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The European E-RACE project is currently developing a new,
computer based, customer oriented, assembly system specification
tool. This has now produced a working prototype, as the project
enters it’s final year.
The specification tool will aid the rapid and accurate specification
of an assembly project and the product to be assembled. It
also enables collaborative design of the assembly system solution
by all of the participants; Supplier, System Integrator and
Customer.
The other elements of the E-RACE system assist in equipment
specification for increased system flexibility. There is also
a model of the system with 3D visualisation, plus the system
provides detailed predictions of all performance and cost
data.
This European project is led by TQC Ltd, Nottingham and involves
23 partners in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The
project is partially funded by the relevant local governments
and comes under the EUREKA Factory Framework 6 Umbrella. A
full list of the partners can be found at: www.e-race.info
The E-RACE project aims to develop a series of web-based
tools that will; enable the rapid specification of a reconfigurable
assembly system, assist in the negotiation and trade-off analysis
between the customer and system integrator and will provide
3D visualisation and performance analysis of the design. By
achieving these goals, the consortium aims to increase the
accuracy of customer specifications and system reconfigurability
whilst reducing both production lead times and overall costs.
The initial goals have been realised and the consortium is
currently in the pursuit of the remaining objectives. These
will be obtained through the development of several different
web tools as well as completing the architecture. The specific
work areas are:
Analysis of the State-of-the-Art and of industrial requirements.
This research was conducted during the early phases of the
project and provided the project with a solid base for further
development.
Models and methodologies for requirements engineering and
design for reconfigurability as well as the development of
a knowledge meta-model. Currently, this work is at the second
prototype stage and is being evaluated for finalisation. The
work will allow a fast, accurate and simple elicitation of
the User Requirement Specification (URS) and it will assist
the engineers in the development of the System Requirement
Specification (SRS).
Tools for assembly planning, conceptual design and module
selection. These will call to the SRS and their output will
be full details of one or more proposed assembly system(s).
These tools are also in their second prototype phase.
Visualisation, simulation and verification tools. These tools
will take the proposed system and provide a 3D visualisation
as well as performance analysis. The performance data will
also be compared to the URS to confirm the validity of the
system. Much of the visualisation package is complete; there
have also been significant developments in the performance
analysis.
Economic analysis. This package will provide full cost predictions
for the entire lifecycle of the system. This will also be
linked to the earlier elements of the project, thus enabling
the cost implications to be a crucial decision-making factor.
Work in this area is in advanced stages and is being linked
to the modelling elements of E-Race.
System architecture and legacy modelling. This area, which
receives input from almost every partner, is fundamental to
the overall construction and format of the E-RACE system and
also includes the storage of information libraries. Though
considerable work has been done in this area, it must also
be open to evolutions as the individual elements develop.
Pilot implementation and assessment and the dissemination
of the results. This final section will not commence until
close to the end of the project, though preparations for this
phase are ongoing. This section is fundamentally important
to the project to ensure that E-RACE is a success.
For more information please visit www.e-race.info
Within the UK there are a total of nine consortium members.
There are two “Development Partners”: TQC Ltd and The University
of Nottingham. TQC are the project co-ordinators and as such
provide the overall management of the project. TQC also provide
information and research for the project. The University of
Nottingham are conducting research towards the system architecture,
assembly planning and the requirement specification tool as
well as the development of a prototype web portal.
There are five further industrial partners; Bespak Europe,
Desoutter, GlaxoSmithKline, Riley Automation and System Devices.
These partners are providing the consortium with information
and feedback from both a customer’s and a supplier’s point
of view. They will also be assisting with the dissemination
activities, which is the specialist role of the final two
partners; The British Automation and Robot Association (BARA)
and The PRIME Faraday Partnership. More details on all of
the partners can be found on the project website: www.e-race.info.
TQC have been driving the industrial input into this project,
being aided by the partnership with the University of Nottingham.
Previous experience has been gained by both lead partners
through involvement in European and DTI funded projects such
as Assembly Net. In addition, the work being performed within
the UK for
E-RACE has been supporting effort in the EUPASS project, which
both TQC and The University if Nottingham are involved www.eupass.org.
LINKS TO OTHER PRESS RELEASES
March 2004
May 2006
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