The Last Frontier: Eliminating the Manufacturing Bottleneck presentation to

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The Last FrontierEliminatingtheManufacturing
Bottleneckpresentation to
SME Automation Rendez-vous Conference
2009 October 20, 2009
OpenAire Inc.
Logicap Engineering
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Outline

1. OpenAire Background

1. The Manufacturing Bottleneck

1. Lean Stage 1 Automated Design

1. Results of Organizational Transformation

1. Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding

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Company Overview
OpenAire Background

• Founded in 1992
• Marketing custom glass-aluminum retractable roof
  buildings globally
• Recognized the manufacturing bottleneck in Year
  2000
• Began implementing Lean engineering

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Resorts Water Parks
OpenAire Background

• Water Parks

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Curved Retractable Roof Systems
OpenAire Background
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Pre-Lean Practices
OpenAire Background

• Sales
• Quotes relied on past experience
• Visuals generated by Engineering
• Design
• 2D electronic drafting
• Manual material take-off
• Manufacturing
• Frequent engineering changes
• 1,000s of hours of manual welding per building

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Custom Manufacturing Process Flow
The Manufacturing Bottleneck
Sales
Production
Order Entry
Purchasing
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Bottleneck Functions
The Manufacturing Bottleneck

• Applications Engineering
• Preliminary Bill of Materials Process Plan
• Quote drawing and costing
• Design Engineering
• Detailed Bill of Materials
• Fabrication assembly drawings
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Process Plan
• CNC programs

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Bottleneck Consequences
The Manufacturing Bottleneck
Why is Engineering a Bottleneck?

• Delay
• Sales prospects impatient for pricing
• Unpredictable delivery schedules
• Error
• Engineers must remember 3D relationships between
  components in different 2D drawings
• Cost
• Engineering resources are expended in routine,
  repetitive work
• Design errors usually result in shop floor waste

Most routine engineering work is delivered
through time-consuming, error-prone manual
processes.
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Preparation for Automated Design
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design

• Formalized design process as a series of inputs
  and validations
• Wrote design rule algorithms
• Created 3D parametric solid CAD template models
• Installed multiuser web-based knowledge engine

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Automated Design Environment
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
Interface
Web-based Knowledge Engine
Authoring Tools
Output Generators
SQL Database
CAD Templates
ERP Link
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Automated Design Functionality
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design

1. Submit inputs defining the building and its
   features
2. Review working line pictorials
3. Generate CAD assemblies
4. Generate B.o.M. drawing layouts

then use interactive CAD to tweak the 3D
assembly and annotate drawings.
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General Building Layout
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
Project History
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Structural Layout
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
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Truss Configuration
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
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Face Configuration
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
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Working Lines Review
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
Detailed CAD Digital Prototype

• Typical Building
• 110 x 100 x 32

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Design Review
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design

• Truss Group

Column Truss
Retractable Slider
Curtain Wall
Corner Detail
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Web Browser 3D Model
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
Assembly Structure with P/Ns

• Visualization
• Installation Guide

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Atomic Bill of Materials
Lean Stage 1 Automated Design
Accurate Drawings
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Impact on Manufacturing Bottleneck
Results of Organizational Transformation

• Applications Engineering, time
• Preliminary building designs and costs generated
  automatically on demand

• Design Engineering, time
• Detailed Bill of Materials and accurate shop
  drawing layouts extracted automatically from the
  3D CAD building prototype

• Manufacturing Engineering, n/c
• The next Lean target, Stage 2

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Positive Trends
Results of Organizational Transformation
Customer Service
Product Quality
Profitability
Growth
Costs
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Measurable Improvement
Results of Organizational Transformation

• Quoting
• Improved customer response
• Reduced demand for engineering resources
• Design for production
• Estimated 50 time savings in engineering
• Custom truss designs replicated digitally
• Manufacturing
• New confidence in engineering drawings

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Past Investigations
Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding
Ready for the Next Lean Stage

• Robotic weld programming
• Too time-consuming using truss designs developed
  by 2D electronic drafting processes
• Weld fixturing
• Precision positioning of long, extruded sections
  is difficult so ideal-path weld motions must be
  corrected for component warpage
• Cost justification
• Existing robotic approaches could not compete
  with current manual methods

A prerequisite for eliminating the final
manufacturing bottleneck is custom truss
designs are replicated digitally.
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New Developments
Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding

• Robotic weld programming now feasible because
• Automated design generates 3D geometry suited to
  automated weld path extraction
• Fixturing demands are relaxed with tip-touch
  system correction of CAD-to-actual weld path
• Cost justification
• Will depend on price/performance of proposed
  system relative to current manual methods

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Digital Weld Path Extraction
Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding
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Deviation of Actual from Digital
Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding
Path variability due to fixturing limitations
Weld path corrected by tip-touch system
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Next Steps
Lean Stage 2 Automated Welding

• Review welding machine builders
• Need system to fixture components for large,
  variable size trusses quickly and accurately
• Generate CNC code from 3D model
• Need algorithms to extract weld paths and tip
  angles from relevant geometry faces
• Cost justification
• Final decision to proceed with Lean Stage 2
  dependent on projected savings

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IN SUMMARY

• The custom manufacturing bottleneck
• Is caused by routine manual engineering
• Can be eliminated through design automation
• Must be eliminated before welding automation is
  cost-justifiable

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THANK YOUContact
Mark Albertine OpenAire Inc. 2360B Cornwall
RoadOakville, Ontario Canada L6J 7T9 Tel.
[phone] Email mark_at_openaire.com
Gord Hobbs Logicap Engineering Corp. 9 - 140
McGovern DriveCambridge, Ontario Canada N3H
4R7 Tel. [phone] Email ghobbs_at_logicap.ca