17th edition of the
department’s annual newsletter. It
is indeed a pleasure for me to have
the opportunity to compile the
work carried out in the last several
months by the department’s staff
members. I am always impressed
by the amount of work going on in the background by
the different individuals making up DIME, both
academics and support staff. Within this newsletter
you will find information concerning a range of
interesting research projects many also involving local
industrial partners.
You will also find the list of
student projects recently supervised by DIME staff
members, ranging from undergrad up to PhD level.
Our newsletter also includes information on the
publications presented in international journals and
conferences. I augur that all this work is of benefit
first and foremost to our students but equally to our
end clients—the industrial organisations employing
our graduates.
I sincerely hope you find this
newsletter both enjoyable and informative.
I would like to join my colleague and
editor Prof. Jonathan Borg, in
welcoming you to this latest edition
of our departmental newsletter. It
is, as always, a great pleasure to
view in retrospect the various
achievements of all of our
department members, and of our
students, as yet another rich and
fruitful academic year draws to a
close. Reading through this newsletter you will discover
that DIME academic staff members, in collaboration
with students, ex-students, industrial partners, and
colleagues from other UM departments or even from
other academic institutions, have published no less
than eighteen academic papers in peer reviewed
international journals and conferences in the last
academic year. You will see that DIME has been home
to twelve undergraduate students in their final year
project work, the climax of their B.Eng.(Hons) degree.
Our academic staff have also supervised six taught
Masters dissertations in 2014/15, and are currently
also supervising four research masters students and
two doctoral students – you will find summaries of
some of these research projects inside. You will find
many other snippets on the various activities and
achievements, both of our academic and of our support
staff. I wish you pleasant reading and invite you to
contact me or any of the DIME staff for further details.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS ISSUE:
DIME Staff
DIME News
Research and Training Visits
Page 2
3
4, 5
Scientific Publications
6
Participation in Conferences
7
Students Supervised @ DIME
8
Funded Research
9, 10
Industrial Collaboration
11, 12, 16
Post Graduate Research
13, 14, 15
Editor: Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Editing & Printing: Ms Therese Caruana
Published by:
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
University of Malta
Msida MSD2080
MALTA
Tel : +356 2340 2061
Direct: +356 2134 6761
web: www.um.edu.mt/eng/ime
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/IndManufEngineering
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Staff Members
Prof. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Head of Department,
Associate Professor
2
Prof. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Associate Professor
Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia
Senior Lecturer
Dr Arif Rochman
Lecturer
Innovative Product Development,
Collaborative Design, Additive
Manufacturing, Injection Moulding
Tool Development, Polymer Processes, Micro moulding, Simulation
of Polymer Processing, Rapid Tooling, Add. Manufacturing
Robotics, Industrial Automation
Design of Products & Technical
Systems, Integrated Product Development, DFX, Intelligent CADCAM
Ing. Pierre Vella
Assistant Lecturer
Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza
Assistant Lecturer
Ing. Paul Refalo
Assistant Lecturer
Dr Ing. Conrad Pace
Visiting Senior Lecturer
Design of microscale products,
manufacturing processes for microscale products
Factory Planning, Digital Factory
Tools, Simulation of Manufacturing
Systems
Sustainable Manufacturing, Clean
Production, Energy and Water
Management in Manufacturing
Autonomous Mobile Robotic Systems, Mechatronic Systems
Ing. Amanda Azzopardi
Ing. Francis E. Farrugia
Visiting Assistant Lecturer
Visiting Senior Lecturer
CAED, AI in Engineering
Metrology, Quality
Ing. John P. Borg
Mr Michael Attard
Mr Michael Curmi
Mr Jesmond Pace
Mr Joseph Curmi
Mr Josef Attard
Systems Engineer
Assistant Lab. Manager
Senior Lab. Officer
Senior Lab. Officer
Senior Lab. Officer
Senior Lab. Officer
Mr Josef Briffa
Ms Sharlene Cachia
Ms Therese Caruana
Ms Elise Ann Mifsud
Lab. Officer
Admin. Assistant
Clerk
Temp. Clerk
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
News

In May 2015, Prof. Dr Ing. Michael A. Saliba was appointed Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Malta.

