CREATING A VBA APPLICATION USING DFMA CONCEPTS Maxime LAPIED—KATUSZYNSKI Martin BORREL 1 (1) Mechanical and engineering department - GMC, UTBM 90010 Belfort Cedex
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The scientific context of our work will be focused around the problematic of the integrated design and the management of product-process information in the early phases of product life cycle. This paper will be focused on the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA): a hybrid design which takes into account in the same step of the project the design for manufacturing (DFM) and the design for assembly approach (DFA), with two important notions: “High productive” and “Proactive”. The paper will show how those approaches basically created for physical product design can be adapted to create a VBA application. Keywords: Design for X, design for manufacturing assembly, proactive, high productive.
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INTRODUCTION
In this article, we will focus on the development cycle of the project. We will try to create a proactive design in a “high productive way”. To achieve our goal we take into account all the parameters, all the specificities and the constraints, to generate the assembly sequence and the manufacturing sequence in the same time in order to have a hybrid design: DFMA. For this purpose, a case study will be done on a rearview mirror to illustrate and experiment the proposed methodologies. We will use mostly use ORASSE, which is an UTBM software. The goal of this report is to show how concepts basically created for product design can be used to structure a VBA application. We will first, introduce this article with a state of art regarding the Design for X (Assembly and Manufacturing). A second part presents the developing methodology. In a third part an experimentation will be done on a concrete example: a VBA application, generating pre quotes, in order to illustrate the methodology. Then, after a presentation of our results, we will finally conclude.
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STATE OF THE ART
2.1 Design for X (DFX) Since 40 years, many researchers have worked on product design [Hubka & Eder, 1988]. This increase of research is the result of an increasing awareness concerning the impact of the decision took during the development process downstream the design. The design for X emerging since the end of the 50s. [Matousek, 1957] [Niebel & Baldwin, 1957] [Everhart, 1960] [Pech, 1973]. DFX is considered like one of the most effective approach to implement an integrate Engineering logic. This metrology improves the design thanks to the sensitization of the designer concerning some objective and various preoccupations [Huang, 1996] [Kuo et al., 2001]. X is a point of view link to the cycle of product life: manufacturing DFM, assembly DFA, disassembly DFD etc. Each DFX regroup many information, knowledge, procedure, analyze and recommendations to help the designer to be aware about the new constraints, the particular propriety of the product. It is nowadays a necessity to manage the compromise during the design. [Huang et al., 2000] [Huang, 2002] and fight again conflict find during the development processes.
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2.1.1 Design for assembly (DFA)
A set of design methodologies for assembly [Boothroyd & Dewhurst, 1989] [Miyakawa & Ohashi, 1986] has been proposed to help design to prepare the product for its assembly phase. The assembly is no longer considered as the activity of assembling two elements [Whitney et al., 1999] but rather as a model starting from a general description until a detailed description of the product in order to manage the relation between the components with different levels of abstraction [Zha et al., 2001]. 2.1.2 Design for manufacturing (DFM)
The design for manufacturing (DFM) approach takes into account two separates things: design requirement and manufacturing constraints, it aims to integrate manufacturability aspects during the design stage but can also help to identify and alleviate manufacturing problems while the product is being design. As a consequence, product quality and cost are improved just as the lead time for product development. Several DFM techniques have been developed to assist the designer, such as manufacturing process selection methods [Swift, 2003] [Esawi, 2000] and manufacturability analysis tools [Gupta et al., 1995] [Bralla, 1999]. 2.2 Hybrid design approach: DFMA Design for additive manufacturing In this context, [Boothroyd et al., 1994] proposed an hybrid design approach called: DFMA (Design for Manufacture and Assembly). It has a main goal: integrate as soon as possible DFM and DFA in the previous phase of the development of the product. So there are some opportunities to act before life cycle of the product, from the steps of defining the product structure to design the product and its assembly sequence concurrently [Zha et al., 2002] and proactively [Barnes et al., 2004], [Demoly ,2010].
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METHODOLOGY
3.1 First part: explanations of our methodology. In the framework of this article, the objective of the proposed Figure 1 is to generate a DFMA sequence to manage all the assemblies, manufactories and design steps in the first phase of the project. The Figure 1 shows our reflection to build a DFMA sequence for our product with the target to save time during the design. Given the customer needs, our supervisor validates it can be treated as a project and hands us the subject. Then we start by the planning and specifications redaction. We start thinking about how the application could be realized and define a few pre concepts so we can discuss about something concrete during the first meeting with the company. We then do a research about what parameters the application should pilot according to what EURO/CFD expressed during the meeting. It allows us to define a set of parameters on which the architecture will be based. We then the process development by applying DFM and DFA constraints on the concept in order to develop a DFMA sequence (thanks to ORASSE software explained below). From the modular structure and the DFMA sequence, we are able to get a proper architecture for the product, and get a first draft of it, a prototype. From that point and thanks to the detailed structure and the parameters, a parametric Word file can be generated, by the VBA application. The only difference between working with a product and a software for DFMA method is the consideration of what DFA and DFM means. As a software doesn’t have components, the DFA will set an assembly sequence for the VBA items used to build the application whereas the DFM will take parameters behind those into account.
