JOURNAL OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING no. 9 year 2008 volume 54 STROJNISKI VESTNIK V.&Vswj^ :-1- -'i " ' " ' " f ' ' ' ' ' ' д ' p'J -' V * ' ' - " ■ ■ r ■ '"fW*l - .<.'■ ■ -- PtBS PsBS Fig. 9. WBS of implementation project Organization breakdown structure (OBS) represents an organizational breakdown of the company organization units, which are responsible for the execution of WBS tasks/activities [16]. In addition to internal organizational units of the company, OBS also comprises external contractors (suppliers, subcontractors, consultants, auditors). The last OBS level consists of resources to be used for the implementation of project activities. An example of an OBS project is presented in Figure 10. OBS is a temporary organizational structure whose lifetime is equal to the lifetime of the project. It is managed by the project manager and project team members. If organizational units that are part of the OBS are on various locations, OBS may be organized as a virtual company (by using modern IT and communication means) [17]. Responsibility assignment matrix (RAS) links the project organizational structure (OBS) with the project labor structure (WBS). Responsibilities of operators from OBS versus tasks and activities in WBS are presented with symbols [16]. An example of RAS formation is presented in Figure 11. Project network diagram is a set of mutually logically linked activities, which have to be carried out in a precisely defined logical sequence and interconnected. It can be made in a form of event- or activity network diagram. Preference is given to activity network diagrams OBS OF PRODUCT/SERVICE EXECUTION PROJECT (project manager and team members) INTERNAL ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS Fig. 10. OBS of the project due to their simplicity and possibility of concurrent execution of activities (partial dependence) [9]. Links between activities in a network diagram can be (Figure 12). Direct connections - observed activity has to be finished before new activities can start e.g. testing can only be carried out after the prototype has been made; the prototype has to be made before testing. Responsibilities (OBS) Product and process ^ч. development phases (WBS) OPERATORS IN THE COMPANY EXT.OPERATORS Marketing Sales Development Technology Supply Manufacturing Quality Finance Suppliers Sub-contractors Consultants Auditors Definition of project objectives P S S I I Project planning S P S I S S I I Implementation and monitoring of the project P S S S S S I S S I Project completion P S Legend: P - primary responsibility S - secondary responsibility I - informational responsibility Fig. 11. Responsibility assignment matrix Partial connections (dependencies) -allow concurrent execution of two or more activities. External connections - join activity of the observed project with activities of other projects. ►! Activity An ! Fig. 12. Project network diagram When defining links between project activities in project management of orders, extended with concurrent engineering elements, it is necessary to define the maximum partial overlapping and thus maximum overlapping of tasks defined in WBS on PtBS and PsBS levels. Network diagram is a starting point for analyses of duration, resources and costs of the project. In view of preserving the prescribed links between project activities, the network diagram is an indispensable aid for monitoring the project progress. Proposal of the implementation project plan with risk analysis is an output of the project team in the project design phase. It contains: schedule with milestones, resource load plan, plan of costs, and risk analysis of the project. Schedule with milestones comprises: durations of activities, date of starting the project, starting and completion dates of activities including milestones, deadline for project completion, dates of milestones, critical paths and time slacks. Resource load plan can refer to labor force, production means or materials. Each activity is allocated one or more resources. Project manager and team members examine the resource load profile and if conflicts arise, they search for a suitable solution (in collaboration with PMO and managers of functional units at a project board meeting), which still assures the achievement of project objectives. In resource analysis the PMO has to harmonize the project portfolio with the resource portfolio. Project cost plan is made on the basis of: fixed costs of activities, fixed costs of project management, and variable costs of resources used for carrying out activities. Project cost plan is acceptable if the planned total project costs do not exceed the costs approved when the project was ordered. PMO has to harmonize the project portfolio with the company costs portfolio. There are several methods available for risk analysis of implementation project activities [7] and [18]. An analysis of available methods has revealed that the most suitable tool for project management of products and services is the table of "critical success factors", as it represents an analytical aid to find, evaluate, reduce and remove risk. It is elaborated by the project team, which is responsible for planning and implementation of the project. Analyses should be as extensive as possible and they have to cover all possible problems. Procedure for designing the table of critical success factors consists of risk analysis and risk management. Risk analysis consists of the identification of problems or events, definition of the probability of their arising, evaluation of their consequences and incidences, and risk calculation [8]. During the identification of problems, all tasks and activities, which are defined in the project WBS, are analyzed. Potential problems of individual task are entered into the critical factor table (Table 1). If it is not possible to identify problems related to a particular task, the latter is omitted. Quantitative risk analysis is defined by risk activity level, which is calculated on the basis of the following estimates: • probability that a problem or risk event will arise, • consequences of a problem or risk event, • incidence of a problem or risk event. Table 1. Table of critical success factors Risk analysis Risk management No. Activity/ problem Event probability EP Consequence estimate CE Incidence estimate IE Risk factor RF Measures P - preventive C - corrective Responsibility Signals 1. Activity A 3 2 Table 2. Probability that a risk event (RE) will arise Estimate Event probability EP 1 very small 2 small 3 middle 4 great 5 very great Table 3. Estimate of consequences (CE) of an event Estimate Consequence estimate CE 1 very small 2 small 3 middle 4 great 5 very great Table 4. Event incidence estimate (IE) Estimate Incidence estimate IE 1 never 2 very rarely 3 rarely 4 often 5 very often 24 An interval scale from 1 to 5 is used for the estimates [8] and [19]. Probability that a problem or risk event will arise is estimated by means of Table 2. In order to estimate the consequences of a problem or risk event, Table 3 is used. In [8] the risk is defined only by estimating the probability of a risk event arising and the estimated consequences. The paper deals with project management of cyclically recurrent projects, so experience derived from similar past projects can be used for estimating the incidence probability of a risk event. Table 4 is used for estimating the incidence of a problem or risk event. RF - risk factor for the problem identified is calculated by: RF = EP x CE x IE EP - probability that a problem or risk event will arise, CE - evaluation of consequences if a problem or risk event arises, IE - evaluation of incidence of a problem or risk event arising. If the calculated risk factor RF < 60, the risk is considered normal; no measures need to be prepared in advance. If RF > 60, the risk is high and measures need to be prepared in advance. The threshold value of 60 has been set on the basis of the Paret principle [20]: 20% of risks (high-risk-level activities) can cause 80% of problems or