Network Enabled Manufacturing Case for IIT Rajasthan Short Course

Prepared by: Dr. Al Salour, Technical Fellow

Boeing Research & Technology
al.salour@boeing.com
Telephone: 314-232-1743
Mobile: 314-619-8526

Background
Acme Corporation is a medium sized company that fabricates specialized
aerospace airframe parts made of composites, machining, and assembly parts.
The company founder Anil Kumar created a small business 40 years ago when
he expanded his home garage and built a small machine shop with lathes and
drill presses to fabricate customized parts for the local auto repair shops. He had
a niche in after market parts for fast delivery to his customers in Jodhpur. Soon
after his business expanded and he leased a building on Gandhi Street near the
city police station. At this location he added additional machinery and started
distributing parts at a larger scale to other cities in Rajasthan. In 1990 he
determined there was a growing market for aerospace parts. In this market he
had virtually no competition and as long as he could follow the required
specifications and pay attention to the part quality, he could continue to expand
his business. Under this strategy, Acme has grown to be a major supplier to a
large airframe manufacturer in Bangalore.
Mission Statement
Provide the highest quality affordable aerospace products customized to meet
performance and delivery requirements of the Indian Aerospace Industry.
Current Business
In 1995, Anil opened a new 500,000 Sq ft facility for his expanding aerospace
business. This facility comprised of 6 distinct manufacturing areas:
1. A 100,000 Sq Ft machine shop with 30 N/C milling systems to build
precision aerospace airframe parts and emerging products
2. A 100,000 Sq Ft composite manufacturing including a 50,000 Sq Ft air
conditioned clean room
3. Autoclave and oven equipment at 20,000 Sq Ft
4. Test and inspection area with non-destructive ultrasonic test equipment,
X-ray inspection systems, and material review board crib at 40,000 Sq Ft
5. Open shop with trim & drill fixtures, waterjet, and a paint shop at 40,000
Sq Ft
6. A large assembly area for performing final assemblies at 200,000 Sq Ft
divided into military and commercial products divisions.
Anil continued to operate his business with members of his family as his sons Raj
and Fahad each were responsible for the Machining Center and the Composites
Center and his son-in-law Jaafar handled the Assembly and Inspection facilities.
In 2009, he appointed Jaafar to the military products division and for the first time
hired a new VP, Krishnan Prakash to be responsible for the commercial
products.

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Business Process
Machining Center:
The incoming materials are largely aluminum billets shipped from Delhi on
railcars to Jodhpur and locally transported to the plant location on trucks. The
Acme machining operations consists of the following:

Turning operations that rotate the workpiece as the primary method of

moving metal against the cutting tool. Lathes are the principal machine
tool used in turning.
N/C Milling operations in which the cutting tool rotates to bring cutting
edges to bear against the workpiece. 5-axis Milling machines are the
principal machine tools used for the Acme products. Recently Raj
acquired a brand new 6-axis High speed precision CNC milling machine
designed for precision micro machining and industrial engraving of
aluminum, plastics, stainless steel, graphite, and ceramics. This machine
has nearly 3 times the throughput of the 5-axis systems but has
introduced challenges for complex set-up and its operating system
requires highly trained operators (only 2 available in the entire plant).
Drilling operations are processes in which holes are produced or refined
by bringing a rotating cutter with cutting edges into contact with the
workpiece.
Miscellaneous operations such as burnishing processes are used in Acme
to improve the size, shape, surface finish, or surface hardness of a
workpiece. It is essentially a forming operation that occurs on a small
scale. The benefits of burnishing often include: Combats fatigue failure,
prevents corrosion and stress corrosion, textures surfaces to eliminate
visual defects, closes porosity, creates surface compressive residual
stress.

Milling

Turning Aluminum

Burnished part

The machining support department has 2 N/C programmers that work with
geometry models and translate them into N/C milling codes. The machining
programs are kept in CD files and hand carried to each machine for downloading
and operation.
Raj believes a clean shop can improve the morale and increase productivity. He
has assigned two full time personnel to clean the aisles and haul away metal
chips collected underneath the machines on the daily basis. Metal chips are
dumped in large containers just outside the building and picked up by a recycle

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contractor when they are full. Each truck is weighed at a weight station at the
entrance to the property. This weight is compared to the weight of the empty
truck as it enters the plant to calculate the net recycle weight. The shipping
department clerk records the material weight into an invoice for the Acme
accounting department.
Composite Center
This facility was part of the plant expansion in the mid 90s. Anil had the vision
that modern aerospace programs are going to utilize more and more composite
materials due to their light weight and corrosion resistance. Composites are 1/3
lighter than aluminum yet stronger than aluminum and assembled with fewer
pieces. This type of material is made of tow which is an untwisted bundle of
continuous filaments made of carbon and graphite. Tow is usually designed by
a number followed by K, indicating multiplication by 1000; for example, 12K tow
has 12,000 filaments. Tape (prepreg) contains unidirectional fibers & resins, and
it must be handled carefully to avoid separation.
Unidirectional (UD) refers to fibers that are oriented in the same direction and
made into fabric, tape, or laminate. Woven fabric is made to tows, which are
weaved together. Composite fabric is woven fibers embedded in resin. Fabric is
more durable than tape and contains 38% resin. Yet fabric is also weaker than
tape because it has more holes (space between woven fibers), more resin (resin
is brittle), and fewer tows.

