MECDC04

COMPUTER INTEGRATED MANUFACTURING

Unit-4
Computer Monitoring
Dr. Andriya Narasimhulu
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Netaji Subhas University of Technology
Unit – 4
• Computer Monitoring: Types of production monitoring system –
structure model of manufacturing process – process control &
strategies direct digital control-supervisory computer control-computer
in QC – contact inspection methods non-contact inspection method –
computer – aided testing – integration of CAQC with CAD/CAM.
Integrated engineering wheel
Production Monitoring System(PMS)
• The development of a simple, but efficient concept of a real time production
monitoring system.

• The goal is to offer an effective concept, which will help to provide an

accurate overview of the shop floor activities by diverse information
appearance and improve asset management, machinery utilization, and
production process stability.

• The subtask considered includes description of the design of a visual

module for the proposed production monitoring system for a certain type of
micro, small and medium sized enterprises.
• PMS systems can be seen as a subset of the Manufacturing Execution
System (MES) that comprises the same functions as
• data collection and acquisition,
• maintenance management,
• resource status,
• product tracking, and
• production performance analysis
• Production monitoring data can be classified into two major groups:
1. Status of resources and
2. Status of jobs.

• Status of jobs is related to data of each completed operation, estimated

production time, sequences, etc. It provides information about the
order flow for improvement of production sequences.
• Real time overview of the production process supports paperless
reporting approach.

• Thus, comparison of planned and actual production numbers is

possible at any time and allows more realistic scheduling that will help
to meet delivery deadlines.
Hierarchical shop floor control system
Interactions between the control levels of the SFCS
Functionality of a shop floor control system
Automated Manufacturing Research Facility
Trends of the manufacturing cell
Production monitoring system classification
Status of Resource: Machinery
• The machine event monitoring shows machine workload, downtime,
availability, and performance.

• If the machine is not working, operators know exactly why and can
rearrange the planned operations on time, which saves time and cost.

• Such data give detailed real-time and historical information of what

is/was happening on the shop floor with the machinery.
For machinery fault diagnosis different strategies can be used:
• Preventive maintenance – periodically shut down services for
manual inspection. One of the drawbacks of such strategy is that
equipment should be normally out of operation during the inspection
to detect problems.
• Condition-based monitoring – fault diagnosis by means of
appropriate observations based on acoustic signal, temperature,
electrical current, vibration monitoring, etc. Condition-based
monitoring is a more preferable strategy due to automatic diagnostic
and predictive nature.
• Machinery monitoring, which is one of the main functions of the PMS,
is not the primary goal of the majority of MES solutions.

• The reason is that the initial idea of MES was to provide higher level
systems, e.g., enterprise resource planning (ERP), with the required
production status data from the workshop.

• To support the accurate production plan scheduling through material

movement tracking and inventory management.

• There are several standards and regulations (e.g., ISAS95) that ensure
MES robustness and interconnection with other systems. Through that
it may have influence on the PMS development.
• PMS is closely related to supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) systems that conventionally were mostly responsible for
process monitoring and control operations, but nowadays come with
more advanced functions like reporting and scripting capabilities,
performance calculation, and integration with MES/ERP.
Status of Resource: Personnel
• Personnel monitoring covers optimal movements tracking; planned
versus actual manpower data, etc.

• Different indoor positioning systems may be used for people and

equipment location tracking that is part of the global production
effectiveness (GPE) concept.
Status of Resource: Working Environment
• Working environment is seen here as a part of the “status of resources”
group, as it affects the personnel comfort and safety.

• That directly impacts production efficiency. Here the requirements for

ventilation, intensity of light, noise level, CO2 concentration,
vibration, magnetic field, etc., are regulated and checked by the
international labor organizations (e.g., C148 – Working Environment
convention from 1977) and by local labour institutions.
Status of Jobs
• Data about the status of jobs and resources groups support functions of
material and resource planning systems and provide feedback from the
workshop.

• Keeping all departments informed of what is going on in the

workshop, helps to timely react on unplanned situations.

• Production monitoring system does not directly control machinery, but

tracks it.
• In many cases, data subsets from different groups, described above,
should be reviewed as a single data set to identify, e.g., reasons of
quality problems, unplanned downtime, low performance, etc.