In May 2015, Prof. Dr Ing. Michael A. Saliba was appointed Chairman of the B.Eng.(Hons) in
Mechanical Engineering Board of Studies.

In May 2015, the new Council of the Malta Chamber of Commerce Enterprise & Industry reappointed Prof. Dr Ing. Jonathan C. Borg as a member of its RTDI committee.

Prof. Dr Ing. Jonathan C. Borg was appointed as an expert evaluator by the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission to assess engineering research proposals in a number of calls including Marie Curie International Training Networks and Future Emerging Technologies (FET). He has also assisted the Polish Research Agency with the evaluation of nationally funded projects. In November 2014 he was appointed reviewer to make an on-site casestudy inspection in Barcelona of the FP7 project CALIPSO concerning research into the applications of RFID technology for critical infrastructures, smart toys and smart cities.

Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg has in the last twelve months been active as a member of the
Scientific Committee of a number of International Conferences including: DesignEd Asia held
in Hong Kong December 2014, the International Conference on Research into Design held in
India January 2015 and the International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED2015) being
held in Milan Italy in June 2015. In addition, he has been appointed as Chair of the session on
emotional design entitled "Design for a Contented Life" being held at ICED2015.

Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia has been appointed as member of the Scientific Committee of the
international conference “17th International Conference on Engineering and Product Design
Education” to be held in Loughborough, UK in September 2015.

In May 2015, Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg hosted the first week of the 2015 International
PhD Summer School on Integrated Product Development (IPD). This event was co-chaired by
Prof. Dr. Ing. Sandor Vajna Chair of Information Technologies in Mechanical Engineering at
the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg. A total of 11 PhD candidates (see below)
coming from Austria, Croatia, France, Germany, Hungary, Lebanon and Tunisia have participated. The second week of this summer school will be held in September in Magdeburg. The
IPD Summer School is an event endorsed by the international Design Society.
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
3
Research & Training Visits
In April 2015, Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza and Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
visited Fraunhofer IAO in Stuttgart concerned with research for industrial engineering. This visit forms part of on-going close collaboration taking place between DIME and IAO through the joint PhD supervision of Ing. Francalanza by
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg and Prof. Carmen Constantinescu. This initiative
sees DIME and Fraunhofer collaborating on factory planning and in particular
manufacturing system design supporting a range of products.
On the 4 February 2015, Dr. Arif Rochman (right) attended an international
networking conference in Brussels, Belgium. This conference was organised
by the Bavarian Research Alliance in cooperation with the European Commission and aimed to initiate new European projects for Horizon 2020 with the
participation of Bavarian universities of applied sciences. Horizon 2020 offers
a variety of funding options that are tailored to innovation-oriented research
at universities of applied sciences.
th
In August 2014, Mr Lilian Chambragne (right) a student reading for a Masters Degree in “Civil, Mechanics and Robotics Engineering”, specializing in
Mechatronics at Blaise Pascal University, Clermont-Ferrand, France, completed a four month internship in the Robotics and Industrial Automation Laboratory (RIAL) at DIME. Lilian’s work involved the development and implementation of a strategy to evaluate the first prototype of the RIAL Minimal Anthropomorphic Robot Hand (MRAH) with respect to joint motion (speeds and
ranges), achievable forces, achievable grasps, actuation dexterity, and manual dexterity. The research involved the design, development and use of various test equipment and the detailed interpretation of test results. It was supervised by Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba.
In May 2015, Dr. Ing. Philip J. Farrugia (below) visited the Munich University of Applied Sciences as
part of the Erasmus Programme for Staff Mobility. During his visit, Dr . Ing. Philip J. Farrugia delivered
lectures related to tool design and manufacture.
