Manufacturing Systems

SwRI offers a spectrum of services and capabilities that support the full range of manufacturing systems requirements.

• Manufacturing systems diagnosis
• Process characterization
• Facility layout design
• Material handling systems
• Quality engineering
• Variability reduction
• Producibility analysis
• Design verification
• Manufacturing simulation
• Production scheduling
• Inventory control
• Reliability modeling
• Production planning
• Production flow analysis
• Functional modeling
• Statistical process optimization
• Cellular manufacturing systems
• Information networks
• Software engineering
• Machine perception
• Process control
• Robotic and mechanical design
• Sensor development
• Nondestructive evaluation
• Intelligent systems
• Systems integration

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) specializes in the analysis, design, and integration of manufacturing systems. The Institute has a proven reputation in employing a multidisciplinary engineering approach to develop system solutions. Our strengths lie in developing innovative manufacturing applications with the ability to control the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the plant floor. This ability becomes the basis of a competitive strategy that positions a company for positive change.

The Institute's industrial engineering design staff conducts a wide range of manufacturing systems programs for a variety of industrial and governmental clients -- programs that adhere to the concept of "diagnosis first, treatment second." This philosophy emphasizes process simplification, coupled with practical applications of technology, to provide four key objectives:

• Improve resource utilization
• Simplify operational procedures
• Reduce process variability
• Improve product producibility

Applications

A PC-based labor and job tracking system was installed by SwRI in a USAF missile ground support maintenance facility. The system provides actual hour labor accounting for more than 150 personnel while tracking the location and status of over 600 jobs in process within the 95,000-square-foot facility. The system has resulted in improved adherence to schedules, increased labor utilization, reduced work in process, and quality traceability.

A computer-automated transport system to flexibly manufacture aircraft engine fuel controls was designed to provide comprehensive inventory and material control (I&MC) among more than 145 assembly work stations. All aspects of I&MC, including stocking, storage, kitting, picking, dispatching, and tracking, were performed using real time modular software designed and installed by SwRI.

Working closely with a major jet engine manufacturer, SwRI developed a flexible facility design for the high volume production of turbine airfoils. The cover image of this electronic brochure illustrates the cellular nature of the layout design. Materials handling flexibility was achieved using rail-mounted robots "intra-cell" and automatic guided vehicles "inter-cell." A comprehensive simulation model was developed to substantiate production output and flexibility goals.

For the Air Force Logistics Command (AFLC), SwRI designed a structured analysis methodology to assess technology insertion within maintenance depots. The methodology, based on process characterization, manufacturing simulation, and experimental design techniques, was piloted in an F-111 bonded honeycomb sheet metal shop. The pilot project yielded 27 process improvement recommendations.

Methodology

The SwRI Integrated Structured Systems Analysis Methodology defines and evaluates configurations to identify recommendations that will improve the current system.

The initial activity invoked by the methodology is to diagnose conditions and acquire knowledge of the operating characteristics of the current manufacturing system. This knowledge can then be applied to the development of a system solution necessary to improve resource utilization, simplify procedures, reduce process variability, and improve product producibility.

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