Woven Fabric

Uni-directional Fiber tape

Incoming Material:
Carbon fiber is delivered to Acme on refrigerated trucks from Mumbai. Carbon
fiber is impregnated with approximately 34% to 38% aerospace quality resin
system which has a shelf life of 12 months in sub-zero temperature but only 30
days work life outside the freezer. Carbon fiber is received in rolls at the dock
door and time stamped before it is placed inside a freezer adjacent to the lay-up
room. The control process in strictly manual but very accurate as there is a
routing tag attached to a roll that has the material ID, original batch number, date
of manufacture, and space to record in-freezer and out-of-freezer times. Prepreg
is a primarily ready-to-mold sheet from cloth or mat. The resin is semi-cured and
kept in that state in freezer.

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Composite Manufacturing Process

Material Cutting:
In the mid to late 90s Fahad was able to keep up with the work volume by
manually cutting the prepreg composite materials into ply shapes. The required
patterns were scissor cut from transparent masters and kitted together in the
right order per ply stacks. As the volume picked up, manual cutting was no
longer feasible. In addition, the process was prone to errors due to its manual
nature and Fahad had to employ a full time inspector to review all of the ply sets
and when in doubt compare them to the original Mylar for verification.
Automated Ply-cutting
In 2001, Fahad ordered an automated ply-cutting system to automate the carbon
fiber cutting process. This simply eliminated the use of Mylar and all of the
manual work. The N/C system could now be programmed to cut up to 4 layers of
material and form all the ply shapes needed for lay-up. In addition, the cutting
head was equipped with a labeling system to inkjet unique ID number on each
ply piece.

Automated Plycutter
Lay-up Process
Layup area is climate controlled with temperature and humidity sensors and
recorders to monitor the required state at all times. Specs also require special
measures such as positive air pressure, tacky mats, etc. The operators working
in this area are required to wear coveralls and gloves. Lighting fixtures should be
sealed and recessed so they dont gather dust. Depending on the part thickness,
typically, anywhere from 20 to 40 plies are stacked together. This process takes
hours due to the required accuracy for manually positioning the material side by
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side and stack after stack to reach the full thickness. In addition, after each 10
plies, the layup is placed under temporary vacuum to compress the ply lay-up
and remove any air bubbles. The operators must use caution not to expose the
material to oily products and even a slight sweat from fingers could impact the
infusion process at the later stage.
Fiber orientation refers to fiber alignment in a non-woven or mat laminate where
the fibers are set in the same direction. The greater strength and rigidity of the
composite material is accomplished by layering composite materials. When the
direction of the fibers in the composite varies from layer to layer, the laid up part
is stronger and resists stress better from multiple directions.
Layups have sides Tool side and bag side. The surface of the lay-up that is
against the tool is the tool side and is much smoother after the cure process.
The bag side is against the vacuum bag.

Clean Room Area

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Complex design practices:

Composite lay-up may involve anywhere from flat shapes to complex contour
shapes. In addition, some designs could include stiffeners in T shape blades or
Hats that are laid up on inner mold-line. The Following sketch depicts a typical
composite part with stiffened members.

- 45

90
+45
0

Laminate Definition (ply 1 through ply 22):

(45, 0, +45, 0, -45, 0, 90, 0, +45, 0, -45)S

Fabric Ply

Lower Skin with Spars

Flat Lower Skin with 2.0x 1.5 Blade Stiffeners

Upper Caps Follow

Curvature of Upper Skin

- 45

90

- 45

90

+45

+45

Front I-Beam Spar

Aft Channel Spar

Some designs also use honeycomb cores such as Nomex honeycomb which is
the standard for lightweight non-metallic composite construction.

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Material made of core component in the construction is sandwiched between

skins on both sides. Core material comes in different densities (grams/cubic
centimeter). The density provides strength and stiffness needed in the part.
Stiffness is provided mostly by resin-fiber shell, but the core also contributes to
the strength.