4
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Research & Training Visits
Ing. John P. Borg and Michael Attard visited Mid Sweden University in Östersund Sweden between 23rd and
29th April 2015. They worked on an electron beam
melting (EBM) machine similar to the one at DIME.
They met Prof. Lars-Erik Rännar and assisted work carried out in material change from Titanium to stainless
steel in the EBM. There were discussions on the precautions required for such a change. There were also
discussions on procedures done on EBM build preparation and what to check on the machine to avoid problems and improve build quality. Following this visit,
through knowledge acquired on change of procedures
and software updates mentioned during the visit, the
quality of end products built using the EBM at DIME was
improved.
In August 2014, Mr Luke Pace received a scholarship to visit the Clermont-Ferrand University
in France. He spent six weeks at the Campus de Cézeaux of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure
de Chimie de Clermont-Ferrand (ENSCCF) to perform various characterization tests of the
materials he used for his MSc by Research studies using following devices: Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA), Fourier Transform Infrared
Spectroscopy (FTIR) and Microscope. The scholarship was funded by the Centre National de
la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Embassy of France for Malta, MCST and UoM.
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
5
Scientific Publications
Rochman A., Borg A.K., Design and Manufacture of Injection Mold Inserts Using Electron Beam Melting, Journal of
Manufacturing Science and Engineering, in a Special Issue: Additive Manufacturing (AM) and 3D Printing, December 2014, Vol. 136, p. 061011
A. Rochman, A.K. Borg, Rapid Manufacturing of Corrosion Resistant Tools Using Electron Beam Melting, 6th Int.
Conference on Polymers and Moulds Innovations (PMI), 10-12 September 2014, Guimarães, Portugal
L. Said, P. Farrugia, A. Rochman, P. Vella, Design of an endoscopic micro optical part for fabrication with micro shot
injection moulding, Proceedings of the International Design and Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2014), August 17-20, 2014, Buffalo, USA,
DETC2014-34271.
Farrugia P., Vella P. and Kinsella Cutajar G. A methodology for addressing defects in transfer moulding as an encapsulating technique for semi-conductors, Proceedings of the ASME 2014 International Design and Engineering
Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2014), DETC2014
-34121.
Preca G., Farrugia P. and Casha A., A case study on the design of a modular surgical instrument for removing metastases using engineering design tools, Proceedings of the 16th International Conference on Engineering &
Product Design Education, 4-5 September 2014, University of Twente, The Netherlands, EPDE2014/158.
D. Dalli and M. A. Saliba, “Towards the Development of a Minimal Anthropomorphic Robot Hand”, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Madrid, Spain, 18-20 November 2014, pp. 413-418.
J. M. Trapani and M. A. Saliba, “Experimental Extraction of Tactile Sensor Specifications for a Minimal Anthropomorphic Robot Hand”, IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots, Madrid, Spain, 18-20 November 2014, pp. 419-424.
M. A. Saliba, D. Zammit and S. Azzopardi, “Towards practical guidelines to promote a company strategy for reconfigurable manufacturing automation systems”, 25th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing (FAIM 2015), Wolverhampton, UK, June 2015.
J. Azzopardi and M. A. Saliba, “Case Study: Evaluation and Optimization of a Reconfigurable System for Automated
Assembly of Deformable Products”, 25th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent
Manufacturing (FAIM 2015), Wolverhampton, UK, June 2015.
Vella, P.C., Dimov, S.S., Brousseau, E., Whiteside, B.R.. (2014) A new process chain for producing bulk metallic glass
replication masters with micro- and nano-scale features. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 76 (1-4): 523–543.
Borg, Jonathan C., & Farrugia Lawrence. (2014). “Life-Cycle Interactions for Modelling Human Emotions”. In 9th
International Design and Emotion Conference, Bogota , Colombia (2014).