• Detailed status on every machine in the PMS is supported by such Key

Performance Indicators (KPIs) as availability, performance, quality
rate, and Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE).
Structure Model of Manufacturing Process
• Integral parts of PMS are
• data collection and analysis,
• prognostics,
• visualization, and
• storage

• Complexity of each component may differ according to customer

requirements.

• It means that the system is expandable: additional custom modules may be

added to form one integrated platform.
Simplified concept of a production monitoring system
• PMS does not provide main functions of the production scheduling
system and should work closely with production planning systems to
exchange data (e.g., through MES, ERP, etc.).

• As an example, such data as the number of pieces to be produced and

ideal cycle time to calculate machine performance should be inserted
once and used in different systems.

• Standalone solution may require a number of manual inputs and have

limited functionality.
• The more sensors will be integrated in the system, the more data will
be generated that should be handled.

• But processing this growing number of data through traditional

database technologies will be challenging.

• This problem is directly related to the concept of Big Data. But the use
of Cloud computing may help to simplify these data processing issues
• Preferably, a web based user interface, based on open source software, should be
used to cut the costs.

• At the same time, custom open-source software may lead to the lack of qualified
support and require more effort to integrate with existing equipment.

• To mitigate these risks, integration may be supported by third parties (university

research teams, private companies) and special dedicated online communities.

• Different motivation points for people to participate in such online communities

are considered (e.g., benefits from the work of someone else, making a research
project, etc.)
• Despite some drawbacks, such software and hardware supports
principles of open research and collaborative knowledge creation.

• The design of a PMS and its parts requires interdisciplinary research:

to incorporate data mining, software, hardware, user interfaces,
ergonomics, etc.
Data analysis and prognostics
• Different data analysis techniques are used to retrieve useful
information from the collected data.

• And by the support of prognostics the most likely scenarios are

determined with maximally eliminated inaccuracy and uncertainty.
Here focus should be mostly on high value parameters.

• Along with that are additionally required developments in advanced

sensor technologies and incipient fault detection techniques.
• It is a real challenge to obtain samples of the failure progressions, as most
of the critical systems are not allowed to run until failure and vital parts are
replaced.

• So in this case limited analysis may be performed. Failure degradation of

some systems takes a long time that complicates the research. Solution to
that is to run experiments in a laboratory environment, to accelerate the
aging.

• But studies conducted in research laboratories often neglect certain practical

considerations from the real-life situations.
1. Data analysis
• Shewhart control charts.
• Exponentially-weighted moving average chart (EWMA).
• Cumulative sum control chart (CuSum).
• To construct an X-bar chart (control chart) or R-charts (range chart), the following
steps should be done:
• Measure (subset) data points.
• Calculate mean and range.
• Calculate standard deviation.
• Calculate upper and lower limits (subset size determines the constant to be used in
equation).
• Construct plots.
2. Prognostics
Visualization module
• The process of development of the graphical user interface (GUI) is closely related
to data, collected in the workshop.

• One of the ideas of visualization is to present complex data in a simple way. It

may help to find patterns in a large amount of data and take quick decisions. Data
visualization should be available between company’s different departments.

• Proposed production monitoring system visualization module may be presented as

a three-level structure.

• Table 2 below shows the main tasks of the GUI on different levels. These tasks are
not limited, and depend on customer requirements and investment costs.
Table 2. Proposed structure of GUI for the production monitoring system
CASE STUDY
• Increasing the capacity of a bottleneck production line is usually a
long and investment-heavy undertaking and therefore a decision was
taken to apply automatic PMS solution on a profile planning line of a
mass-production woodworking company with a purpose of collecting
data for analyzing the need for investing in a new production line.

• Since the cost of the considered solutions was over the budged, a
custom solution was developed for specific needs of the company. And
separately a visual module for milling machine DYNA MECH.
EM3116 was developed at the Tallinn University of Technology.

• The case study focuses on creating custom GUI for application in

daily work, instead of time consuming and tedious paper reports.
GUI development for the production line
• The GUI for the PMS was developed by authors as a web-based
application. The use of dynamic web pages with the support of AJAX
(Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technology allows updating user
interface specific objects and responding to submission events.