damage. Risk management means definition of measures and responsibilities for risk prevention, and signals that warn us when a risky event might occur. If the risk factor (RF) reaches the critical value (60), it is necessary to pay special attention to the problem. An additional analysis of possible sources of problems is made, and suitable prevention or corrective measures are predicted. A table of critical success factors also has to contain the so-called signals, i.e. events signaling a new problem to responsible operators and thus allowing them to trigger a suitable measure(s). Project manager, project team and operators of activities are responsible for the implementation of measures. Project team forwards the finished proposal of a project plan to the contracting authority (company management or project board), which issues a decision on the confirmation of the baseline project plan, which consists a "copy" of project plan proposal, which does not change during implementation and monitoring of the project - it serves as a reference value for an analysis of deviations of actual project course from the planned course. Change of the baseline project plan (elaboration of a new baseline project plan) must be confirmed by the contracting body. 1.4.2.3 Implementation and Monitoring of the Project Project manager (via the project management office) takes care of activity plan implementation. Data on activities that have to start at a specified time are sent to team members (according to the responsibility assignment matrix) and thus to the competent organization units (included in the project OBS). Heads of these units take care of the elaboration of operative activity implementation plan within the planned date of start and end of activities, and for the elaboration of required documentation. Suitable system- and operating instructions are used for the implementation of activities. Project manager is responsible for actual information on project status, i.e. periodical information retrieval on realization of activities. The project team members from individual organizational units are responsible for on-time actual data acquisition on activity realization. Project manager and project team make a deviation analysis of the current project status in comparison with the basic project plan; they analyze reasons for deviations and search for solutions to continue the project. PMO helps the project manager during project updating and deviation analysis. PMO performs a simulation of possible scenara, and on the basis of these the project manager suggests corrective measures. Problems that cannot be solved by the project team, are sent (together with a proposed solution) to the project board. Project manager documents all measures adopted, including data on holders of their activities and results achieved. Measures that influence other projects, always have to be analyzed by the PMO and confirmed by the project board. 1.4.2.4 Completion of the Project After the project has been completed, the project manager and project team members perform project evaluation, which includes: analysis of objectives achieved, deviations of time, resources, costs, risk analysis and important conclusions for future projects. The project board confirms the project evaluation. Project is completed when a total project dossier has been elaborated; it comprises full documentation on project planning and management, as well as technical documentation on project deliverables (see Figure 6). All these documents should be forwarded to the project management office for archiving. After the project dossier has been archived, the contracting body discharges the project manager and dissolves the project team. 2 CASE STUDY Implementation of project management of orders in real life is presented in a case of a company which is a development supplier of components for automotive industry. Four groups of products are the most important in its production programme: gearshift mechanism, hand brake, pedal component and engine bonnet pivot. As a development supplier, the company participates in a development project already in a new car concept, and it cooperates with the car producer at least three years before the production starts. By selecting a supplier, the car producer makes an important decision, because the supplier should be a long-term reliable partner; on the other hand, the supplier is in a risky position, as it is not known in advance whether a particular car model will be a market success. In 2004, the company management decided to introduce project management as a mode of company operation. They did it in four steps: Step 1: Training of staff for project management. Step 2: Organization and information changes. Step 3: Creation of system and operational guidelines. Step 4: Implementation of test project management of orders (As-Is / To-Be process). 2.1. Training of Project Management Staff The company management found that for introduction of project management into the company, the employees do not have the required knowledge. In collaboration with the Centre of excellence for modern automation technologies on the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana several seminars and workshops have been organized, where the employees obtained the required knowledge on project management, teamwork, creativity, communications and concurrent engineering. The seminar participants tested their newly obtained knowledge in solving actual problems in their company. 2.2. Organization and Information Setup In the past, the company was organized according to the functional principle. Based on an analysis of a suitable company organizational form, the company management selected a balanced matrix company organization. The decision was based on the fact that project decision-making is equally divided between the project manager (regarding project management and achievement of goals) and heads of company functional units (for carrying out project activities and ensuring product quality). A product and service project board was appointed, managed by the company executive director and consisting of project managers and functional unit heads. A PMO was established for organizational and technical project management support. It was managed by the project management assistant to the executive director and it consisted of project management administrator, project control analyst, administrator and all professional project managers. Fig. 13. Car pedal component MS Project software was selected as a key tool for project management IT support. It was used together with MS Office software (Excel, Outlook), which will have to be linked with ERP and PLM system in the future. A question arises, which MS Project functions can be done by ERP system, and which tasks and project management processes should still be managed by MS Project. The implementation of web version of MS Project Server will also be analysed. A project management portal was established on the company's intranet; all project participants can obtain the project-related data on that site. 2.3. Creation of System- and Operational Guidelines Company management organized the creation of system- and operational guidelines. Project team, responsible for project management implementation in the company, made project management rules, where project management system was defined, as well as a procedure for project planning and management, and the content of a project dossier. The project management rules were adjusted to the company quality management rules. As an aid to project managers and project team members, a project management handbook was made, which contained practical guidelines and templates of all documents appearing in folders and project dossier. For execution of individual processes (bid, product and process development and validation, test manufacturing) operational guidelines have been used that had already been made for the company quality management system, so they have been just harmonized with the project management rules. 