Borg, Jonathan C., & Farrugia Philip J. (2014). “An Engustrial Design’ Experiential Education Approach”. In DesignEd
Asia Conference Proceedings , Hong Kong (2014), pp. 137- 148
Farrugia Lawrence & Borg, Jonathan C., (2015). “Why product design support for improved worker contentedness ?”, 2015 International Conference in Engineering Design, Milan, Italy July 2015.
Refalo P., Ghirlando R., Abela S., ‘The Use of a Solar Chimney to Enhance the Productivity of a Solar Distiller’, Proceedings of Desalination for Clean Water and Energy - EUROMED, Palermo, Italy , 2015.
Refalo P., Mule` Stagno L., Farrugia R., Yousif C., Sant T., Zammit A., Portelli J., ‘The ‘Reduce and Save’ Project: An
Island-wide Resource Management Awareness Initiative in the Framework of the Eco-island Vision for the
Island of Gozo, Malta’, Proceedings of the World Renewable Energy Congress 2014, London, UK, August 2014.
Refalo P., Farrugia R., Mule` Stagno L., Yousif C., Sant T., Zammit A., Portelli J., ‘Gauging the Effectiveness of a Resource Management Awareness Campaign on a Central Mediterranean Island’, Proceedings of the World Renewable Energy Congress 2014, London, UK, August 2014.
Constantinescu, C.,L., Francalanza, E., Matarazzo (2014) “Towards knowledge capturing and innovative humansystem interface in an open-source factory modelling and simulation environment”, CIRP ICME ’14 - 9th CIRP
Conference on Intelligent Computation In Manufacturing Engineering, Naples, Italy.
E. Francalanza, J.C. Borg, C. Constantinescu (2014), "Deriving a Systematic Approach to Changeable Manufacturing
System Design", Variety Management in Manufacturing, Procedia CIRP, 2014, Vol.17:166–171.
6
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Participation in Conferences

In September 2014, Dr. Arif Rochman attended the 6th International Conference on Polymers and
Moulds Innovations (PMI) in Guimarães Portugal.

In October 2014, Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg together with Dr. Ing. Philip J. Farrugia and Lawrence
Farrugia attended the 9th International Design and Emotion Conference held in Bogota , Colombia
(2014).

In December 2014, Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg attended the DesignEd Asia Conference as part of
the Business of Design Week (BODW2014) held in Hong Kong. During this visit, Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan
C. Borg presented one of the only 28 papers accepted for this international conference.

In August 2014, Dr. Ing. Philip J. Farrugia attended the ASME 2014 International Design and Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE 2014)
held in Buffalo, USA, where he presented two research papers.

In November 2014, Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba attended the IEEE-RAS International Conference on
Humanoid Robots in Madrid, Spain together with students Donald Dalli and Joseph Trapani. The group
presented two papers at this conference.

Ing. Paul Refalo presented a research paper at the EDS Conference on “Desalination for Clean Water
and Energy” in May 2015 which was held in Palermo, Italy.

In July 2014, Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza was invited to attend the official opening of the Fraunhofer
Institute’s innovation network Transylvania office in Cluj Napoca, Romania. The director of both
Fraunhofer IAO and the Institute of Human Factors and Technology Management IAT at the University
of Stuttgart, Prof. Wilhelm Bauer, and TUC-N Rector Aurel Vlaicu were attending the event together
with some one hundred invited representatives from industry, research and national institutions.
