C O N T E X T:
S M A R T FA C T O R Y
Fokker is developing a MES system: Manufacturing Engineering System. This
system combines all relevant ICT systems in place in the manufacturing process:
from engineering to production preparation and production. Especially in the
aviation industry, keeping track of the metadata of the production process is key. It
needs to be possible to find out in retrospect by which engineer, at which moment in
time, from which roll of composite, a part of the wing of a specific airplane has been
made. As is the identification of items in which a specific type of composite has been
used. At this moment all this data is collected by paper dossiers which are kept
closely to the semi-manufactured goods during the production process. You don’t
have to develop this complete system, only isolated parts of it.
The sub challenges are small parts of the bigger picture that is being developed. We
expect that participants deliver solutions that in the future might be implemented in
the broader setup of the MES. Because your solution is not a stand-alone application,
you have to define which inputs you use in your solutions and which outputs your
solutions generates.
THE PRODUCTION PROCESS IS AS FOLLOWS:
1The engineering department at Fokker Industries develops a part of a wing for an
aircraft. That part will be made of composites and they come up with three files:
one file describes the eventual product. The other file describes the lay-up process.
The third file describes the layers that need to be cut out.
2The cutting room gets a list of the different types of composite that are needed and
fetch the selected stacks from the freezer.
3They cut the composites into the required shapes and label each part with a specific
code. The different shapes are stacked up into multiple piles; these represent
the parts in which the shapes are needed. Each pile has its own piece of paper
specifying the details of the materials, shapes, and the part that it will make up.
This stack of cut composite is then transferred to the lay-up area.
4At the lay up area, the different shapes of composite are placed on a mold. The layup needs to be done exactly right, by a lay-up engineer. Some stations are equipped
with laser guidance, which projects on the mold where the next piece of composite
needs to be placed. Every piece of composite that is applied to the mold is checked
off on a list by the engineer.
5If all layers are placed on the mold, the mold will go to the buffer for the autoclave.
This is a giant pressurized oven that is heated up to 370 degrees. In the oven the
resin in the composite reacts and the strong and lightweight product is formed.
6When the mold comes out of the autoclave, the mold and the final product are
separated from each other in the debagging station. At this station, the paper
dossier is placed back on/nearby the product. An operator put’s it back there, by
examining the product and the description on the documents. If a paper dossier is
lost during the process, the product may no longer be delivered to the customer and
will be discarded.
7The mold can go back to be used for another cycle, or be checked and repaired at
the mold repair shop.
COMPOSITE PRODUCTION PROCESS:
SUB CHALLENGE 1:
S M A R T I D E N T I F I C AT I O N
Fokker has safety and security high on its agenda. It
is crucial to identify a person and check authorization
levels, both in access to buildings and in authorization
to use certain machines and perform work (licenses and
certification).
Develop a solution in which an employee is identified
without the employee being required to take any
action. Possible implementations: open or close a
door; identification of engineer working on a certain
workstation. Possible solutions: facial recognition, smart
textiles, etc.
Additional information from Fokker:
- Requirement: 100% coverage for individuals that need authentication in the process
- Systems in place:
- Badge readers
- Login credentials
SUB CHALLENGE 2:
INVENTORY & PROCESS MANAGEMENT
-The high-quality materials processed by Fokker require a specific set of conditions
(e.g. composite materials used for aircraft components are stored in frozen
conditions. The materials are restricted to a maximum Time of Exposure of 720
hours at room temperature
-Develop a solution that communicates the actual environmental conditions, status
of the stack of material, and actual place (inventory or position during fabrication
process), wireless and real-time with cheap devices.
-The system needs to be able to define which stacks of composite are needed from
the freezer, and the system needs to optimize the use of the stacks, based on the
remaining Time of Exposure and the estimated production time.
-If you think up more linkages between different parts of the production process
and you might need more information about the system in order to be able to carry
out those tasks, you can ask us about the availability of the data or just make them
up with the best estimated guess you can get. Always be sure to write down all the
assumptions your make.
Additional information from Fokker
- Requirements - measure:
-Temperature
- Particle density (dust levels)
-Humidity
- Stack dimensions; rolls:
- Approx. 1 meter long (0.30 – 1.50m)
- Rolled on a cardboard tube which needs to stay clear for the roll out process
- Weight approx. 40kg (25 – 125kg)
-Description of the process for a stack of composite materials: see Time Out of
Freezer registration description below
Time Out of Freezer registration
The time out of freezer is currently monitored with sheets like these:
SUB CHALLENGE 3:
SELF-SPOTTING
In a factory, there are numerous items that can get lost,
including tools, semi-manufactured goods, and carts.
Develop a system in which the semi-manufactured
parts are easy to track and trace in real-time; use
cheap devices.
Additional features:
- High-temperature-resistant (370° C Autoclave)
- ID needs to be removed before shipment
Additional information from Fokker:
- Items in scope:
-Products, tools, jigs, (documents to be eliminated)
Note: these items are used for production, maintenance and support
- Which type of use are these products subject to?
- Sensors currently in use:
- Temperature, pressure, vacuum, humidity
- Barcode readers
- Badge readers