Skins
Core
Nomex Honeycomb
Record keeping and Inspections
The operators follow a written instruction and after positioning each ply stack,
must record the ply stack number and stamp the work sequence. An inspector is
then called to look at their job to make sure when the ply pieces are placed side
by side they dont overlap each other (unless specified). The inspector looks for
the proper number of plies in each stack to make sure there are none missing.
Also, the plies have a backing paper material that must be removed before they
are placed. Due to tacky nature of the material, the paper might stick to the
composite prepreg and if the operator is not careful, a piece of paper could be
left behind. Both, the operator and the inspector look for any irregularities during
the final inspections and when this work is complete, the inspector also signs the
work order.
Composite Tooling
Acme is using composite tooling. This type of design is essentially made of
composite structure (face plate + back-up structure) that can withstand high cure
temperatures with good durability. Coefficient of thermal expansion is used to
calculate how much a tool will expand under the autoclave heat and how it might
affect the final product size. Metal tools expand more and it is more challenging
to design for the final dimension. Anil had done a lot of research in this area and
concluded using composite tooling can minimize the coefficient of thermal
expansion in tool, therefore, the lay up dimensions better follow the engineering
specifications. These tools are also equipped with vacuum lines that are routed
underneath the tool and attached to ports on four corners of the tool. There are
two styles of lay-up:

Tool to the inner mold-line: this is when the precise mold-line is needed on
the interior of the part.
Tool to the outer mold-line: the outer mold-line must be smoother and
likely the aero-surface

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After the lay-up, the assembly is bagged and vacuumed on the tool surface:
Release Film (Perforated) Breather /
Bleeder
Bag Sealant
Vacuum
Peel Ply
Tacky Tape
Laminate
Bag
Release Tool
Agent

Typical Bagging Method at Acme

The bagging material is used to keep the lay-up sealed during the autoclave cure
and to let the excess resin bleed out. Vacuum bagging is the process of drawing
air to allow atmospheric pressure to assist in the forming and laminating a part.
Cure Process
Autoclave processing is the most common method used for curing thermoset
(irreversible once cured) prepregs. The curing of composites involves both
mechanical and chemical processes. Acme has two computerized autoclaves
(10 feet wide X 25 feet long) and one oven 12 feet x 12 feet in the building.
Autoclaves use vacuum to test the bag before the start of a cure, until the
positive pressure equalizes with the bag vacuum. The typical autoclave cure
cycle is a two-step process. First, vacuum and pressure are applied while the
temperature is ramped up to an intermediate level and held there for a short
period of time. The heat reduces the resin viscosity, allowing it to flow and
making it easier for trapped air and volatiles to escape. In addition, pressure
presses the materials together at 50 to 100 pounds per square inch (psi), forcing
the resin through the lay-up. The resin begins wetting the fibers at this stage.
The trapped gasses from inside the lay-up are degassed from the vacuum
probes to allow gases to go to the breather material. In the second ramp up, the
temperature is raised to the final cure temperature and held for a sufficient length
of time to complete the cure reaction.
Thermocouples measure the part temperature during the autoclave cure. They
are placed in the part during the cure process.
Liquid nitrogen is used for pressurizing the autoclaves. This material is
extremely cold and expands at 240 pounds per square inch as it warms and
turns into nitrogen gas. Because pure nitrogen is inert, it is much safer to use
than flammable oxygen. When the pressure in the autoclave is equal to the
pressure of the vacuum bag over the layup, the vacuum is turned off and vent to
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the atmosphere in the autoclave. At this time the vacuum gauge on the lay-up
should have a zero reading meaning the atmosphere in the bag is equal to the
pressure in the atmosphere. The autoclave heat up rate is at 1 to 5 degrees F
per minute. This slow rise in temperature allows the resin to better flow in the
carbon fiber. As the autoclave heats, the thermocouples indicate the target cure
temperature and completed cure process. The autoclave is then cooled down to
the room temperature and the process is monitored by the thermocouples until
the door is opened.

Aerospace Manufacturing Autoclaves

Clean-up
After curing, the bagged part is removed from the autoclave. Debagging can be
complex since laminate parts have tight radii and some laminates have several
parts that are co-cured together and must be removed. The vacuum probes are
disconnected and saved but the entire vacuum bagging materials is discarded.
The part is removed from the tool and turned over to the Quality Control
personnel to check the part and make sure it is not damaged.
Non-destructive Testing
Automated Ultrasonic Scanning Systems (AUSS) includes motion control, data
acquisition and analysis capabilities. Ultrasonic testing is based on time-varying
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deformations or vibrations in materials, which is generally referred to as

acoustics. This equipment is fully automated c-scan that uses high frequency,
highly directional sound waves to measure material thickness, find hidden
internal flaws, or analyze material properties in composites.
Using frequencies beyond the limit of human hearing, ultrasonic instruments
generate shorts bursts of sound energy that are coupled into the test piece, and
the instrument monitors and analyzes reflected or transmitted wave patterns to
generate test results.
The sound energy is introduced and propagates through the materials in the form
of waves. When there is a discontinuity (such as a crack) in the wave path, part
of the energy will be reflected back from the flaw surface. The reflected wave
signal is transformed into an electrical signal by the transducer and is displayed
on a screen. The same concept is applied with portable scanners for localized
inspection and repair procedures.