• The idea was also to use tablet devices with Android operation system
to lower the cost of the system. Web-based approach allows the use of
a wide range of devices with graphical interface support.
• Two main GUIs where developed for user interaction with the system
for the operator and the
• The GUI for View 1 (Operator screen) – consists of 4 main parts
(Fig.):
• Screen header – displays the machine id, machine name and the
current shift number.
• Stoppage reasons and times – stoppages in chronological order.
• Stoppage overview – stoppage reason summary.
• Shift overview – displaying various machine/production line specific
detailed information. quality inspector of the end product.
Machine/Operator screen.
Machine/Operator screen stoppage reason selection.
Quality Screen.
Reporting module for production line (View 2)
Summary report group by product data for upper- and mid-level managers
Developed visual module for milling machine
• Depending on the production company type and organizational needs, PMS
functionality may vary greatly.

• But the main principles described above may be used in different areas like
additive manufacturing to even more advanced technology.
• Detailed information on operating resources and downtime analysis will result in
higher utilization ratios.

• And collected data analysis will also help to find reasons of abnormal conditions.

• Indeed, development of advanced monitoring tools continues to be an interesting

research topic and motivates to find new ways how to improve already existing
solutions or develop new ones.

• This research could provide benefit to those who are going to design and
implement production monitoring tools.
Process Control Strategies
• There are a variety of control strategies that can be employed in
process control.
• The choice of strategy depends on the process and the performance
objectives to be achieved.
Process Control Categories
1. Feedback control
2. Regulatory control
3. Feedforward control
4. Pre-planned control
5. Steady-state optimal control
6. Adaptive control
Direct Digital Control (DDC) System
• Before computers were used to control industrial processes, analog
control devices were used.
• These analog devices were either electrical or pneumatic, and the
process control configuration was either distributed or centralized.
• When digital computers started to be used for control purposes,
centralized control represented the state of the art because it offered
the opportunity to exercise overall control perhaps, optimization of the
entire plant
Components of DDC System
• A complex industrial process may have a thousand variable to be
monitored and regulated.
• An oil refinery would be an example of such a complex system.
• Each pair of input/output variable represents a control loop.
• Before digital computer control, analog controllers were used to
regulate the individual loops of an industrial process.
Components of DDC Systems
1. Transducers and sensors: These are located in the plant
2. Actuators: these are the servomotors, valves, relays and other process
interface devices which operate at the command of the controller of unit
3. Analog controller: this controls the electronic or pneumatic devices that
operate on the error signal in Fig. to drive the output variable into
agreement with the set point
4. Recording and display devices: these instruments provide a visual
reading of the sensor measurements for the control room operator
5. Set-point and comparator: these would typically be part of the analog
controller to allow the operator to set the desired operating level for the
particular process variables. The comparator allow the feed back
measurement to be compared with the set point.
Supervisory Computer Control (SCC) System
• The practice of simply using the digital computer to imitate the
characteristics of analog controllers seems to represent a transitional
phase in computer process control.
• DDC alone is difficult to justify in terms of reduced costs.
 DDC vs SCC Systems
Descriptions DDC SCC
Control Strategies Feedback control Regulatory control
Regulatory control Feedforward control
Feedforward control Pre-planned control
Optimal control
Adaptive control
Configuration Type-1-Centralized Type-2 optionally distributed
types Type-3 – fully distributed

Applications Continuous process Continuous process industries

industries Direct numerical control (DNC)
Flexible Manufacturing Systems
Computer in QC
The quality control (QC) function has traditionally been performed using
manual inspection methods and statistical sampling procedures.
Manual inspection
• It is generally a time-consuming procedure which involves precise, yet
monotonous work. If often requires that parts be removed from the vicinity
of the production machines to a separate inspection area. This causes delays
and often constitutes a bottleneck in the manufacturing schedule.
• Inherent in the use of statistical sampling procedures is acknowledgment
of the risk that some defective parts will slip through. Indeed, statistical
quality control attempts to guarantee that a certain expected or average
fraction defect rate will be generated during the production/inspection
process. The nature of traditional statistical QC procedures is that
something less than 100% good quality must be tolerated.
• There is another aspect of the traditional QC inspection process which
detracts from its usefulness. It is often performed after the fact. The
measurements are taken and the quality is determined after the parts are
already made. If the parts are defective, they must be scrapped or reworked
at a cost which is often greater than their original cost to manufacture.
• All of these various factors are driving the quality control function toward
what we are calling computer-aided quality control (CAQC). Other terms
that have been applied to describe this movement are "computer-aided
inspection" (CAI) and "computer-aided testing" (CAT).The objectives of
computer-aided quality control are ambitious, yet straight forward. They
are:
1. To improve product quality
2. To increase productivity in the inspection process
3. To increase productivity and reduce lead times in manufacturing