Dr A. Rochman in Portugal
Dr P. J. Farrugia & L. Farrugia in Bogota
Ing. P. Refalo in Palermo
Prof. J.C. Borg in Hong Kong
Ing. E. Francalanza in Capri
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
7
Supervised Students
Student
James Falzon
Supervisor
Title
Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia
Additive Manufacturing for Injection Moulding of Parts used in Patient Aid Devices
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Andrew Cremona Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
A Kansei Engineering Approach for Designing Joyful Factory Operations
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Elaine Zammit
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Design of a Hinged Hermetic Compact Case
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Robert Agius
Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Development of a Master Device for the Teleoperation of a Minimal Anthropomorphic Robotic Hand
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Steven Grech
Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
An Experimental Test-bed for a Planar Underactuated Robot Hand
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Katya Bezzina
Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza
Design of a manufacturing plant layout for the production of a wind turbine
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Julio Pio Cefai
Ing. Paul Refalo
Analysis and Simulation of Energy Consumption of CNC Machining Processes
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Darryl Edward
Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia
Design of a Proof-of-Concept Surgical Instrument for Pleurodesis
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Nicole Borg
Dr Arif Rochman
Cost Effective Hermetic Lipstick
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Julian Paul SciclunaDr Arif Rochman
Optimisation of Automated Multi-Station Thermoforming Process for Packaging
Production
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Savien Buhagiar
Dr Arif Rochman
Evaluation of Process Improvements in Rubber Diaphragm Moulding
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Robert Zammit
Dr Arif Rochman
Development and Performance Analysis of Injection Moulding Tools Fabricated using
B. Eng. (Hons.)
Additive Manufacturing
James Attard KingDr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia
swell
An Integrated Product Development Framework for Global Information Management
in Cosmetic Packaging Industry
MSc. IPD
Luke Camenzuli
Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia
An IPD approach for developing a novel product for children with language impairment
MSc. IPD
Keith Vella
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Understanding & Modelling Emotional Dynamics of IPD Stakeholders
MSc. IPD
Joseph Axiak
Ing. Paul Refalo
An IPD Approach to Sustainability Improvement Using Simulation And Experimental
Analysis: Medical Device Manufacturing Processes Case Study
MSc. IPD
Alan Coppini
Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Converting from a Fixed to a Reconfigurable Manufacturing Automation System
MSc. IPD
Karl Zahra
Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza
Developing a Digital Tool to Support Environmental Factory Planning
M.Sc. IPD
Donald Dalli
Prof. Dr. Ing. Michael A. Saliba
Design Optimization of Compact, Multi-Degree-of-freedon, Mechatronic Devices
M.Sc. (Res.)
Design and Fabrication of Endoscopic Micro-Optical Components Using Two Component Micro Injection Moulding
M.Sc. (Res.)
Christian Camilleri Dr Arif Rochman
Stretching Behaviour of Polymer Materials During Pattern-Heated
Luke
Pace
Dr Arif Rochman
Keith
Zahra
Dr Arif Rochman
An Investigation of Influences of Melt Mixer on Injection Moulding Process and Part
Quality of Thermoset Elastomers
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
An Emotion Oriented Approach to Integrated Product Development
Ph.D.
Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
Intelligent Support of Early Interactive Factory Planning for the Integrated Product
Development of a Range of Products
Ph.D.
Lawrence
Farrugia
Emmanuel
Francalanza
8
Degree
Thermoforming
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
M.Sc. (Res.)
M.Sc. (Res.)
Funded Research
Exploiting Multi-Material Micro Injection Moulding for Enhancing Manufacturing Competitiveness (EX-MMIM)
Project financed by MCST’s National Research & Innovation Programme 2012
Research Team: Dr Ing. Philip Farrugia, Arif Rochman, Pierre Vella, Christian Camilleri Industrial Partners: Tek-Moulds
Precision Engineering Ltd, Techniplast Ltd and Playmobil Malta Ltd.
For mass production of micro parts, micro injection moulding has become a key technology since it
combines the capabilities of a low cost production process with the requirements of a micro part.
However whilst studies have been conducted on the fabrication of single-material micro injection
moulding, knowledge on the design and manufacture of multi-material parts replicated through
micro injection moulding is lacking. To address this research gap, the aim of the EX-MMIM project
is to generate and transfer new knowledge on micro part design, mould design and manufacture
and the multi-material moulding process itself.
A case study part, consisting of an endoscopic micro optical component, made up of a transparent
optical component moulded as the first shot and an opaque housing moulded as the second shot,
was designed and fabricated (see Figure above). This also required the design and manufacture of
the mould tool.
