Product structure is a hierarchical decomposition of a product, typically known as the bill of materials (BOM). As business becomes more responsive to unique consumer tastes and derivative products grow to meet the unique configurations, BOM management can become unmanageable. For manufacturers, a bill of materials (BOM) is a critical product information record that lists the raw materials, assemblies, components, parts and the quantities of each needed to manufacture a product.
Advanced modeling techniques are necessary to cope with configurable products where changing a small part of a product can have multiple impacts on other product structure models. Concepts within this entry are in capital letters in order to indicate these concepts.
Several concepts are related to the subject of product structure modeling. All these concepts are discussed in this section. These concepts are divided into two main aspects. First the product breakdown is discussed which involves all the physical aspects of a product. Second, different views at the product structure are indicated.
Figure 1 illustrates the concepts that are important to the structure of a product. This is a meta-data model, which can be used for modeling the instances in a specific case of product structuring.
The core of the product structure is illustrated by the product components ( items ) and their relationships. Thus, this involves the linking between items related to the product. The assembly can consist of subassemblies and parts, whereas subassemblies can also consist of other subassemblies or part. Thus, this is typically hierarchically ordered. These concepts are generalized into the concept of item. This classification is overlapping, because a subassembly could be a part in another assembly configuration. Due to differentiation and variation of items several concepts must be indicated into the product breakdown structure. Three concepts are involved in this differentiation, namely alternatives, variants and revisions. An alternative of an item is considered as a substitute for that particular item, whereas a variant is another option of an item which the consumer can choose. When an error occurs at a part or subassembly, it needs to be revised. This revision indicates the change history of the item.
Product structure views are made upon several activity domains within the company. Due to the fact not everyone in the company has to have a detailed overview of the product several components with their attributes can be extracted.
When the Master Structure is made out of the several items of the product assembly, multiple views can be made upon this Master Structure. Thus this Master Structure contains every item in detail, which is important to the Assembly of the product.
The process of constructing the product model consists of six main activities, which can be decomposed in several sub-activities. The next table describes these activities and the sub-activities within them provided with a description about this activity.
Activity | Sub-Activity | Description |
---|---|---|
Define product components | Identify parts | Identifying parts is concerned with the so-called bill of materials. Thus the materials are described for each product. Output of this activity is a list of parts for each product. |
Specify sub-assemblies | Several parts mulled together are described as a subassembly. But can also be an atomic component, which is part of the whole assembly. | |
Configure product | The assembly is constructed of the parts and subassemblies. Output of this activity consists of the assembly. | |
Define product assortment | Specify variants | Variants of the items (parts, subassemblies, assemblies) are defined and specified. |
Specify alternatives | Alternatives of the items (parts, subassemblies, assemblies) are defined and specified | |
Implement revision | If items (parts, subassemblies, assemblies) change they are implemented and the process of modeling the product structure is iterated, in order to ensure consistency. | |
Product structuring | Define relationships between items | The relationships between items are handled, which are eventually the actual structure of a product. |
Create master structure | Summation of the relationships of the items (parts, subassemblies, assemblies) resembles in a master structure. | |
Documenting | Link product definition | Documents that describe the parts are pointed out from the product structure. This allows the user to easily find a document of the correct revision. |
Define product structure views | Specify needed views | The necessary views, which are important for the product, are specified. |
Create AD specific views | Views on the master structure are created for each Activity Domain (AD). |
When combining the activities with the concepts of the product structure model it will result in a process-data diagram. This diagram displays the steps which need to be taken within the process of product structure modeling together with the deliverables, at the right side, which are outcomes of these activities.
This example discusses the product structure modeling within car manufacturing. This will be discussed through the main activities which are identified within the process of product structure modeling.
First, all components are identified and indicated. In the area of car manufacturing, the product components are as follows. A car (ASSEMBLY) consists of several SUBASSEMBLIES such as the body and the engine of the car. The engine for example is assembled in several parts such as screws and small pipes.
In case of car manufacturing instances of these concepts can be made. For example an engine has several alternatives. For example a car manufacturer can choose between an engine made in America or Japan. Within these different engines, variants exist. Initially an engine can be made as a 1.6 engine, but a variant, such as a 1.8 engine, can be made of this engine. Thus the 1.6 engine is used as base concept for the new 1.8 engine.
An example of a correlation between items within car manufacturing can be indicated as follows. The engine is connected to the body with several screws. Thus, these two items must be linked by the concept of a relationship.
After structuring the product with all the listed items and relationship between them this must be combined into one MASTER STRUCTURE which contains all of the details of the product. In case of the car, all items from engine to screw must be documented in one MASTER STRUCTURE.
When the MASTER STRUCTURE of the car is created one must link this structure with documents which contains the product definition of this specific car. Primarily, this consists of an extensive description of the car which is linked to the MASTER STRUCTURE of this product.
In case of the car manufacturer multiple views can be derived from the car assembly. For example a structure from a sales point of view will need more detail about the functions and characteristics of the car rather than detailed information about the body. Thus a sales manager needs information about the color of the car or the type of gear (automatic of manual). From a purchasing view more information is needed about the mixing of the paint instead of the general color, which is only needed for the customer. Purchasing department also needs more information about the suppliers of the used components within the manufacturing of the car, so they can easily overview where which component is used and which supplier it comes from.
An assembly line is a manufacturing process in which parts are added as the semi-finished assembly moves from workstation to workstation where the parts are added in sequence until the final assembly is produced. By mechanically moving the parts to the assembly work and moving the semi-finished assembly from work station to work station, a finished product can be assembled faster and with less labor than by having workers carry parts to a stationary piece for assembly.
Mass production, also known as flow production, series production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and batch production, it is one of the three main production methods.