The strategy for achieving these objectives is basically to automate the

inspection process through the application of computers combined with
advanced sensor technology. Wherever technically possible and economically
feasible, inspection will be done on a 100% basis rather than sampling.
 TERMINOLOGY IN QUALITY CONTROL
Quality
• In a manufacturing context can be defined as the degree to which a product or its
components conform to certain standards that have been specified by the designer. The
design standards generally relate to the materials, dimensions and tolerances, appearance,
performance, reliability, and any other measurable characteristic of the product.
Quality assurance (QA)
• is concerned with those activities which will maximize the probability that the product
and its components will be manufactured within the design specifications. These activities
should start in the product design area, where the designer can make decisions among
alternatives that might have quality consequences. QA activities continue in
manufacturing planning, where decisions relative to production equipment, tooling,
methods, and motivation of employees will all have an influence on quality.
Quality control
• Is concerned with those activities related to inspection of product and
component quality, detection of poor quality, and corrective action
necessary to eliminate poor quality. These activities also involve the
planning of inspection procedures and the specification of the gages
and measuring instruments needed to perform the inspections.
• Statistical QC is generally divided into two categories:
• Acceptance sampling and
• Control charts
• Acceptance sampling is a procedure in which a sample is drawn from a
batch of parts in order to assess the quality level of the batch and to
determine whether the batch should be accepted or rejected. Acceptance
sampling is based on the statistical notion that the quality of a random
sample drawn from a larger population will be representative of the quality
of that population.

• Control charts are used to keep a record over time of certain measured data
collected from a process. A company would use control charts to monitor its
own production processes. The central line indicates the expected quality
level of the process. The upper and lower control limits (UCL and LCL) are
statistical measures of the variation in the process which would be tolerated
without concluding that the process has erred. when these limits are
exceeded, it usually means that something has changed the process, and an
investigation should be initiated to determine the cause
• Both acceptance sampling and control charts can be applied to two
situations in quality control: fraction defects and measured variables.
• In the fraction-defect case, the objective is to determine what proportion of
the sample (and the population from which it came) are defective. This is
often accomplished by a go/no go gage, which can quickly determine
whether a part is within specification or not.
• In the measured-variable case, the object is to determine the value of the
quality characteristic of interest (e.g., dimension, resistance, hardness, etc.).
This requires the use of a measuring instrument of some kind (e.g.,
micrometer, oh-meter, hardness tester, etc.) and is normally a more time-
consuming manual process than the go/no-go case
Inspection
• Is normally used to examine a component of a product in relation to
the design standards specified for it. For a mechanical component, this
would probably be concerned with the dimensions of the part. These
might be checked with several go/no go gages or they might be
measured with a micro meter and other instruments.
• Incoming raw materials
• At various stages during manufacturing (e.g., when the parts are moved from o
ne production department to another)
• At the completion of processing on the parts
• Before shipping the final assembled product to the customer
Testing
• Is normally associated with the functional aspects of the item, and it is
often directed at the final product rather than its components. In this
usage, testing consists of the observation of the final product during
operation under actual or simulated conditions. If the product passes
the test, it is deemed suitable for sale. Several categories of tests used
for final product evaluation:
• Simple functional tests under normal or simulated normal operating conditions
• Functional tests in which the product is tested under extreme (usually adverse
conditions)
• Fatigue or wear tests to determine how long the product will function
until Failure.
• Overload tests to determine the level of safety factor built into the product
• Environmental testing to determine how well the product will perform under
different environments (e.g., humidity, temperature)
THE COMPUTER IN QC
• CAI and CAT are performed automatically using the latest computer and
sensor technology. Computer-assisted inspection and testing methods form
only part, certainly a major part, of computer-aided quality control.