2.4. Implementation of Test Project Management of Orders Company management selected a product and process development order of a car pedal component (Figure 13) as a test project during the introduction of project management of orders. Contract for that project had already been signed; this was therefore an implementation project of an order. Project team was appointed for the implementation of the project; its members were representatives from all the company functional units, and a senior project manager was elected as the project manager. The project team carried out the project planning and management process in accordance with the procedures defined in chapter 2.4. The implementation project plan of the car pedal component order was carried out in four steps: • Definition of project objectives. • Project implementation plan. • Project implementation and monitoring of the project. • Completion of the project. 2.4.1 Definition of Project Objectives In order to define the project objective, the project team carried out two creativity workshops. During the first workshop the team members learnt about their tasks, competences and responsibilities, and they thoroughly studied the tender documentation and subject of the contract. During the second workshop the team members defined project objectives, suitable strategies, scope of the project, global risks, impact factors and identified the project participants. 2.4.2 Project Implementation Plan According to the plan of introduction of project management, the company management decided to create two project implementation plans for product order: • Using the existing way of order process implementation (As-Is) • Using the project-management-of-orders system, extended with concurrent engineering elements (To-Be). On the basis of the project definition, the project team made a project implementation plan in several creativity workshops. Project team members first made the project WBS structure (Figure 14). For individual project phases they defined tasks, subtasks and work packages as shown in Figure 9; they also defined the required project activities. Altogether 340 activities were defined. During the definition of implementation step activities and project monitoring, all processes, methods and procedures, defined by the APQP methodology for automotive industry, were precisely reviewed [21]. Afterwards, team members formed a project OBS (Figure 15); they included into it those functional units of the company, which would provide resources for the implementation of activities, as well as external suppliers and subcontractors. Project preparing Qualification of product and process Fig. 14. WBS for car pedal component Serial production and project completion öO Ö 1.1 ö ü g aj cö 43 > a> 'й сл q ö c3 =S a о 2 Рч Он Он С/5 Он о о О Fig. 15. OBS for car pedal component Responsibilities (OBS) n 1 Project team Marketing tne oi 1 Product and process development ^^^ phases (WBS) ^^^^ gnaa Developm & design 13 1 dus ndI Quality Production Purchase i re ope o и Suppliers Project preparing S P S I I Development and design of product S I P S S I Development and design of process S S P S I I i I Qualification of product and process I S S S P S S S S Serial production and project completion P S Fig. 16. Responsibilities assignment matrix for car pedal component Responsibilities assignment matrix was made for easier coordination between project management and functional-units management (Figure 16). The responsibilities were presented by symbols (P - primary, S - secondary, I -informational responsibility). During project planning, the creation of a project network diagram was the most difficult and most critical task for the project team. Only the network diagram that realistically and logically defines dependencies between project activities can serve as a useful tool for further planning and management of project implementation. Project team members made activity card (label) for every activity. Then they logically connected activities into a network activity diagram (Figure 17). In this process they defined the As-Is order implementation project process as precisely as possible. After the network diagram had been made, the project team members defined duration of each activity they allocated the required resources and defined the data required for cost analysis. MS Project software was used for time-, resources- and cost analysis. A period of 644 days would be required for project implementation using the As-Is process. During the risk analysis all project activities were checked, risk types were defined, risk levels were calculated and preventive and corrective measures were defined if necessary. The output of the project team was a proposal of the implementation project plan with risk analysis. It was sent to the project board for confirmation. After the project has been confirmed its implementation could begin. After the order implementation project had been made in accordance with the existing implementation process, the project team began designing an implementation project plan, which would, as far as possible, include elements of concurrent engineering. Fig. 17. Part of network diagram for car pedal component (sequential engineering) Fig. 18. Part of network diagram for car pedal component (concurrent engineering) Procedure for designing implementation project plan is similar as in a classical project implementation, with the following important differences: 1. It is necessary to ensure as much as possible concurrency of process implementation, defined by the APQP methodology [21]. 2. It is necessary to find which activities within processes can be executed concurrently, so that maximum overlapping is achieved, and to define the values of partial dependencies between network diagram activities. 3. It is necessary to define concurrent engineering loops. 4. It is necessary to form teams (sub-teams) for implementation of concurrent engineering loops. It is obvious that by incorporating concurrent engineering elements, the project implementation changes because its processes overlap (APQP) and the network diagram structure changes, too - the goal is to achieve as high concurrency as possible. Because of a partial overlapping of interdependent activities, their execution time may even extend - without extending the project duration time. Incorporation of concurrent engineering elements does not influence the WBS and OBS project structures (Figure 18). The process overlapping and partial dependencies between project activities require a high level of collaboration between the holders of responsibilities and operators of activities, so it is necessary to introduce concurrent engineering loops [1] and [2], as shown in Figure 19. Phase of product development^ Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Product design loop Process design loop Product and process qualification loop ANALYSIS OF RETURN INFOILMATION AND CORECTIVE MEASURES Time Fig. 19. Concurrent engineering loops during product and process development for car pedal component Three concurrent engineering loops were defined for the car pedal component project: • product development loop • process development loop • qualification of the product and process loop. Within an individual loop, various activities are being carried out concurrently by resources from various functional units and by external contractors. To ensure on-line information exchange between operators of various activities, sub-teams are formed within the project team for implementation of concurrent engineering loops (Figure 20). FIXED COMPOSITION OF THE CORE BY PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TEAM Fig. 20. Team structures of concurrent engineering loops Loop teams consist of representatives (operators) from those functional units, which concurrently carry out activities of an individual concurrent engineering loop. Loop teams do not have permanent members - they change depending on the loop for which the team is responsible or depending on the activities that will be carried out within this loop. After all changes had been made, the project implementation time was reduced from 644 to 419 days, which is 35% reduction of project duration. The company management was aware that project implementation on the basis of concurrent engineering elements is a very demanding process and its implementation is associated with a high risk. Nevertheless, they decided to implement this project in a new, more demanding way. They were aware that they have insufficient knowledge of concurrent engineering, so they asked the experts of the Centre of excellence for modern technologies on the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Ljubljana for technical assistance. 