A series of simulations and experiments ensured that :
(i) major defects such as weld lines and air entrapment wound not be occur on the lens area
and (ii) no deformation would occur around the lens area when the second material is injected over the optical component.
An e-learning course on injection moulding was also developed. Interested stakeholders can also
participate and exchange their ideas in an on-line forum. Further information on the project including the e-learning course and forum are available at www.exmmim.com. You can join a forum discussing micro injection moulding at: http://exmmim.fullforums.org/
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
9
Funded Research
Design & Manufacture of a Novel Rib Bridge (RiBridge)
Project financed by the TAKEOFF Seed Fund Award Project TOSFA-14-20
Research Team: Dr Ing. Philip Farrugia, Aaron Casha, Quinton Calleja
Chest wall reconstruction surgery is a common procedure, in which a portion of the
patient's chest wall is removed. This operation is mostly used to treat cancer invading
the lungs or ribs, and trauma. Amputation
of a part of the rib is the only solution for
removing the cancerous lump and must be
followed by bony chest wall reconstruction
to maintain the patient’s normal physiology.
The research team has invented a novel ‘rib
-bridge’ in order to safely and effectively
reconstruct chest wall defects. This rib
bridge can easily be made to match the
contour of the patient’s chest in order to
avoid any visible deformities after the operation.
A detailed structural analysis was carried
out via simulation and also experiments
(including tensile and bending tests) on
sample Titanium rib-bridges.
The final design has been evaluated with
surgeons who gave positive feedback. The
design of the rib-bridge is protected
through a registered community design in
Europe (No. 001420863-0001) and a registered design patent in USA
(No.
29519235.). So far all the tasks were done
at a non-clinical prototyping stage.
It is planned to pursue the novel rib-bridge
further on to the pre-clinical, and eventually clinical stage. Further details on this research
project
are
available
at:
www.ribridge.com
10
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Industrial Collaboration
Development and Performance Analysis
of Injection Moulding Tools Fabricated
Using Additive Manufacturing
Industrial Partner: Playmobil Malta Ltd
The aim of this project was to develop and analyse an
injection moulding tool with conformal cooling channels for homogeneous and fast cooling which can be
fabricated using additive manufacturing. The choice of
selective laser melting (SLM) to fabricate the inserts
was justified as this allowed for the choice of an appropriate tool material, having adequate thermal conductivity and corrosion resistance as well as the ease of powder
removal from the conformal cooling channels. Both the CAE simulation and injection moulding trials showed that
the new cooling channel designs led to a reduction in the cooling time by 25% without having an effect on the quality of the moulded part. Further reduction in the cooling time would be possible if the design restrictions. found in
this project were to be removed.
Design of An Aesthetically Pleasing, yet
easy to Manufacture Hermetic Compact Case
Industrial Partner: Toly Products Ltd
Hermetic or air-tight sealing, is vital in the cosmetic industry especially now that water-based formulas are becoming morepopular amongcustomers. However one of the downsides of such
formulas is that these contain volatile substances that are prone
to evaporate while being stored or exposed to certain environments, in particular water which is present in large amounts and
hence dry up quicker and crack. The aim of this project was to
design a compact case that is fully hermetic and that collectively
addresses aesthetics, functionality and low-cost manufacturability. The different concepts designed prototyped and tested.
Optimisation of an Automated MultiStation Thermoforming Process for
Packaging Production
Industrial Partner: Playmobil Malta Ltd
For the last couple of years Playmobil Malta Ltd has been
using a standard method for the production of packaging
containers for their toy figures using a thermoforming
process. Lean production tools such as PFMEA and Pareto charts were used to understand both the potential
failure modes and also to measure the daily failures or
problems encountered. The Scope of this dissertation work was to understand the current process and to optimise the process accordingly by targeting these problems. Suggestions were generated to target problems and
tested out on the production line. Examples of the results are 80% less surface defects by relocation of the vacuum holes, a reduction in the formation of chill marks on the parts by changing the pre-stretching, and by increasing the forming temperature from 112°C to 118 ⁰C more defined part produced together with a perfect seal between the packaging and the paperboard backing.