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Figure 1: Global Method, in BPMN format (Business Process Modelling Notation [Bissay, 2009])
3.2 Second part: Multi-Domain and Multi-view model [Gomes et al, 2002]. Our methodology is linked to the research work on systemic design model proposed by [Gomes et al., 2002], and called Multi-Domain and Multi-Viewpoints (i.e. MDMV) design model exposed on Figure 2, particularly with the relation between Product design domain and Process design domain (border in red).
Figure 2: Multi-Domain and Multi- Viewpoints design model [Gomes et al.2002]
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This model considers that a design project, in the field of mechanical system engineering, is a network of various interacting design domains such as Project, Product, Process, Usage, etc. Each of these designs domains can be examined from several viewpoints (or aspects) in interaction such as: Functional viewpoint, which describes the main objectives and goals of the system. It considers the function of the system (what should do the system); -Structural viewpoint, defining the system elements and architecture. It regards the structure of the system, as a set of objects constituting the system; -Dynamic viewpoint, which describes the chronological behavior of the system. It studies the evolution of system over time, the system is considered to be changing over time. Other points of view can be considered like the geometrical aspect (characteristics and spatial positioning of the system), the physical aspect (behavior laws of the system) in specific design domains, for example Product or Process domain. However, in this configuration, other design viewpoints, such as the physical or the geometrical one, are directly linked to the structural aspect of the system. 3.3
Third part: ORASSE Product [Robert, 2012]
For our methodology we used the “ORASSE”, (ORdered ActivitieS SequencE) generic software created by A. ROBERT during her thesis [Robert,2012].
Figure 3: ORASSE software
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For our researches we used the ORASSE Product and Knowledge softwares which is a variant of ORASSE generic software. This software allows and helps the assembly planner to create easily the product structure (from functions, with the repartition of all the components), the contact matrix, and the direct graph in order to generate the assembly sequence of the product. ORASSE Product is usable without any other software with import-export files, based on xml format. Moreover, a web service approach was developed to link ORASSE with various databases (e.g. Product Data Management PDM, Product Lifecycle Management – PLM, Manufacturing Process Management – MPM, or also Enterprise Resource Planning – ERP). In our case, we will use the direct connection with the ACSP collaborative platform database. The ACSP collaborative platform is a PLM system, developed at UTBM since 1996 [Gomes et al., 1999], it aims to help various design actors working in a concurrent engineering context according to four designs domains: - The design of the “Project” (tasks, resources...), - The design of the “Product” (structure, functions...), - The design of the “Process” (resources, ranges...), - The design of the “Use” (populations, activities...). The different goals of the ACSP platform are to facilitate and secure the data and information shared, improve the communication between actors of a same project, help to coordinate the activities management and promote a collaborative project organization. We import directly from the ACSP to ORASSE the list of the components of our concept and the functions from the functional analysis. Thanks to ORASSE we could generate easily an assembly sequence.
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Figure 4: interaction between ORASSE and ACSP
Figure 5: Decision support system tab for generating the best assembly sequence [Robert, 2012]
3.4 « High Productive » [Gomes et al., 2009] “High Productive” (HP) routine design methodology shown in Figure 6 is a systematic and ordered approach for the design and development process of optimized products [Gomes et al. 2009]. This methodology is termed as “High Productive” and collaborative design methodology because it is based on knowledge that is semi-automatically extracted from a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform in order to generate optimized parametric CAD models (4D CAD) constraint by functional parameters that ensure a good integration of requirements (from customer needs) during the whole design process. This methodology is a functional knowledge based engineering and optimization design methodology dedicated to routine design or redesign. Its goal is to reduce routine design time in order to improve time for creativity or innovation.
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Figure 6: "High Productive" routine design methodology [Gomes et al., 2009]
Our research work is integrated in the scope of this HP routine design methodology because we will reduce the time to generate new product thanks to the creation of a DFMA sequence in the first phase of the project. The difference is that the Parametric CAD model is in our case a Parametric Word file. 4
EXAMPLE
The proposed methodology has been applied to structure and realize a VBA application, which is communicating with table of parameters or “database”. This database is then setting a Word file that is printing wanted values. The first step is the definition of our project in the PLM platform ACSP. Then, we create the list of the components of our concept. Thanks to ORASSE we could generate easily an assembly sequence.