2.4.3 Implementation and Monitoring of the Project According to the project plan, the project manager sends (in electronic form - using MS Outlook) to team members and functional unit heads the information about activities that should start with a special document containing data on planned activities, their duration and the planned date of beginning and completion. The same document has fields for entering dates of actual beginning and completion of activities. A project team member from a particular functional unit is responsible for monitoring the implementation of activities and for current reporting on status of activities to the project manager, while functional unit head is responsible for the implementation of activities within the prescribed deadline and for achievement of the required quality. Reports on the implementation of activities are made once a week. Project manager promptly stores the actual data into the MS Project software. Project team makes a weekly snapshot of project status. It finds out which activities have been finished completely and which have been finished just partially. On the basis of these data a calculation of the current project status is made. By comparing it with the initial plan, the team members find which activities are delayed, which are carried out according to the plan and which are carried out faster. Also important are the analyses of critical activities, critical paths and the costs incurred so far. Problems and risks are identified (so called "status indicators" are an aid to the team members); they can be overcome by triggering an appropriate action plan made during risk analysis, and additional measures can be taken if necessary. Project manager and team members are responsible for the implementation of measures. If a measure exceeds their competences, they forward it to the project board or to the company management. Project manager continuously keeps records of measure results. Weekly results on current situation snapshot are published on the project management portal, listed by the whole project activities and separately by activities allocated to individual functional units of the company. Project manager reports on the project status and on the measures taken at the project board meeting, where the project status is being harmonized with other current projects. An analysis of all current projects, especially in terms of the used resources and costs, is prepared by the PMO. According to the contract, the project status data are sent to the customer, who thus has an accurate overview of the project status and problems, and can participate in their solution. 2.4.4 Completion of the Project Project is completed when all the project activities have been carried out and the objectives met. When the project has been completed, the project team made evaluation of project including: • Meeting the deadlines and financial limits: project was completed within the agreed deadline and within the approved costs. • Use of internal and external resources: there were great difficulties with internal resources associated with coordination of their involvement in other projects. • Quality of project management and project deliverables: was in accordance with project management rules and with the customer's expectations, which was confirmed by two audits made by a reviser authorized by the customer. • Overview of the planned and performed risk measures: there were many more preventive and corrective measures prepared than actually used. • Experience obtained that is important for similar future projects: regular meetings of project team. Project team members have to be well prepared for a meeting - this is a precondition for short end effective meetings. Likewise all other project dossier documentation, the final report was also published on the project management portal. After the project has been completed, the company management dissolved the project team and appoints the sales department for execution of post-contract obligations. 2.5. Establishment of Multi-project Environment After the analyses of the first results of planning and management of the test project, the company management decided that all new projects should be managed using the described procedure (one year later, more than 30 projects have been planned and managed in this way). PMO is responsible for project coordination, especially for the use of common resources and cost management. Every week PMO sends a report on cumulative status of all projects to the company management; the projects are classified in three categories: • carried out according to the plan, • carried out according to the plan with some discrepancies that are manageable, • critical, whose discrepancies are difficult to control or even beyond control. In each individual case the company management acts according to its strategy. 3 CONCLUSION This paper deals with market-oriented and value-added projects and services, especially cyclically repeated projects, i.e. projects of implementing a previously developed project/service in a specific form, in accordance with the customer's requirements, and projects related to new product/process development, which are afterwards submitted to a mass production. Introduction of project management into a company, as a mode of business process operation, is a demanding task, because it requires changes in the integration and focus of company functional units to the goals of the company. It is important that project objectives have higher priorities than functional unit priorities, and that project-friendly environment is created in a company. It is proposed that project management be introduced in the company in four steps. Before introducing project management into a company, the employees have to be trained to use new knowledge, methods and techniques required for project management - and change their way of thinking: from focus to the company goals, the employees have to focus to the customer/market goals ("customer is the king" principle). Project management requires continuous and on-line exchange of information, so it is important that employees learn to communicate in a way of giving and receiving the right information, at the right time and related to the task they perform. In practice, a problem of hiding information within the functional unit (or within an individual person) can still be found. It is therefore important that the company establishes a knowledge management system. Success of introduction of project management also depends on organizational and informational changes. Authors of this paper propose that a transition from a functional to a balanced-matrix organization be made, with a possibility of further transition to a project-type organization. Our proposal can be justified by the fact that in this case an important advantage of functional units is retained. In these units specialist knowledge is concentrated, employees have permanent training available and they get to know modern trends in their field of speciality. Members of functional units participate in projects temporarily and during that time they give their maximum contribution to a successful project implementation. Working in projects, they gain experience, which they later transfer back to their functional units. It is important that (especially in early phases - during project and process development) the best and