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
11
Industrial Collaboration
Cost Effective Hermetic Lipstick
Industrial Partner: Toly Products Ltd
The need to have a lipstick which is more long
lasting brought about technological advancements
in the cosmetic industry. However, for such a lipstick to have a longer shelf life, a hermetic seal is
required. The aim of this project was to analyse the
hermetic sealing present on the market which can
be applied to cosmetic packing and to have a hermetic sealed lipstick in the most cost effective way.
Various solution were generated to achieve hermeticity and prototypes of different concepts were
built to test their hermeticity using a vacuum test. It
was observed that only one concept did not leak or fail the test, thus this concept was developed further. This was done by creating CAD models which were further analysed through Design for Manufacture with the aid of Moldflow Analysis. Through this analysis, a costings analysis was also carried out.
Evaluation of Process Improvements in Rubber Diaphragm Moulding
Industrial Partner: Prominent Fluid Controls Ltd
Prominent Fluid Controls Ltd is a German based company, specialising in the manufacture of devices for the handling of fluids
and liquid media. One of the main sections within ProMinent’s
plant in Malta deals with the production of rubber diaphragms,
which are ultimately used in diaphragm-type pumps. The aim of
this project was to analyse in depth the whole process involved,
and identify in particular which are the factors that mostly contribute to the observed variation. This dissertation was based on
the Design of Experiment approach. Amongst others, the mass of
the initial raw rubber, the moulding temperature and the pressure are three of the factors which have led to some of the highest variation in all the readings gathered. From all the experiments carried out, it stood evident that certain elements of the process must be altered such that all
diaphragm thicknesses lie within the specified limits. In regards to this, a series of suggested improvements was presented with the major aim of reducing process variability as much as possible.
Evaluating the Manufacturability of an Innovative Vertical Axis Wind Turbine
Industrial Partner: Econetique Ltd
During the 2014/2015 academic year, the DIME has further strengthened its collaboration with Econetique Ltd. In
this respect, Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza and Ing. Paul Refalo jointly supervised two final year engineering students,
Ms Katya Bezzina and Mr Julian Cefai, who had their engineering projects sponsored by Econetique Ltd. Both projects were aimed at supporting Econetique Ltd, a local renewable energy company, in exploring the manufacturing
of an innovative vertical axis wind turbine. Ms Bezzina focused on process selection and factory layout design whilst
Mr Cefai applied sustainable manufacturing strategies to the CNC machining of the metal components of the turbine.
12
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Postgraduate Research
Mr Keith Zahra is currently about to conclude his Master’s
degree by research in Mechanical Engineering, in cooperation with Trelleborg Sealing Solutions Malta Ltd. under the
supervision of Dr. Arif Rochman. His project aims to improve
the injection moulding process of thermoset elastomers by
introducing a melt mixer inside the nozzle. Six different concepts of melt mixers were drawn and simulated in accordance with the properties of the three materials chosen which were EPDM, NBR and FKM. The best three concepts,
one for each material were then manufactured and later experimented on using an injection moulding machine. After
that, multiple tests were run using different cycle times. The
moulds created were used to verify the quality of the homogeneity in the material. The cycle time which produced
moulds with improved mechanical properties was then proposed.
Mr Christian Camilleri is currently reading for a Master of Science in Engineering (Mechanical) under the supervision of Dr Arif Rochman and cosupervision of Dr Ing. Philip J. Farrugia and Ing. Pierre Vella.
For mass production of micro parts, micro injection moulding has become a key technology since it combines the capabilities of a low cost
production process with the requirements of a micro part. However
whilst studies have been conducted on the fabrication of single-material
micro injection moulding, knowledge on the design and manufacture of
multi-material parts replicated through micro injection moulding is lacking.
In this context, the aim of Mr Dalli’s
project is to design, fabricate and
test a modular endoscopic micro
optical component via two component injection moulding. This would
enable to carry out simulation analysis for micro parts as well as analyse
moulding defects commonly associated with micro parts namely air
entrapment and weld lines.
