The Cambridge Manufacturing Leaders' Programme

As with all Cambridge teaching, the Cambridge Manufacturing Leaders' Programme is based on one-to-one tutorial supervision, comprising guidance throughout a major strategic development project in the programme participant's company, interspersed with reflective study time spent in Cambridge. In this paper a description of the course is set in a wider philosophical context, looking at the role of work in a personal developmental sense, and the responsibility carried by manufacturing leaders for shaping and guiding that process. It is shown that the programme is rooted in and embodies important aspects of our European heritage regarding work as a learning process and the master/apprentice relationship as a way of giving educational guidance.

Guidelines for evaluating the ease of reconfiguration of manufacturing systems

This paper presents guidelines for evaluating the ease of reconfiguration of manufacturing systems. Based reconfigurability measurement tools proposed in the past [1], [2]and a reconfiguration process model, the paper proposes a method that can be used to assess different system characteristics. After the guideline is presented, an example of how the method can be applied to a batch processing system is given. It is found that the proposed method can be applied to batch processing systems based on ISA S88 batch server commercial software. ©2008 IEEE.

Ready configuration of machines into an existing manufacturing system

This paper focuses on simplifying and easing the integration of a new machine into an existing conventional hierarchical manufacturing system. Based on a distributed manufacturing paradigm, it proposes the functions and interfaces that a new machine and an existing manufacturing system should possess so that ready and simple configuration of additional machines can be achieved. The configuration process is intended to include, not only mechanical and electrical interfaces, but also decision system interfaces (such as planning, scheduling, and shop-floor control). Preliminary laboratory experiments to compare the reconfigurability resulting from a conventional integration method and the proposed distributed method are presented and discussed. © 2007 ISAM.

Physical resource coordination in manufacturing systems

This paper focuses on the physical resource coordination problem for reconfigurable manufacturing systems. It establishes requirements for physical resource coordination to support highly reconfigurable manufacturing systems, and uses two illustrative examples to illustrate critical issues that must be considered. Finally, an approach to part of the physical resource coordination mechanism for reconfigurable systems is presented. Copyright © 2006 IFAC.

Towards robust part tracking in an automated manufacturing process using RFID

Automated Identification and in particular, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) promises to assist with the automation of mass customised production processes. RFID has long been used to gather a history or trace of part movements, but the use of it as an integral part of the control process is yet to be fully exploited. Such use places stringent demands on the quality of the sensor data and the method used to interpret that data. in particular, this paper focuses on the issue of correctly identifying, tracking and dealing with aggregated objects with the use of RFID. The presented approach is evaluated in the context of a laboratory manufacturing system that produces customised gift boxes. Copyright © 2005 IFAC.

Modular distributed manufacturing systems and the implications for integrated control

Driven by the need for more responsive manufacturing processes and as a consequence of increasing complexity in products and production systems, this short paper introduces a number of developments in the area of modular, distributed manufacturing systems. Requirements for the development of such systems are addressed and, in particular, the relevance to current and future integrated control systems is examined. One of the key issues for integrated control systems in the future is the need to provide support for distributed decision-making in addition to existing distributed control capabilities.