most qualified personnel is involved, so that decisions are made as fast as possible and optimal from the quality and cost point of view. In the company there are several projects running concurrently (even several dozens), so it is essential to set up a PMO, which supports the projects and provides management of the whole company project portfolio. Project management procedures have been formalized by making system and operational guidelines for project management, where procedures for the implementation of individual project phases and the contents of required documents, which make a project dossier, are defined precisely. The market requires as short delivery time as possible and the highest possible quality, so it is necessary to extend the order/service project planning and management methods with concurrent engineering elements. Concurrent engineering is based on teamwork, track and loop process of implementation and incorporation of concurrent engineering tools. IT and communication support are required for incorporation of concurrent engineering elements (ERP, PDM and PLM systems). The proposed methodology of project management implementation, as well as planning and management of products/services was tested in a company, which is a development supplier of components for automotive industry. On the basis of the proposed methodology of project planning and management for products/services, the company management decided to create two versions of a project plan. The results have shown that the version of project implementation, extended with concurrent engineering elements, has some essential advantages: shorter delivery time, higher quality, somewhat lower costs, simultaneous elimination of errors already in the concurrent engineering loops and not in later phases as in the sequential engineering. In spite of a higher risk, associated with the implementation of a project in this way, the company management decided to test the proposed new method and carry out the project in a new way. The customer agreed with that. Insufficient capability and willingness of project participants for on-time, continuous and accurate communication and exchange of data and information turned out to be the main problem during project implementation. Nevertheless, the results achieved have been encouraging, so further research will be focused mainly on the definition of criteria for formation of concurrent engineering loop teams, their internal and external information integration, and to methods for effective personal and technical communication. 4 REFERENCES [1] Kušar J., Duhovnik J., Grum J., Starbek, M. How to reduce new product development time. Robot. comput.-integr. manuf., 2004,vol. 20, no. 1, p. 1-15. [2] Prasad B. Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals, Integrated Product and Process Organization, 1996, vol. I, Prentice Hall PTR, New Jersey [3] Kendall I.G., Rollins C.S. Advanced Project Portfolio Management and the PMO, J. Ross Publishing, Inc., 2003. [4] Fleischer M., Liker K.J. Concurrent Engineering Effectiveness: Integrating Product Development Across Organisations, Hanser Garden Publications, Cincinnati, 1997. [5] Kušar J., Rihar L., Kisicek K., Starbek M. Experiences at Project Management Office Implementation. 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[13] Duhovnik, J., Starbek, M., Dwivedi, S.N., Prasad, B. Development of innovative products in a small and medium size enterprise. Int. j. comput. appl. technol., 2003, vol. 17, no. 4, p. 187-201. [14] Badiru B. A. Project Management in Manufacturing and High Technology Operations, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1996. [15] Engineer J.S. Progressive Manufacturing, J. Ross Publishing, Inc., 2005. [16] Turner J.R. The Handbook of project -based management, The McGaww-Hill Compnies, 1993. [17] Brezo var A. Process orientated organisation of production in virtual enterprices, PhD Thesis, University of Ljubljana, 2005 (In Slovenian). [18] Goodpasture C.J. Quantitative methods in project management, J. Ross Publishing, Inc., 2004. [19] Risk management guide for DOD acquisition sixth edition, Department of defence, USA, 2006. [20] Michalski J.V., King G.D. Six sigma tools navigator, Productivity press, New York, 2003. [21] Stamatis D.H. Advanced Quality Planning, Productivity, Inc, USA, 2001. Paper received: 03.01.2008 Paper accepted: 07.07.2008 Assembly Initiated Production as a Prerequisite for Mass Customization and Effective Manufacturing Zoran Anišić* - Cvijan Krsmanović University of Novi Sad, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Serbia The paper deals with a review of a complex IPS-DFA methodology with a purpose of rating and improving design characteristics regarding the aspect of the assembly process. The approach has to be applied at the level of the product assortment, basic product structure and at the component level, aiming to achieve two primary goals: rationalization of the part count and the optimization of handling and fitting parts, through the developed tools for assembly suitability enhancement. Comprehensiveness of the methodology, especially at the product assortment level, simultaneously enables increasing suitability for mass customization. The paper provides an insight into the results of circular pumps product family application with a special emphasis on the consequences concerning mass customization. © 2008 Journal of Mechanical Engineering. All rights reserved. Keywords: product design, design for assembly, mass customization, concurrent engineering 0 INTRODUCTION Mass customization and personalization are strategies developed to address the challenge by producing goods and services meeting individual customer need's with near mass production efficiency [15] and [18]. Today's turbulent markets, growing product variety, and opportunities for e-commerce require efficient approaches, like Agile Manufacturing, Just-in-Time, Build-to-Order and Mass Customization. Mass customization comprises the whole spectrum of methodologies that can benefit companies and the inevitably one is DFA due to extreme importance of assembly process and well designed production varieties for quick response to individual customers needs. The product design process definitely plays a major role when planning and implementing mass customization. Managing the variety in the design domain is a challenging problem for manufacturers. Designing a family of products using a common platform approach instead of designing single products has gained momentum in various industries. Product families and common product platforms should help mass customizing companies to ensure economies of scale while serving all customers differently. Design for assembly (DFA) techniques and methodologies have been in use since the early 1980s, started with three independent DFA tools, representing a systematic approaches in solving the problem of products' suitability for assembling. These tools are: • Boothroyd-Dewhurst DFA [5]; • Lucas DFA [12]; • Hitachi Assembly Evaluation Method, [13]. To this day, number of researches have been made in the field of assembly suitability rating and enhancement and/but each of them covers a part of the problem [1], [14] and[17]. The applicability factor of DFA methods also has received considerable attention. There are many factors, like modularizing the product to fit the strategy, adjusting the optimum product structure, minimizing the part variety with the help of group technology principles and determination the optimum level of automation of operations to accomplish production solutions. Flowchart methods which avoid extensive mathematical analyses have been presented, such as the design for automatic assembly (DFA2), and concurrent engineering methodologies have proposed supportive measures, but there still remains the distinct separation which exists, in most companies, between the design departments and production system [10]. The basic aim of the IPS-DFA integrated methodology is to completely encompass all relevant aspects of assembly suitability