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
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Postgraduate Research
Mr Donald Dalli is currently reading for a Master of Science in
Engineering (Mechanical) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ing.
Michael A. Saliba. The research project mainly focuses on design
optimization of compact, multi-degree-of-freedom (CMDOF),
mechatronic devices. In principle, CMDOF devices, incorporate
mechanical designs that are capable of executing multiple motions, whilst following strict weight and size limitations. These
devices may range from a simple two-jaw gripper to a fully autonomous humanoid. The design optimization technique being investigated in this work revolves around three conflicting yet desirable design attributes, being Simplicity, Dexterity and Usability (Fig.
1). A technique that quantifies the extent of the design attributes,
possessed by an arbitrary device, has been developed. This technique provides an objective measure of the strengths and weaknesses of the design. A set of design guidelines that recommend
means of achieving a sensible trade-off between the conflicting
design attributes have been formulated. The outcomes of this
study have been applied to two case studies: (1) development
and construction of a robotic hand; (2) conceptual design of a
domestic device with a wide potential market.
Mr Luke Pace is currently concluding his Master’s degree by research in Mechanical Engineering under the supervision of Dr Arif Rochman. His project deals with one of the major
issues in thermoforming process that there is
no direct control on the wall thickness distribution of the finished product. This leads to
different material strength along the shape of
the product. The project attempted to heat
the polymer sheet in an uneven manner, using a set of specially designed screens, in order to investigate the stretching behaviour of
polymer materials, and the resulting properties of the final products, under different
pattern-heating conditions during thermoforming.
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Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
Postgraduate Research
In April 2015, Mr Lawrence Farrugia successfully transferred from M.Phil. to Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) under
the supervision of Prof. Dr. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg. The
scope of the PhD research is to investigate how a product
can be improved by considering emotions elicited from
factory workers while performing tasks such as assembly,
inspection and testing.
Empirical studies carried out both in Malta and abroad
indicate the elicitation of negative emotions from product development workers such as shame, anxiety and
frustration has a negative impact on their performance.
This in turn influences the time to market and the costs
involved in developing the product.
Mr Farrugia is in the process of developing a design support means which enables decision makers in industry to
foresee how decisions on for instance product shape,
colour or size will influence the emotions elicited from
their factory workers. This research work is being funded
through the Malta Government Scholarship Scheme.
Relevance of DIME'S Research to Malta’s R&I Strategy
It is worth noting that the National Research & Innovation Strategy 2020 developed by The Malta
Council for Science & Technology clearly outlines the need of further research in this field:
"High value-added manufacturing with a focus on processes and design.
While its share of GVA as a percentage of total GVA has decreased over time, the
GVA in real terms of the manufacturing sector has increased over the past years. This
sector remains the predominant sector for research and innovation investment. Statistics for 2010 indicate that manufacturing activity encompassed 65.4% of all innovation expenditure and 62.2% of intramural R&D expenditure. This indicates clearly
that, in spite of shifts towards the services sector, the manufacturing sector is still
strong and should therefore be sustained through a greater focus on innovation niches within this sector. To this end, two focus areas for innovation are process innovation (through optimisation of resource use, energy efficiency, automation etc.) and
innovation in product design (product development, prototyping, etc.)"
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015
15
Industrial Collaboration
The Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering has over the years
regularly collaborated with local industrial firms. This industry-academia collaboration is beneficial to both sides: academics and students get exposed to real
world challenges whilst industrial entities
benefit from external scientific analysis
of challenges at their end by both students and academics. Industrial entities
interested in exploiting this synergy are
invited to contact the Head of Department or any of the academic staff members to explore collaboration possibilities.
Department of Industrial & Manufacturing Engineering
Faculty of Engineering
University of Malta
Msida, MALTA
Tel: 2340 2061
www.um.edu.mt/eng/ime
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Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering - Newsletter 2015