• In our treatment of the subject we shall include the integration of the quality
control function with CAD/CAM as a critical ingredient in the success of
CAQC. The implications of the use of computer-aided quality control are
important.

• The automated methods of CAQC will result in significant changes from

the traditional concepts and methods.
Important effects likely to result from CAQC
1. With CAI and CAT, inspection and testing will typically be
accomplished on a 100% basis rather than by the sampling procedures
normally used in traditional QC.
2. Inspection during production will be integrated into the
manufacturing process rather than requiring that the parts be taken to
some inspection area. This will help to reduce the elapsed time to
complete the parts. On line will have to be accomplished in much less
time than with current manual techniques.
3. The use of noncontact sensors will become much more widely used
with computer-aided inspection. With contact inspection devices, the
part must usually be stopped and often repositioned to allow the
inspection device to be applied properly. With noncontact sensor
devices, the part can often be inspected "on the fly." These devices,
driven by the high-speed data processing capability of the computer, can
complete the inspection in a small fraction of a second.
4. The on-line noncontact sensors will be utilized as the measurement
component of computerized feedback control systems. These systems
will be capable of making adjustments to the process variables based on
analysis of the data collected by the sensors. Data would be plotted. This
would not only allow out of tolerance conditions to be identified, but
gradual shifts in the process could also be uncovered and corrective
action taken. By regulating the process in this manner, parts will be
made much closer to the desired nominal dimension rather than merely
within tolerance. Quality feedback control systems will help to reduce
scrap losses and improve product quality.
5. With computer-aided inspection technology, it may no longer be necessary
to settle for less than perfection.
6. Robots will be used increasingly in future inspection applications
7. There will also be applications for the computer in quality assurance as
well as QC. The CAD/CAM data base will be used to derive these various
quality applications,
8. There will be CAI and CAT take its place, manual inspection activity will
be reduced. Quality control personnel will have to become more computer-
wise and technologically sophisticated to operate the more complex
inspection and testing equipment and to manage the information that will
result from these more automated methods
CONTACT INSPECTION METHODS
• The contact methods usually involve the use of coordinate measuring
machines (CMM). Most of these machines today are either controlled
by NC or computers. The coordinate measuring machine(CMM) is the
most prominent example of the equipment used for contact inspection
of workparts.
• It consists of a table which holds the part in a fixed, registered position
and a movable head which holds a sensing probe. The probe can be
moved in three directions, corresponding to the x, y, and z coordinates.
• During operation, the probe is brought into contact with the part
surface to be measured and the three coordinate positions are indicated
to a high level of accuracy
CONTACT INSPECTION METHODS
• Today's coordinate measuring machines are computer controlled.
• The operation of the machine is similar to an NC machine tool in
which the movement of the measuring probe is either tape controlled
or computer controlled.
• Programs and coordinate data can be downloaded from a central
computer, much in the manner of direct numerical control.
• Also similar to DNC is the capability to transmit data from the CMM
back up to the host computer
• Savings in inspection time by using coordinate measuring machines
are significant.
• Typically, between 5 and 10% of the time is required on a CMM com
pared to traditional manual inspection methods.
• Other advantages include consistency in the inspection process from
one part to the next which cannot be matched by manual inspection,
and reductions in production delays to get approval of the first
workpiece in a batch.
• The coordinate measuring machine is physically located away from
the production machine, usually in a separate area of the shop.
Accordingly, the parts must be transported from the production area to
the CMM.
• In fact, if inspection is required at several different stages of
production, several moves will be involved. One possible approach to
overcome this problem is to use inspection probes mounted in the
spindle of the machine tool.
• These inspection probes are contact sensing devices that operate with
the machine tool much like the coordinate measuring machine.
NONCONTACT INSPECTION METHODS
• The noncontact methods are divided into two categories for our
purposes:
• 1. Optical
• Machine vision.
• Scanning laser beam devices.
• Photogrammetry
2. Non Optical
• Electric Field techniques.
• Radiation techniques.
• Ultrasonic
NONCONTACT INSPECTION METHODS- OPTICAL

• The advantages of noncontact inspection are:

1. It usually eliminates the need to reposition the workpart.
2. Noncontact inspection is usually much faster than contact inspection.
3. It eliminates mechanical wear encountered with the contacting
inspection probe because it eliminates the probe.
4. It reduces potential danger to people, who must touch a hazardous
material if contact inspection is used.
5. It removes the possibility of damage to the surface of a part which
might result during contact inspection.
Machine vision
• Other names given to these systems include microprocessor-based
television and computer vision.
• The typical machine vision system consists of a TV camera, a digital
computer, and an interface between them that functions as a
preprocessor.
• The combination of system hardware and software digitizes the picture
and analyzes the image by comparing it with data stored in memory.
• The data are often in the form of a limited number of models of the
objects which are to be inspected.
• There are several limitations of machine vision;
• The first limitation is concerned with the problem of dividing the
picture into picture elements. This is very similar to the problem
encountered in the development of graphics terminals for computer-
aided design.
• A second limitation is that the object in front of the camera must be
capable of being divided into areas of contrasting lightness and
darkness.
• Third limitations is on the capability of machine vision systems
recognize the object in the viewing area.
• Machine vision inspection problems can be divided into two
categories:
• 1. Noncontact gaging of dimensions - Noncontact gaging in machine
vision involves the inspection of part size and other features where it is
not necessary to process the image of the entire part out line, only
those portions that must be examined for dimensional accuracy.
During setup for an inspection, a parts-training program is used to
view the workpart of interest on a TV monitor. With the image in fixed
position on the screen, the operator manipulates a cursor to define the
edges of interest and to apply an appropriate scale factor to establish
the correct units of measure.
• 2. Inspection based on pattern recognition of object features - It is
based on pattern recognition techniques. In this category, the attributes
of the object to be inspected are typically more subjective and in some
respects more complicated than part dimensions.
• The machine vision pattern recognition process can be conceptualized
as involving a comparison of features (for example, area, perimeter,
and so on) between the object being inspected and the model of the
object stored in computer memory.
Scanning laser beam devices
• The scanning laser beam device relies on the measurement of time
rather than light, although a light sensor is required in its operation.
• A laser is used to project a continuous thin beam of light.
• A rotating mirror deflects the beam so that it sweeps across the object
to be measured.
• The light sensor is located at the focal point of the lens system to
detect the interruption of the light beam as it is blocked by the object.
• The time lapse corresponding to the interruption of the light beam
is measured to determine the desired dimension of the part.
• Typically, a microprocessor is programmed to make the conversion of
the time lapse into a dimensional value and to perform other functions,
such as signaling an automatic parts-rejection mechanism to eject a
defective part from the line.
Photogrammetry
• Photogrammetry involves the extraction of three-dimensional data
from a pair of photographs taken at different angles.
• The two photographs can be combined much in the way that a
stereoscope uses a pair of photographs to form a three-dimensional
image for the viewer.
• In the measurement process used for inspection, the two photographs
are read by a device called a monocomparator to establish coordinates
and positions of objects.
• These data are then computer-analyzed to extricate the desired
information.
• The drawback of the conventional photogrammetry technique is the
need for photographs, an inconvenient and time-consuming step in the
procedure.
• An improvement in the technique which is being developed will delete
the photo graphic step.
• Instead, the images froiri two cameras set up in a stereoscopic
configuration will send visual data directly to a computer for
mathematical analysis and real-time extraction of dimensional data.
NONCONTACT INSPECTION METHODS: NONOPTICAL

• In addition to noncontact inspection methods based on optical systems,

non-optical approaches
can also be used. We will describe three general types which are quite
representative of the current technology in this area. The three general
types are:
1. Electrical field techniques
2. Radiation techniques
3. Ultrasonic
Electrical field techniques
Various types of electrical field techniques can be applied to noncontact inspection.
Three types of electrical fields are employed:

1. Reluctance - The reluctance transducers are proximity devices that indicate

the presence and distance from the probe of a ferromagnetic substance. The
obvious limitation of the device is that the object being inspected must be
electromagnetic.