from the standpoint of product, process and system designing. The paper presents the methodology for implementation of all available knowledge about the assembly process (organisation, process and resources) into a new product or in *Corr. Author's Address: Faculty of Technical Sciences, Department for Industrial Engineering and Management, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia, azoran@vts.su.ac.yu an already existing product, enabling efficient and accurate assembly [3]. Built-in characteristics during the developing phase will lead toward the minimal expenses, short assembly times and working conditions suited to manual work. It has to be based on three principles IPS - Integration, Parallelization and Standardisation, generating the acronym of the full name IPS-DFA methodology [6]. Immediately follows the question, what does IPS-DFA methodology has to encompass. If the final goal is a product designed for assembly having all above-mentioned characteristics, it can be concluded that IPS-DFA methodology has to have three aspects of comprehensiveness: • The approach has to be applied at the level of the product assortment, structure of the complex product-representative and at the component level. • The approach has to have complete mechanism for assembly suitability enhancement which consists of: developed analyses for design rating with the ability of weak point detection and the developed tools (procedures) for design improvement as a generator of ideas and suggestions. • The approach has to be completely incorporated into the procedure of assembly process planning and system designing, therefore the conducted analyses and the results have to be adjusted to fit both needs. In addition, assembly is an operation that is executed relatively late in the manufacturing chain. Considering that most companies with large product variant numbers desire to give a product its final identity as late as possible in this chain, accomplishing this in the last operation that involves be a definite achievement. The final assembly is the last of the operations that involves making changes to the product itself would therefore be the natural choice for creating different variants of products. Going from mass production to mass customization requires introduction a new strategy AIP (Assembly-Initiated Production) [9] providing short lead times through production. AIP is formed around the idea to assemble products from product modules on customer orders. The total delivery time would be the time to process order + assembly time + shipping time. This gives a total delivery time considerably shorter than when manufacturing the entire product order. Г Parts manufacturing 44/ ^uo ufo Sub-contractors Fig. 1. Assembly Initiated Production [9] Fig.1 describes the function of the AIP structure: 1. The customer order enters the computer system and is immediately available to the assembly. 2. The assembly will be able to see which orders there are in the system at an earlier stage. This will lead to a more responsive production with shorter lead-times. 3. One of the central concepts about AIP is the modularization of products. The modules and standard components will be stored close to the assembly. When an order is to be executed, components and modules will be taken from the storage and assembled into products. 4. The finished products are, after the assembly, packed and delivered to the customer. The process described so far will decide the lead time from order to delivery. 5. The module storage is set just before the module (assembly) working units. Modules are produced to keep the levels in the module storage at a preset value. 6. The demands placed upon manufacturing and ordering of components are basically the same as the ones placed upon modular working units. 7. The subcontractor's role in an AIP system will be evaluated in the scope of the project. Many of the demands set upon subcontractors will be generated by companies using AIP, regardless of what the final product is. A modular product design is a part of the AIP strategy. Modularization is the decomposition of a product into building blocks (modules) with specified interfaces, driven by company specific reasons, called module drivers [7]. Analyzing module drivers, primary drivers for AIP are to be able to combine modules into products with different specification; different styling and that are sharing common units among variants. Basically, they are central building blocks of the AIP strategy. They make it possible to create product variants within the final assembly. Second, to improve overall flexibility of the production, driver's carry-over of modules to new products, planned design changes, technical advancement during the product lifetime and the possibility to outsource are important. Standardization of parts that are not to be modules is included in the design process. There are also many different ways to easy production by designing the products to the specification of the manufacturing equipment. Use of design for X, including design for manufacturing and design for assembly methods will contribute to the overall flexibility and performance of the AIP system. IPS-DFA methodology provides answers on the most of the stated problems. 1 IPS-DFA METHODOLOGY IPS-DFA methodology has been developed on the clearly defined principles stated in the introduction, which denote comprehensiveness of the methodology from three aspects, connecting it with other IPS-DFX methodologies in context of the wider concept of the IPS-DFX platform. The basic characteristic of the platform is the common data base in which the integrated product and process development starts and flows. It contains information about: • defined functional tasks, • production system and environment, • unique geometric model of the product as well as other necessary information which will be used during the developing phase. Figure 2 illustrates the concept of comprehensive IPS-DFA methodology based on the principles within the frame of IPS-DFA platform, enabling simultaneous application of all available IPS-DFX methodologies. IPS-DFA methodology transfers necessary data from the common data base, process them through developed procedure and returns the report with suggestions for corrections on the design. The integrated platform collates all returned suggestions for reconstruction from other methodologies, conforms them and equalizes existing differences, primarily on economic criteria but also on other general design evaluation criteria which could not be explicitly expressed through expenses. Determined parameters are, according to the third aspect of comprehensiveness, integrated into the procedure ofproduct planning and system designing, i.e. in documents that already exist enabling parallelism and uniqueness. After the application of the procedure for assembly suitability enhancement, the developed bases enable direct continuation of the process of product planning and system designing with significant shortening. The second aspect of comprehensiveness states that after the rating of the level of assembly suitability the obtained values be compared with the referent (margin) ones and to suggest concrete measures for assembly suitability enhancement, whereas all measures consist of formal procedures for enhancement, recommendations based on research work and knowledge base with examples, as an idea generator. 