Material requirements planning (MRP) is a production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system used to manage manufacturing processes. Most MRP systems are software-based, but it is possible to conduct MRP by hand as well.
An engineering drawing is a type of technical drawing that is used to convey information about an object. A common use is to specify the geometry necessary for the construction of a component and is called a detail drawing. Usually, a number of drawings are necessary to completely specify even a simple component. These drawings are linked together by a "master drawing." This "master drawing" is more commonly known as an assembly drawing. The assembly drawing gives the drawing numbers of the subsequent detailed components, quantities required, construction materials and possibly 3D images that can be used to locate individual items. Although mostly consisting of pictographic representations, abbreviations and symbols are used for brevity and additional textual explanations may also be provided to convey the necessary information.
Automotive engineering, along with aerospace engineering and naval architecture, is a branch of vehicle engineering, incorporating elements of mechanical, electrical, electronic, software, and safety engineering as applied to the design, manufacture and operation of motorcycles, automobiles, and trucks and their respective engineering subsystems. It also includes modification of vehicles. Manufacturing domain deals with the creation and assembling the whole parts of automobiles is also included in it. The automotive engineering field is research intensive and involves direct application of mathematical models and formulas. The study of automotive engineering is to design, develop, fabricate, and test vehicles or vehicle components from the concept stage to production stage. Production, development, and manufacturing are the three major functions in this field.
A product's service life is its period of use in service. Several related terms describe more precisely a product's life, from the point of manufacture, storage, and distribution, and eventual use. Service life has been defined as "a product's total life in use from the point of sale to the point of discard" and distinguished from replacement life, "the period after which the initial purchaser returns to the shop for a replacement". Determining a product's expected service life as part of business policy involves using tools and calculations from maintainability and reliability analysis. Service life represents a commitment made by the item's manufacturer and is usually specified as a median. It is the time that any manufactured item can be expected to be "serviceable" or supported by its manufacturer.
In industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the engineering, design and manufacture, as well as the service and disposal of manufactured products. PLM integrates people, data, processes, and business systems and provides a product information backbone for companies and their extended enterprises.
A car platform is a shared set of common design, engineering, and production efforts, as well as major components, over a number of outwardly distinct models and even types of cars, often from different, but somewhat related, marques. It is practiced in the automotive industry to reduce the costs associated with the development of products by basing those products on a smaller number of platforms. This further allows companies to create distinct models from a design perspective on similar underpinnings. A car platform is not to be confused with a platform chassis, although such a chassis can be part of an automobile's design platform, as noted below.
Interchangeable parts are parts that are identical for practical purposes. They are made to specifications that ensure that they are so nearly identical that they will fit into any assembly of the same type. One such part can freely replace another, without any custom fitting, such as filing. This interchangeability allows easy assembly of new devices, and easier repair of existing devices, while minimizing both the time and skill required of the person doing the assembly or repair.
A bill of materials or product structure is a list of the raw materials, sub-assemblies, intermediate assemblies, sub-components, parts, and the quantities of each needed to manufacture an end product. A BOM may be used for communication between manufacturing partners or confined to a single manufacturing plant. A bill of materials is often tied to a production order whose issuance may generate reservations for components in the bill of materials that are in stock and requisitions for components that are not in stock.
A part number is an identifier of a particular part design or material used in a particular industry. Its purpose is to simplify reference that item. A part number unambiguously identifies a part design within a single corporation. Sometimes across several corporations. For example, when specifying a screw, it is easier to refer to "HSC0424PP" than saying "Hardware, screw, machine, 4-40, 3/4" long, pan head, Phillips". In this example, "HSC0424PP" is the part number. It may be prefixed in database fields as "PN HSC0424PP" or "P/N HSC0424PP". The "Part Number" term is often used loosely to refer to items or components, and it's equivalent to "Item Number", and overlaps with other terms like SKU.
Operations management is concerned with designing and controlling the production of goods and services, ensuring that businesses are efficient in using resources to meet customer requirements.
Design for excellence is a term and abbreviation used interchangeably in the existing literature, where the X in design for X is a variable which can have one of many possible values. In many fields X may represent several traits or features including: manufacturability, power, variability, cost, yield, or reliability. This gives rise to the terms design for manufacturability, design for inspection (DFI), design for variability (DfV), design for cost (DfC). Similarly, other disciplines may associate other traits, attributes, or objectives for X.
Cradle-to-cradle design is a biomimetic approach to the design of products and systems that models human industry on nature's processes, where materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. The term itself is a play on the popular corporate phrase "cradle to grave", implying that the C2C model is sustainable and considerate of life and future generations—from the birth, or "cradle", of one generation to the next generation, versus from birth to death, or "grave", within the same generation.
Engineer to order is a production approach characterized by:
Process manufacturing is a branch of manufacturing that is associated with formulas and manufacturing recipes, and can be contrasted with discrete manufacturing, which is concerned with discrete units, bills of materials and the assembly of components. Process manufacturing is also referred to as a 'process industry' which is defined as an industry, such as the chemical or petrochemical industry, that is concerned with the processing of bulk resources into other products.
Frame technology (FT) is a language-neutral system that manufactures custom software from reusable, machine-adaptable building blocks, called frames. FT is used to reduce the time, effort, and errors involved in the design, construction, and evolution of large, complex software systems. Fundamental to FT is its ability to stop the proliferation of similar but subtly different components, an issue plaguing software engineering, for which programming language constructs or add-in techniques such as macros and generators failed to provide a practical, scalable solution.
Pay on production (PoP) is a special build-operate-transfer (BOT) model, where payment is made to a supplier by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) per piece produced on the supplier's own equipment by the OEM's employees.
Configuration Lifecycle Management (CLM) is the management of all product configuration definitions and configurations across all involved business processes applied throughout the lifecycle of a product.
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