Ultrasonic System

CT Scan System

Acme also uses radiography scan method to inspect the composite parts.
Radiography also provides a permanent record of the condition of the test
objects for future reference or for legal purposes. Radiography does not always
produce conclusive results. The results obtained from radiographic inspection are
affected by the quality of the film, condition of the test object, and the location of
the film and x-ray generator in relation to the defect orientation. The primary use
of Radiography is to detect flaws in aircraft structure in areas not accessible for
visual inspection.
Trim Operations
Composite layups are normally cured with excess material on all four sides for
final trim. Acme initially utilized grinders and trim tools that embodied the part
and were used as guide to trim the extra material off. This method required
manual set-up and labor. The trim operators must wear protective masks in trim
booths to contain composite dust and ensure safety. In 2005 Jaafar introduced
a water-jet cutter that was much faster and better on the environment since it
contained the composite dust.

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10

Trim methods with grinder and water-jet

Composite Design
Acme designers determine the amount of strength a part needs and then plan
the direction of each ply in the part to achieve that strength. Acme is using
CATIA in their modeling design which is commonly used by the aerospace
companies. It has three parts:

Enovia

Modeling

Tooling
Enovia contains part dimensions, ply orientation, and materials. The part viewer
allows to look at a model on the computer screen to identify interferences and
installation components. The tooling part of CATIA translates tooling information.
The drawings include:

Standard drawing views and ply definition diagrams

Ply location, orientation, and identification

Sequence of lay-up
Each ply is numbered and is shown by its orientation. The universal ply
orientation establishes the axis that orients a ply tape.
90 deg
+45 deg
0 deg
-45 deg

The symbol is usually placed on the layup drawing as if looking from the bag side
toward the tool side.

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11

Enovia is also used for machine tools for part simulation to look for interference.
The following photo illustrated a machine vs. part for 3D visualization and
inspection.

Composite splicing:
Splicing is one of the lay-up design and processing requirements. When
sections of plies are joined, the process specification describes the type of splice:
Butt splices occur when we align the ends of separate plies almost against each
other without overlap.
Typical Stagger

Typical Space

Overlap splices occur when one ply is overlapped onto the other.
Typical Stagger

Overlap Splice

Assembly Operations
Anil began the assembly operations to perform small jobs by integrating detailed
parts into finished products for the auto industry. In the early days, most parts
were produced internally and the idea was to deliver them in their final state to
maintain a good customer relation. In the 1995 facility expansion, new assembly
machineries were added and Acme shifted its strategy toward modernizing the
factory.

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12

Receiving
Internal or external products are delivered through the three dock doors at the
entrance to the building. Each internal receiving commodity is associated with a
routing tag from the fabrication centers. This tag records the part number, serial
number, date of manufacture, last work order ID and the next work order ID. The
products received from the suppliers are identified with the part number and
serial number, but also come in with an invoice and purchase agreement
number.
Production Control
This organization handles and processes the received parts. In the case of
internal parts, they are staged and scanned with the routing tag ID, part number,
and serial number in the part tracking database system before they are
dispatched to the point of use storage bins. Vendor parts made outside follow a
similar procedure except they are also checked by a quality control inspector to
make sure their quantities are correct and they pass visual inspections. After
entering the basic product information, the expediters also check a field in the
database for invoice processing through the accounting department.
Assembly Build-up
Once the assembly work moved to the new 200,000 Sq. Ft facility, the idea was
to have a central location for all of the products and supplies. In this area, the
metallic and composite parts are integrated from the details. Due to the
complexity of the process the assembly work is divided into the following steps:

Framing

Drilling

Skinning

Installation
Framing
The framing station involves the assembly of structure components. At this
location, each part is positioned in a large tool to locate it and connect it to other
parts in the assembly. The idea is to keep the tolerances to the minimum by
maintaining a single tool to combine the pieces together. Framing involves
measuring the gaps between parts for proper fit up. The Acme customers have
strict requirements for gap closure using liquid (sealant) or solid shims.
Operators are required to record the size of the shim used and to have an
inspector verify the installation procedure. During the framing process careful
attention is made for part placement and corrosion protection. All fasteners are
installed wet with sealant and in case of drilling and rivet installations, the rivet
heads are primed to protect exposure to environmental elements and corrosion.
Drilling
This process involves manual drilling of the mold-line holes including skin and
structure with portable power feed tools. In order to maintain the required
alignment for holes, the outer skin and its support structure are drilled

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13

concurrently through the same drill pass. In this area, the operators follow
printed work instructions for set-up IDs that include the specified drill bit. In
order to maintain efficiency, all portable tools are prepared in advance with their
set-ups ready to use. This job is done by a crib attendant who configures drill
bits to the tools based on a look up sheet from an Excel file. The drill tools use
oil base coolants to facilitate the process and to contain composite dust. The
operators also use shop vacuums to extract chips and dust from the tool
nosepiece.
In 2008, the company installed a 6-axis robotic drilling system to automatically
drill the mold-line holes on skin and structure. This system is equipped with a
telecentric camera to scan the entire structure and establish the physical (as
built) part locations. The captured images from the camera are compared to the
theoretical engineering model to establish offset values. The robot tool tip
program and location is transformed based on the camera offset values kept in
the machine control computer. Drilling and countersinking is then followed in one
pass for skin and structure stack up. Holes in the titanium materials follow a
secondary ream process to open up to the final tolerance. The robot drills one
assembly surface at a time but it is possible to drill both sides concurrently. Tool
life is kept track from a barcode on the tool holder but the process is not
optimized since it is not linked to the machine control and is only maintained from
an Excel spreadsheet by the crib attendant.