1.1. Assembly Suitability Indicators In the context of the first aspect of comprehensiveness, detailed analysis of the influence of the production assortment, product structure and components on assembly process have been performed resulting in the list of necessary and sufficient number of indicators and parameters necessary for computing. Fig. 2. Concept of IPS-DFA methodology within the framework of IPS-DFX [3] DESIGN FOR ASSEMBLY ASSEMBLY SUITABILITY ENHACEMENT THROUGH DEVELOPED IPS-DFA TOOLS THE NEW/DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY ADJUSTING THE LEVEL OF MODULARITY COMMON DATA BASE THE UNIQUE GEMETRIC MODEL OF PRODUCT FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS PRODUCTION SYSTEM AND ENVIRONMENT PROPOSALS FOR RE-DESIGN INTEGRATION OF FUNCTIONS CALCULATION AND ANALYSIS OF THE ASSEMBLY SUITABILITY INDICATORS PARTS/ COMPONENTS PRODUCT STRUCTURE PROGRAM ASSORTMENT ,:■■ "t 0 0 Öfl UID DESIGN OF BASES FOR APPLICATION OF IPS-DFA METHODOLOGY ESSTIMATION OF ASSEMBLY TIMES AND COS _ ASSEMBLY FLOW CHART ASSEMBLY OPERATION GRAPH STRUCTURAL SCHEME PROCESS PLANNING AND □ ASSEMBLY SYSTEM Q DESIGNING 1.1.1 Assembly suitability indicators at the production assortment level A production program (assortment) is a group of similar products (p1 - pn) with the primary goal - fulfilment of a certain set of basic functional requirements (FRi), the most important background in the designing stage, as well as the fulfilment of the additional requirements as a result of the customers' individual demands, either technical or esthetical. The quality of designing, as a function of the production program structure, is generally defined as a maximum number of product variation p1 - pn that can be made with a minimum number of different parts NPtot. All parts that make various product variations have to go through the assembly system in the assembly process. If the structure of the production program is too wide, the possible level of automation and mechanization is lower, even the product representative itself is optimally designed. After completing the research, four indicators of the assembly suitability are at first established, Nptot - total number of different parts in the production assortment, Pv - suitability of product variant development, Pa - automation suitability indicator, Pm - number of modules, capable of presenting the quality of certain production assortment and highlighting weak points that may require designers intervention. 1.1.2 Assembly Suitability Indicators at the Product Structure Level From the point of the product structure suitability, the most important fact is minimisation of the number of parts and interconnections between them that would lead to the shortest assembly times and costs. The efficiency of the product structure is usually estimated by the following characteristics: • number of parts that make the subassemblies and assemblies, • number and orientation of insertion axes, • structural product scheme, • joining techniques, • modularity, standardization...etc. In order to calculate the next four indicators at the product structure level, it is necessary to make a structural scheme of the product, assembly operation list and possible assembly sequence graph. NP - number of parts of the basic product variant, Pfs - functional suitability of a product, Pext. - number of additional subass. movements, Pbas - minimum number and sequence of assembly operations. 2.1.3 Assembly Suitability Indicators at the Component Level The analysis at the component level (considers the geometry, physical and chemical characteristics of a part, and thus determines if a part is suitable for exclusion, handling, orientation and positioning. The main objective is to determine the time and costs of the assembly operations using various methods and techniques. These estimates can be made for manual, robotized and automated assembling based on DFA handling and joining empirical cases [5]. Assembly suitability indicators at the component level Pgt - suitability for group technology Stii - assembly operation time, TM - costs of assembling operation. 1.2. Tools for Assembly Suitability Enhancement IIS-DFA methodology also includes developed tools for assembly suitability enhancement. Their primary goal is to reduce the part number as the most effective measure, eliminating the complete assembly operation. If further rationalization is not possible, there is a tool for part optimization from the point of handling, insertation and control operations. Having in mind the previous discussion, Fig. 3 shows developed tools organized in five levels. Each tool consists of three parts: • formal (analytic) procedures for enhancement, • recommendations based on research work and • knowledge base with examples, as an idea generator. Fig. 3. Application of the developed tools for assembly suitability enhancement in five levels The tools can be applied in process of new product designing or in process of redesigning the existing product. 2 APPLICATION OF THE IPS-DFA ON CIRCULAR PUMP'S PROGRAM VARIETY Circular pumps production program consists of 14 basic product (Table 1). A total number of different parts in product assortment is 45. Table 1. Production program of circular pumps № Product types № Product types P1. RS 15/50 P 130 P8. RS 25/80 P 130 P2. RS 15/60 P 130 P9. RS 25/50 P 180 P3. RS 20/50 P 130 P10. RS 25/60 P 180 P4. RS 20/60 P 130 P11. RS 25/70 P 180 P5. RS 25/50 P 130 P12. RS 25/80 P 180 P6. RS 25/60 P 130 P13. RS 30/50 P 180 P7. RS 25/70 P 130 P14. RS 30/60 P 180 Fig. 4. Circular pump representative - CAD model The basic variant, the one with the highest quantities is item No.3. RS 20/50 P130 consisting of 35 different positions (Figure 4). Representing the whole production variety is of a vital interest, and it is enabled through creation of a structural scheme, with respect to the following rules. The structural scheme is generated for the most complex product (with the largest number of parts). Initially generated structural scheme is progressively expanding, analyzing the whole assortment range from p1 to pn. During the process of structural scheme design regarding the whole production assortment, each part is classified into one of three groups: • Universal parts are parts that belong to each product variant (p1-p14), • Poly-variant parts belong to the several product variants and • Variant parts are explicitly addressed to one specific product variant. Figure 5 represents the structural scheme, generated for the circular pump's program variety. According to IPS-DFA methodology (Figure 2), if the background documents are prepared and assembly suitability indicators calculated, the next step concerns an application of a specified number of iterations regarding the developed tools for design improvement - from Version 1 to Version 4. In addition to, the structural scheme embracing the most needed parameters for assembly indicators calculation, the following backgrounds are also required: ASSEMBLY OPERATION GRAPH, ASSEMBLY FLOW CHART, ESTIMATION OF ASSEMBLY TIMES AND COSTS. Fig. 5. Structural scheme - representation of the product assortment Anišic, Z. - Krsmanovic, C. 2.1. Optimisation of Parts 2.2. Integration of Functions The first measure for assembly suitability enhancement is a tool for optimisation of particular parts that are difficult to assemble, belonging to standard library parts or making the group of poly-variant parts. The results assume corrections on geometric features, material, surface quality, dimensions or tolerances (Figure 6). Fig. 6. Optimization of parts The procedure starts with the identification of inconvenient surfaces on parts, concerning following operations transport, orientation, positioning, joining, control, etc., and the main characteristic of the surfaces: functional (support, transfer forces, lead, etc.), connecting (touching or lying next to) or free (not functional or connecting) surfaces. The success of the procedure depends on a lot on the above mentioned surface character, allowing more or less freedom in making improvements toward assembly suitability and their acceptance (Figure 7). The procedure prediction the possibility of making integration of two or more parts into one, depending on the efficiency of the given design solution. The integration is primarily related to parts indirect carriers of functional requirements, but can be applied without exception to parts direct carriers of the functional requirements. Although a strong line could not be drawn, the integration of functions is primarily related to the local (leaf) levels of the structures, to components or the simplest subassemblies. If the integration is successful, the global