2. Capacitance - A capacitance-based transducer can also be used to measure the

distance of an object from the face of a probe. The measurement is based on the
variable capacitance from part/probe coupling. This capacitance is inversely
proportional to the distance between the probe face and the part, and thus the
distance can be calculated. The capacitance transducer can be used to detect a
variety of materials. The material must bean electrical conductor

3. Inductance - Inductance systems operate by subjecting the object to an

alternating magnetic field by means of an electromagnetic coil. The result is that
small circulating currents (eddy currents) are generated in the object. These
eddy currents, in turn, create their own magnetic field, which interacts with the
primary field.
Radiation Techniques
• X-ray radiation techniques are employed for purposes of noncontact
inspection in the metals and metal working industry.

• The amount of radiation absorbed by a material can be used to measure its

thickness and other quality characteristics.

• In a typical application in a rolling mill, an X-ray scanning unit measure the

thickness of the plates or strips going through the rolls so that the proper
adjustments can be made in the rollers.

• X-ray techniques are also used to inspect weld quality in fabricated steel
and aluminum pressure vessels and pipes.

• In this case the radiation can be used to detect flaws and voids in the weld.
Ultrasonic
• Ultrasonic in inspection work involves the use of very high frequency
(above 20,000 Hz) soundwaves to indicate quality.
• A principal application is in non-destructive testing of materials.
• Ultrasonic techniques can also be applied to the problem of determining
dimensional features of workparts.
• One approach, called acoustical phase monitoring, involves the analysis of
sound waves reflected from the surface of an object.
• The sound waves are produced by an emitter and directed against the object.
• Assuming that all else remains constant, the reflected sound pattern from
the object should always be the same.
• During inspection, the sound pattern from the part is analyzed by a
computer program and compared to the pattern of a standard part, one that
is known to be of acceptable quality. If the pattern of the test part differs
significantly from that of the standard, it is rejected.
COMPUTER-AIDED TESTING
• Testing is generally applied to assess the functional performance of a final
product.
• It may also be applied for major subassemblies of the final product, such as
the engines and transmissions of automobiles.
• Testing may also be performed on individual components in which some
functional aspect of the component must be examined and cannot be
implicitly determined by means of a mechanical inspection.

An example of this might be the case of a brake lining in which the

dimensions are correct, but the functional performance must be determined
through a testing procedure
• Computer-aided testing is simply the application of the computer in the testing
procedure.

• There are different levels of automation which can be found CAT.

• At the lowest level, the computer would be used simply to monitor the test and
analyze the results, but the testing procedure itself is manually setup, initiated, and
controlled by a human operator.

• In this case the computer receives the data from a data logger or a data acquisition
system and prepares a report of the test results Computer-aided test cells are
applied in situations where the product is complicated and produced insignificant
quantities

Examples include automobile engines, aircraft engines, and electronic integrated

circuits. Advantages of these cells include higher throughput rates, greater
consistency in the test procedure, and less floor space occupied by the automated
cell
INTEGRATION OF CAQC WITH CAD/CAM

• Although many important benefits result from the use of computer-

aided quality control, additional benefits can be obtained by
integrating CAQC with CAD/CAM.
• The design department creates the product definition and the
manufacturing department makes use of and supplements this
definition to develop the manufacturing plan. It isimportant to add the
QC connection to the CAD/CAM framework.
• The quality control department must use the same CAD/CAM data
base to perform itsfunction. These quality standards are all contained
in the CAD/CAM data base, available forQC to use.
• One way in which the data base can be used is to develop the NC programs to
operate the tape-controlled or computer-controlled coordinate measuring
machines. These programs can be generated automatically.

• These programs would then be down loaded to the CMM through a DNC link
from the central computer to the controller unit for the CMM. The same sort of
downloading process is possible for some of the noncontact inspection methods.

• Another way in which a common data base is helpful to QC is when engineering

changes are made to the product. It is helpful for any changes to be recorded in a
common data file for all departments, including QC, to use.

• Another area where CAD/CAM benefits the QC function is in computer

production monitoring.

• The types of production records that are generated during computer monitoring are
sometimes useful to the quality control department in tracing the cause of poor
quality in a particular production lot
CAM-i control hierarchy
Three functions and their relationship
Three main functions and their activities
ESPRIT control structure
Multi-blackboard structure for control
Schematic overview of the five functions
Process Plan and Shop Floor Control
• A process plan is represented as a form feature graph using an AND/OR graph
concept. In other words, a form feature graph is an AND/OR graph used to
represent a set of form features and their precedence relationship.