Incoming skin and structure

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Structure positioned in assembly jig

14

1. Capture Image
2. Function
Find Edge

3. Function Results
4. Freeze to Capture or
Live; Save Image

Accepted Image
for Edge

Example of a failed image

2

Example of a Failed Image

Camera taking measurements

Tool holders/ drill bits

Hole Image on
HMI. Crosshair
Displays Center

Camera view showing image pass/fail

Drill program started

Cell Supervisor -user interface

Automated Drill Cell

Skinning
After the drill process, the skins are separated from the structure, cleaned, and
placed in a temporary storage bin. At this time, the structure is inspected for
proper hole size and drill process. Aerospace hole quality requirements are very
stringent as the tolerance per hole cannot exceed more than .004 to .007 in the
diameter per hole depending on the location and the type of hole. Hole tolerance
is not desirable to be undersized since fasteners cannot be inserted under this
condition. A typical structure has lower and upper skin components. The lower
skin is normally installed first to begin closing the structure. Fastener selection
involves considerations for skin removal during the product life cycle or

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15

permanent installation which will not be removed until an overhaul. A permanent

fastener that is used in many aerospace parts is Hi-Lok made by Hi-Shear.
This fastener is made of two pieces: pin and a collar and can be associated with
a clearance, interference, or a combination of both. When a material stack is
comprised of composite epoxy over an interference metallic substructure, it is
normally for the sake of improving the fatigue life of the metallic substructure. In
this case the composite clearance size has a maximum of .010 and the
interference in the metallic structure can range around .0050. Flush head
fasteners are used on the outer mold-line of the assembly. These fasteners must
be installed smooth on the surface for aerodynamics and drag prevention.
Protruding fasteners are used in the inner mold-line structure. These fasteners
are easier to install and will not require countersinking.

Metallic Substructure

Titanium/Steel Hi-Loks
Fay Surface
- Polysulfide Sealant
I/F Fit in Substructure
Clearance Fit in Skin

Carbon/Epoxy Skin

Hi Lok pins and Collars and installation tool

Once the lower skin is installed, the mechanical and electrical work will begin.
Mechanical work may involve installation of hydraulic actuators, and
hydraulic/fuel lines and joints.
The electrical work may involve cabling
connections and avionics control installation. Once this work is complete, the
assembly is ready for the upper skin installation. Some assembly features
require coating and paint for corrosion protection and leak proofing.

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16

Final Installation
Fay surface sealing is common to seal seams and joints that possess fayed
surfaces of similar metals shall be protected, at a minimum, by application of
primer coating to each surface.

Typical completed structure with lower/upper skin,

& hardware components
In addition to primer coating, all faying surfaces that have an exterior edge shall
be sealed with a sealant other than primer. A minimum gap of .020 inch is
required for exterior surface butt joints of similar metals. Fayed surfaces of
dissimilar metals shall have a primer coat and are sealed with a sealant.
Exterior surface butt joints of dissimilar metals shall have a gap of .060 to .120
inch. The depth of the groove shall be of sufficient depth to retain the hardening
type sealing compound, which shall be subsequently applied and smoothed flush
with the surface of adjacent dissimilar metals. Typically, the upper surface skin
installation is similar to the lower skin with the exception that this surface might
use blind fasteners or nut plates with screws that thread into the nut element
attached to structure (see the photo)

Plate nut

various pins and screws

Installation process

One-sided fastener installation

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17

Installation Checkout
Once the mechanical and structural components are installed, the completed part
will go through final inspections. The shake down involves a thorough
verification of the assembly processes and buyoff of the previous operations.
The completed assembly goes through wire integrity testing for impedance and
resistance measures in cabling. In addition, a fully sealed assembly might be
subject to leak checks. This might include pressurizing the assembly with inert
gas such as helium and looking for a drop in pressure. The system includes
Pump and Motor, and Hydraulic Power Units providing with the ability to test a
wide range of hydraulic components.