structure of the product will stay unaffected. In order to make the integration of a certain number of parts, which will lead to elimination of assembly operation, a specific algorithm is developed for identification of parts suitable for integration (Fig. 8). Three fundamental reasons for differentiation have to be reconsidered of the given whole on the final number of elements. The creative thinking of the designer is stimulated through intentional and targeted questions for verification of each position in the design from the point of necessitation and justification for it's presence in the design. If passing through algorithm even one good reason is found for the existence of part as a separate entity, then it belongs to the group of elementary parts. On the contrary, the part belongs to a set of entities that's functions could potentially be transferred to part/parts in direct contact and perform the integration, physically eliminating it from the design. PART SUITABLE FOR INTEGRATION Fig. 7. Examples of part optimisation Fig. 8. Algorithm for identification of parts suitable for integration Figure 9 shows the results obtained through integration of two or more parts in one. 2.3. Optimization of the relative Position of Structure Elements The next step on the way to enhance assembly suitability is to vary the structure of the product, in order to optimise the relative position of elements (subassemblies). The achieved corrections will directly affect the structure: mating directions (±X, ±Y, ±Z), number of assembly flows, sequence of operations Pz, presence of the base component, the number of the extra operations Pext, possibility of simultaneous performing the operations, minimum through output assembly time ^ct min etc. The procedure starts with the analysis of the structural scheme of the product and continues with the following: • Determination of the main assemblies and subassemblies through the desired level and symbolical representation, • Symbolically represented main elements are varied in different spatial combinations, • The most promising combinations that are not in collision with the definedfunctional requirements are going to be developed further, • The choice of the optimum structure is based on the defined criteria, Figure 9 shows the reduction of few mating directions through changing the relative position of structure elements. Product shown on (Fig.9) (left) has 5 different matting directions (±X; ±Y; +Z), and after the reconstruction, the new design (Fig.9) (right) has only one matting direction (+X). 2.4. Optimization of the Modularity Level Having in mind all disposable knowledge about the modularity and the consequences concerning assembly process, twelve basic features are highlighted as modularity drivers, if the existing number of modules is not satisfactory. The main features are organized in Table 2 to simplify the reconstruction of the product structure, recognizing and translating certain subassemblies into modules. The procedure starts with the matrix (Table 2) where the twelve modularity drivers are opposed to the complete product structure, including all building levels - subassemblies and parts. Table 2. Matrix of modularity drivers Velements of \ STRUCTURE assembly s-1 subassembly ps-1.1 subassembly ps-1.2 part d-1 assembly s-2 subassembly ps-2.1 NAME * ** ** ** * * 1 carry-over • 2 technological evolution О 3 product planning О S 4 technical specification 5 styling 6 common unit 7 process/organis ation reuse • S 8 separate testing of function О 9 black box 10 service & maintanance 11 upgrading 12 recycling Note: #-3 points, S-2 points i 0-1 points The matrix is filled with the given symbols illustrating the importance of certain features and the possibility that a given subassembly or component becomes a module. It is important to emphasise that the success of the procedure is tightly connected to defined functional requirements for the given product FRi, because the module generation is one of the earliest stages in product developing process, preceeding the detailed definition of structure. Elements of the structure having the highest number of points in total are separated as the most serious candidates for modules and it remains to be reconsidered if there is some design or technological constraints. 2.5. Application of the New / Different Technology The last level of product enhancement is the most radical one, and if it can be technically accomplished, it brings the largest benefit. The application of the new/different technology is Fig. 9. The results of applied tools for optimization ofproduct structure and increasing the level of modularity connected to applied sciences as a result of the latest researches in fundamental sciences. Morphological analysis is a methodology of a significant help in applying the new/different technologies. It is defined as an approach for systematical thinking and finding solutions for different problems. Morphological analysis enables the generation of possible developing alternatives in product designing. 2.6. Feedback Report - Proposals for Re-design After the application of the developed tools for assembly suitability enhancement, it is to be expected that the number of proposals for redesign will follow. The proposals have to be clearly presented in the document "PROPOSAL FOR RE-DESIGN", where the expected savings in assembly times and costs are particularly highlighted. Further, the proposals have to be critically analyzed if they cause negative consequences in some other aspects of the design, and if so, the proposal has to be rejected avoiding the additional efforts of other experts in the DFX team. If the DFA expert, according to his professional knowledge and experience does not see any obstacles for implementation of the suggestion, the proposal has to be transferred to be verified by the DFX team, where two different cases may occur. • The proposal for re-design is not delayed in any aspect, and can be directly implemented in product design; • The proposal for re-design is delayed by the expert team, sent for a detailed cost-benefit analysis, and followed by a renewed discussion about verification. The DFX expert's team has to have as much iteration as necessary until none of participants has any objections to the proposal, so a consensus about the design reconstruction is achieved. 3 CONCLUSION The developed IPS-DFA methodology completely came to the expectations, from the point of assembly suitability enhancement, since the established indicators connected with the developed tools enable a systematic improvement of certain detected weak points in the design, which has been confirmed in the number of case studies. After the process of re-designing has been completed, circular pump's program variety structural scheme (Figure 10) clearly indicates the achieved simplifications concerning the part count and part variety reduction - smaller yellow boxes with poly-variant parts. Continuously monitoring indicators through developed on three levels, enables one to track every single change in the design and the consequences it has on the assembly process. Table 3 briefly summarizes the accomplished achievements with the given assembly suitability indicators after each iteration has been performed (ver.1-ver.4). Fig. 10. Simplified structural scheme depicting product family, after applying IPS-DFA Table 3. Review of assembly suitability indicators after application of IPS-DFA 17Л 1'Дк 1 1 Totti number of diltawt pais «л iho pftdixiion assortment Кш* 37 I 44| ir, NlJIll!» • . Milil liv if^ !'HSiC f/i yl.y;! n UTS S] m| Nnl„ ?7 аь 77 3d Э5 Number pninducl variants in the production program n 14 14 14 14 14 ?l% Suitability of product variant development Рт*(Мд mjWBMJAÌ 57% 71% 7ì% Toal numborol parts inlhe production program Nu 23 « 20 M 23 Тз Automation suitability indicator P^NuiWow 66% 54% 64% 6?% 1.4 Numbe/oi mođulee Pm-Hn 3 £ 2 2 2 - No SUITABILITY INDICATORS (ProductSlruclure) Ver 1.4 Ver 1.2 Ver 1.1 Ver 1.0 Jed. 21 Number ( :i p:«rts Cd Ih$ t:«Hi<: prOdud M0 i ih nI NP M 20 n 39 Di