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Geo_Oui Geo_Non Choix_Modeleut Geo_simple Geo_Moyenne Geo_Complexe Maillage_aucun Maillage_Choix Maillage_Volume Maillage_Nbr_Cellules Maillage_Grossier Maillage_Moyen Maillage_Fin Maillage_Comp_Simple Maillage_Comp_Moyen Maillage_Comp_Complexe Maillage_Non_Struct Maillage_Mixte Maillage_Struct Nbr_Coeur Valeur_Conseillee Choix_Phy Tubulences_ON ENCST ENCAT ECST ECAT Tubulences ENCST_Multiphasique ENCST_Multiphasique_VOF ENCST_Multiphasique_Mixture ENCST_Multiphasique_Euler ENCST_Multiphasique_WetSteam ENCST_Aero ENCST_Transport ENCST_Transport_Avec ENCST_Transport_Sans ENCAT_Therm_CondSolide
39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76
ENCAT_Therm_Radiation ENCAT_Multiphasique ENCAT_Multiphasique_VOF ENCAT_Multiphasique_Mixture ENCAT_Multiphasique_Euler ENCAT_Multiphasique__WetSteam ENCAT_Aero ENCAT_Combustion ENCAT_Transport ENCAT_Transport_Avec ENCAT_Transport_Sans ECST_Mutliphasique ECST_Mutliphasique_VOF ECST_Mutliphasique_Mixture ECST_Mutliphasique_Euler ECST_Mutliphasique_WetSteam ECST_Aero ECST_Transport ECST_Transport_Avec ECST_Transport_Sans ECAT_Therm_CondSolide ECAT_Therm_Radiation ECAT_Multiphasique ECAT_Multiphasique_VOF ECAT_Multiphasique_Mixture ECAT_Multiphasique_Euler ECAT_Multiphasique__WetSteam ECAT_Aero ECAT_Combustion ECAT_Transport ECAT_Transport_Avec ECAT_Transport_Sans Turb_Ke Turb_Ke_Rea Turb_Ke_RNG Turb_ko Turb_ko_standard Turb_ko_SST
77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114
Turb_LES Turb_SAS Turb_DES Turb_SST Turb_RSM Turb_BR Solv_Density Solv_Prssure Solv_SIMPLE Solv_PISO Solv_COUPLED Solv_Satio Solv_Instatio Solv_TTS Solv_PDT Solv_NITPDT CL_NbrCL CL_Prog CL_Prog_Simple CL_Prog_Moyenne CL_Prog_Compliquee CL_Phy_Simple CL_Phy_Moyenne CL_Phy_Compliquee CL_Phy_Auto CL_CL_Simple CL_CL_Moyenne CL_CL_Compliquee Run_Film Run_Export Run_Suivi Run_Suivi_Points Run_Suivi_Surfaces Run_Suivi_volumes Run_Sauvegarde Run_Sauvegarde_Fréquence PP_Aucune PP_Planche2D
115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143
PP_Planche3D PP_Film Rapport_PPT Rapport_Word Rapport_Word_Simple Rapport_Word_detaille Rapport_Word_Complexe Reunion_KickOff Reunion_Intermédiaire Reunion_Intermédiaire_Nbr Reunion_Intermédiaire_PPT Reunion_Finale Generation_Word Userform J_CPU Image_1 Date RAZ Géo Maillage Physique Solveur Conditions_Limites Run PostPro Rapport Recap Image_2 Reunion
Figure 7: Bill of Materials for the VBA items
The list of active components is a specific vector called the P vector. It’s a list of all the parts which composed the product. The PxP matrix is automatically generated by ORASSE Product from the list of active components (A PxP matrix is the multiplication of the vector by itself). The matrix shows the contact between all the VBA items of the project (if there is one contact there is a number 1 in the corresponding case, otherwise there is a zero). Due to the nature of our project, the contacts between components are in reality the belonging of the items. For example if a checkbox 1 is contained in the frame 1, we informed a contact between them.
Figure 8: PxP matrix
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In the matrix, the blank spots are filled with 0, as it has been grouped by block. By using it Orasse gives us the directed graph showing interactions between items:
Figure 9: Orasse product directed graph As this graph was using a lot of parameters, the software was having trouble functioning correctly and didn’t manage to load the assembly sequence. However, it allows us to graphically see some sub-assemblies, defining the graphic interface of our software.
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RESULTS
Thanks to ORASSE knowledge we can now obtain easily the oriented contact graph with the goal to generate the best assembly sequence. With Orasse knowledge, we now manage parameters behind the items previously defined. Each link between those parameters are rules, either mathematical rules used in calculation (linked to table of parameters) either displaying rules, to control the way items are shown on the interface. The directed graph is given as following:
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Figure 10: Orasse knowledge directed graph
Figure 11: Assembly sequence of the parameters The directed graph and assembly sequence shows how the software, should be structured in intern: some groups of parameters can be noticed:
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Figure 12: Orasse knowledge directed graph zoom
In red some sub assemblies can be done. In blue those parameters are interacting with a lot of parameters in a lot of rules.
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Using the DFMA concepts, we managed to get a sequence, corresponding to the organization of our VBA application. We used this sequence to create our interface and to manage how the parameters linked to the items interact with each other. The final product is given as below:
Figure 13: Final product
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CONCLUSION
We have presented how a methodology to generate a DFMA sequence in the first phase of a product project could be applied to the structuration of a software, here a VBA application. This methodology answer today’s needs: reduction of time to generate a new product thanks to two notions (i.e. proactive and high productive).
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