Leak Check Console

Pressure Check Cart

Assembly Flow Process

At Acme, the assembly operations circled around an area and stayed there until
they were completed. This idea was known as a wagon wheel. The advantage
was for the material location in the proximity of the assemblies and it facilitated
the delivery process by production control to the point of use

PPa
arrt
t IIDD
##77

Part
Part ID#6
ID#6

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Part
Supply
Area

Part ID#4
ID#4
Part

#55
D#
tt IID
r
r
PPaa

ID#88
Partrt ID#
Pa

#11
IDD#
rrtt I
a
PPa

Part
Part ID#2
ID#2

PPa
arrt
t IID
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33

18

A new process has been recently been proposed that pulses every few days
and/or continuously moves at a very slow speed. An example is shown in the
following figure:

Example: Moving Line Assembly

X inches per Hour
Electrical Install

Test
Station
Station #8
#8

Station
Station #7
#7

Parts
Station

Station
Station #6
#6
Parts
Station

Hydraulics Install

Station
Station #5
#5

Parts
Station

Station
Station #4
#4

Parts
Station

Station
Station #3
#3

Parts
Station

Sub-assembly
Station
Station #1
#1

Parts
Station

Station
Station #2
#2

Pulse Line
Takt time = X Days

Issues and problems with the business expansion

In April 2010, Anil invited his executive team to a special board meeting. At this
meeting he re-stated his mission statement and expressed his disappointment
that the larger business is causing numerous problems. He was concerned
about loss of revenues and return on net profits which had already impacted the
first quarter financial earnings. He was especially upset that his plans to go
public with Acme must be put on hold indefinitely until the production issues are
resolved. He explained Acme is having serious delivery problems with the root
cause that is threatening the companys survival and the reputation it had earned
throughout the years for its customer focus and reliability. Anil asked each of his
executives to report their status and causes for this major disruption. He
explained his goal is to make changes that could bring immediate productivity
improvements. He also offered to invest as needed as long as the idea could
lead into affordability. He explained his investment criteria to have a three year
payback with a positive net present value (NPV) and an internal rate of return
(IRR) greater than 15%.
On behalf of the machining center Raj responded:
Our N/C machinery is continuing through system upgrades but we dont have
enough understanding about their performance. I have ordered my first line
supervisors to write down their down times by machine number but this
information can only be collected once a shift and my department clerk is
compiling them every morning for all three shifts. I just cant afford to have my
supervisors do administrative work instead of running the shop. When I read
through the information, I have difficulty interpreting the root cause since the
downtime reasons are not clearly stated or matched against the error codes. I
am thinking about hiring a new clerk to enter this data into a computer. Some of

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19

their hand writings are so bad I must meet with them in person so I can verbally
communicate and exchange the problems.
I have initiated a program to monitor the calibration on the N/C machinery as we
are going through periodic scheduled maintenance but taking a machine out of
production could hurt our productivity and reduce the throughput. I am thinking
the best way is to take two weeks off during Diwali to perform all of our repairs.
Recently, one of the engineers suggested installing sensors on the spindles and
drive motors near the bearings could be a good idea to collect critical data. This
sounds okay but I dont want to turn my shop into a science project. He is saying
this work is not very hard and he can even check for lubrication, temperature,
humidity and many other attributes. Frankly, this is all beyond my imagination
and I still think the best way to do the maintenance is through a PM program.
Lastly, my N/C team sends down the N/C programs on CD files to the machines
and they are clearly labeled but the operators have difficulty keeping track of their
latest configuration when they keep old CDs in their drawers. I am concerned
one of these days they are going to use a wrong program. I think this is just a
matter of better discipline and not sure if we can offer a better method.
Fahad explained, the Composites are still relatively new in India and although
there are many internal suppliers for the consumables, he must import the
carbon epoxy systems from the suppliers outside the India. This is because
Acme is building parts for the North American and European markets and must
use their specified materials. We are paying a huge shipping cost to import
these materials as they must be refrigerated during transit. We are offsetting
some of this cost through our lower labor base but yet our productivity is
challenging and not where it should be.
The automated ply cutter really helps our throughput but I cant stop thinking that
our asset tracking procedure is a mess. It is painful for me to see how much
materials we are scrapping due to expiration. I specially dont understand why
we scrap so much sealant from the chest freezers. There has to be a better way
to know how much material is being consumed so we dont keep ordering more.
Also, there is no first-in-first-out plan so the newer material might be used before
the old one.
For the prepreg materials I have a full time inspector assigned to re-qualify the
old materials if they are still good but as you know, I can only do this three times
and the extension time is very limited. My operators also complain the older
prepreg material is harder to work with as the plies are very stiff and dont lay
right.
I want to put RFID chips on all the tools so I can track them but I dont know what
to do when the tools go in the autoclave. If I remove the chips, it is going to take