• An edge in the form feature graph represents the precedence relationship among
form features.

• A node in the form feature graph is one of five different types:

• SPLIT-AND,
• SPLIT-OR,
• JOIN-AND,
• JOIN-OR, and
• FORM-FEATURE.
• A SPLIT-AND type node implies that all the paths following a SPLIT-AND
type node must be manufactured in any sequence.
• A JOIN-AND type node is required to bring multiple paths back together
after a SPLIT-AND type node.
• A SPLIT-OR type node implies that only one path following a SPLIT-OR type
node must be selected to be machined.
• A JOIN-OR type node is required to bring multiple paths back together after
a SPLIT-OR type node.
• A form feature, which is the base level activity that must be performed as a
single depth of cut by utilizing a single fixture, tool, and machine resource,
is represented in a FORM-FEATURE type node.

• The node contains manufacturing information associated with a form

feature, such as machine, tool, fixture, machining parameters, NC
instructions, etc. A form feature graph associated with a concerned
product forms the principal input to the shop floor control system.
Development of an Execution Function
Development of an Execution Function
Case 1) When a new part arrives to the workstation,
Case 2) When a finished part leaves the workstation, and
Case 3) When a part state changes within the workstation.
IWC: Intelligent Workstation Controller
Development of a Planning Function
• planning can be defined informally as a function that generates a set
of tasks to be scheduled in the future.

• Specifically, the planning function determines batch size, generates

the plan graphs by aggregating the form feature graphs and an
operation sequence graph by eliminating SPLIT-OR.

• An operation in the operation sequence graph is then committed to a

set of resources, such as machines, fixtures, and attendants.
Objective of the planning function
• The criteria to be considered may include:
1) the amount of workload assigned to each machine is balanced,
2) resource utilization is maximized,
3) resource contention is minimized,
4) the possibility of system deadlocks is minimized, and 5) the number
of operations is minimized.
Procedure of the planning function
Development of a Scheduling Function
• The scheduling function is invoked when a planning activity on a new
batch/part is finished, when an operation is finished at a machine tool, or
when a device becomes idle.
• When the planning function invokes the scheduling function, an operation
sequence graph associated with a new batch/part is transferred.
• An operation sequence graph specifies a set of operations and their
precedence relationship.
• The outputs of the scheduling function to the execution function are a set
of messages associated with what the next things can be done for every
event.

• For example, the scheduling function determines the movement of a part and sends
a corresponding message to the execution function.
• It is to be noted that the scheduling function may also deal with mobile resource
movement activities, refixturing activities, and robot end-effector changing activities.
Development of a Scheduling Function
• For example, the scheduling function determines the movement of a part
and sends a corresponding message to the execution function. It is to be
noted that the scheduling function may also deal with mobile resource
movement activities, refixturing activities, and robot end-effector changing
activities.
• Scheduling concentrates on two major classes of entities:
1) machines that process parts and
2) material handlers that move parts between machines.
• However, in CIM environments, the classes of entities that must be
considered at the workstation level include:
1) batch,
2) part,
3) machines,
4) material handlers,
5) tools,
6) fixtures,
7)shared workspace and/or path,
8) buffers, and
9) attendants.
Set of decision
problems
for shop floor
control
Development of a Deadlock Resolution Model
• Flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) usually have little or no queue
capacity and limited sharing resources such as NC machines, robots, tools,
fixtures.
• Furthermore, FMSs have the dynamic nature of manufacturing process due
to the concurrent part flow of various parts.
• Even though those characteristics make possible more efficient use of
resources, they bear practical, but undesirable problems, system
deadlocks.
• The occurrence of system deadlocks, unlike blocking, causes all the
activities in the entire system stalled and makes part flow impossible. As a
result, system deadlocks may become a critical scheduling and control
problem.
Integration of Planning, Scheduling, and Execution
• Several issues have been raised and addressed, including process plan
representation, planning, scheduling, execution, and system deadlock
detection and resolution.

• The integration of those components as well as the architectural

linkages between the IWC and other controllers must also be
established.

• The execution function is mostly responsible for coordinating all the

functions and communicating with other controllers.
IWC software testing environment
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