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extra time and then there will be a huge confusion to determine what tool they
belong to.
Many of my operators are complaining that hand lay-up is too slow and prone to
mistakes. This was evident when we laid up one of our plies backward during
the last 10 production units of the left hand wing flap. Our operators said the
Mylar pattern that they followed was printed wrong and even the inspector
missed that. We have heard about the laser projection technology that digitally
displays the ply orientation from the CAD model but it sounds complicated and
using it might be risky.
My material handlers complain about the lack of balance in inventory. They
check the freezer every day but seems like we are either ordering too much
material or not enough.
I always thought the autoclave process should be under control since everything
is computerized but I noticed recently there are many blown bag issues and we
have been losing a lot of loads as a result of it. We have tried adding additional
thermocouples to monitor the tool temperature but the root-cause appear to be
from the tool leakage when they are not holding the vacuum. Also, my
autoclaves equipment manager has been complaining for a while that he is
running less than a full load way too often. Seems like there is no level loading in
the shop and my energy usage has sky rocketed since my autoclaves use more
power than anything else in the plant.
Jaafar who is responsible for the inspection process stopped Fahad at this point
and said, I have heard enough about the problems in your lay-up room and the
autoclaves. My NDT area is doing a good job of scanning all of the incoming
parts but seems like I am always running an uphill battle. I am paying premium
time to my technicians to work around the clock due to the part fluctuations. I
receive my parts from the clean-up area after the autoclave but I dont want to
blame them since I think the lay-up room schedule is just out of control and
causing this problem.
Fahad said it is easy to blame others for your problems. I am working closely
with our engineers to assess the surface porosity and really need to fine tune the
autoclave temperature and pressure to reduce the resin starved conditions.
Seems like when I ask for a copy of the scan reads, it takes half a day to receive
it. Their excuse is that the ultrasonic scans are saved into CD files and it is not
easy to find the porosity condition from a large file and then copy that into
another CD for our use.
At this time Anil stopped both of them and said we are not here to point fingers
but I have also heard a lot of complaints about the trim and drill operation.
Therefore, I would like to initiate a team to look at this area. I want to know if I
buy a 5 axis trim and drill system; it can work better than the existing water jet.

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21

This system can perform some of the drilling processes and reduce the assembly
cost. The team must look at the return on investment and report back. He then
looked at Jaafar again and asked him to explain his problems and challenges
from the assembly area.
Jaafar explained his wagon wheel process uses up a lot of cycle time and there
is not enough visibility into the part flow when they have to sit in one location for
more than a month. The only people who are benefiting from this process are
the production control people since they can deliver their materials to a single
location and they dont have to walk so much. I have heard the major aerospace
companies are introducing pulse lines and moving lines. Anil asked, could you
explain the concept better. Jaafar responded, under this method the assembly
operations are divided into takt times and balanced between work stations.
Therefore, if an assembly operation takes 4 days and there are 10 stations, then
every 4 days we move the entire line and every 40 days an assembly will be
completed. This idea brings urgency to the process to make sure we can
complete and move the work on time. Another method is called moving line and
under this method the assembly is slowly pulled (I mean very slow) with a barge
mechanism while the work is being done by the mechanics. Anil asked what if
we dont finish a job because of a quality problem or a part shortage, do we still
move the line or pulse it. How do we keep track of it? Jaafar responded, we are
still learning and I need to investigate this problem further. But, I want my
engineers to study the travel work and come up with a method to report that.
Jaafar continued by explaining a different problem. My robotic drilling system is
really going to reduce a lot of manual labor but so far we have had a lot of startup issues. First of all I must walk up to each machine and look at the user
interface on the cell supervisor to determine its performance. I have asked my
network engineers if they can create a dashboard on the companys intranet but I
have heard it is very challenging. They are still trying to figure out the network
architecture and report back. I want them to include the maintenance data along
with the process data so I can really understand the problems. At this time Raj
stated his interest to have a similar dashboard system for his new high speed 6axis machine and the rest of the machining center. He said these ideas would
work better if they are integrated with the backend systems such as scheduling
and work instructions.
Jaafar continued: I also have some expensive power tools with servo drive
motors. I have challenged the same engineers to build a wireless bridge to the
WiFi access points that we recently installed in the assembly building but they
are saying they need certificates for the bridge devices and on top of that this is a
one off solution that is costly to expand to all of our tools. I just cant understand
the problem. May be they are smarter than me.
Jaafar went on to explain the material management issues that require a lot of
improvement. He said his first line supervisors check their fasteners and part

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22

supplies by looking at the storage bins and informing the production control
personnel when they are running low. I always think my staff should not be doing
that and this is up to the material handlers to inspect their own work. However,
this is not the issue, and it is the just-in-time process that is creating lower
inventory of parts at all times. I think the concept works well if the suppliers are
close to you but when my parts are coming from Mumbai and Delhi, part
shortages could really hurt. I heard recently that the large aerospace companies
are using the kitting process to send all of the fasteners, parts, and installation
tools to the mechanics on special kit carts. I want to investigate this concept a
little more. Anil encouraged him to continue this work.
Jaafar explained we have many valuable assets indoor and outdoor but asset
tracking is a challenging problem since we dont have enough accountability for
their location and utilization. My indoor assets are such as safety equipment, test
carts, fasteners, wire bundles, tubes and installation components, avionics
hardware, chemicals and hazardous materials, production parts, and major
assemblies. I can count more but I hope you are getting the idea. I am looking
for a technology that will help me understand where things are. Also, since there
are different functions responsible for each family of assets, I want to make sure
they can filter their own stuff. I have heard about the real time location (RTLS)
technology but I dont exactly know how it works. I have heard it is very
expensive and we must install readers every 50 feet in the building under the
overhead cranes. I am also questioning the value of the assets and not sure if
we can put a 2,265 Rupee tag on each asset. I wonder if there is a cheaper way
such as the passive RFID system. I heard these tags are only 10 Rupees a
piece but we can only detect them if they are within a few feet from the antenna
receiver. My outside assets include assembly tools that I dont have the room for
inside, and the finished parts after the paint shop staged in our gated storage
before they are shipped.
At this time, Jaafar introduced Sid Talwar who is leading the Facilities and
Maintenance to the executive board and explained a new initiative that is
underway for energy management and the plant infrastructure health. Sid
appreciated the opportunity and described this initiative: we are installing power
monitoring devices at the machine level to keep track of consumption, power
quality, and utilization. In addition, our goal is to associate power usage to the
equipment performance. He went on to say, there are monitoring controls at
each substation but there is not enough visibility at the component level. He is
hoping this type of visibility will help his organization reduce the overall power
consumption for Acme. Sid mentioned another plan to instrument the air
compressors, install sensors on the cooling towers, autoclaves, and HVAC
system for the office areas. Anil said he thinks these are all good ideas but he
wants to initiate a committee to look at the costs vs. benefits. He also wants to
make sure the sensor data is processed in a way that it can be understood by an
average person.

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23

At this time Krishnan who has been quiet the whole time provided his point of
view. Krishnan explained his role to deliver and service the finished products for
the expanding commercial business. He expressed the need to follow the supply
chain visibility model that the large commercial companies are interested in
initiating. Krishnan said he has not been with the company very long to make
comments about the productivity issues but his customers are asking for status
reports showing work-in-process, priorities, and estimated completion dates.
This information must be gathered from within the plant and communicated to the
external customers via XML files. He was concerned how to negotiate the type
information he should provide and how to take care of the system security.
Jaafar added his military customers are asking for similar information and on top
of that they want all of the finished parts to initially have 2D barcodes and in the
next 5 years all shipping containers must have passive RFID tags.
Anil appreciated the inputs but was overwhelmed with the amount of information.
He felt it was a lot easier when he ran a machine shop out of his garage but
having a big business it going to have such headaches. He asked the executives
to get together and develop a mater technology plan that he can follow after two
weeks. These suggestions were to include any changes to the organization if it
can improve communications and reduce mistakes. The Acme executives just
learned there are some smart students at IIT-Rajasthan who are going through
the network enabled manufacturing course and can provide suggestions on each
of the listed problems. Therefore, they contacted the school and asked Dr. Kalra
and Dr. Ravindra to come up with individual reports from each student to include
their analysis and suggestions for the Acme Corporation by December 15th.

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Appendix A
Organization Structure
In the 80s, Acme organization structure was based on functional span of control.
Under this administration, business functions were divided into engineering,
manufacturing, quality control, sales, and accounting/finance. The following
organization chart depicts the structure and relationship.

Anil
AnilKumar
Kumar
Acme
President
Acme President

VP
VPEngineering
Engineering

VP
VPQuality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

VP
VPManufacturing
Manufacturing
Machining
Machining
Center
Center

Composites
CompositesCenter
Center

VP
VPFinance/Accounting
Finance/Accounting

VP
VPSales
Sales

Assembly
AssemblyCenter
Center

As the company grew in the early 90s, Anil started to experience communication
problems. Each VP was autonomous in its function reporting directly to the
president. He felt overwhelmed with the amount of decisions he had to make
and for the most part he wasnt sure if his decisions were fully discussed or
shared at the operation level. His fear was that conflicts of interest can influence
sound business practices and he has not established any checks and balances
to make sure there is an exhaustive process to address the business plans.

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Matrix Organization
In 1992, Anil introduced a new organization that widened the span of control and
reduced the influence by the top-down functional organization. Under this plan,
he created a matrix organization. The manufacturing center has its own support
functions and each person in that group reports to the operations leadership as
well as their functional/core team leaders.

Anil
AnilKumar
Kumar
Acme
AcmePresident
President

VP
VPQuality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

VP
VPEngineering
Engineering

VP
VPManufacturing
Manufacturing
Machining
Machining
Center
Center

Composites
CompositesCenter
Center

VP
VPFinance/Accounting
Finance/Accounting

VP
VPSales
Sales

Assembly
AssemblyCenter
Center

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Product Organization
In 2009, Anil came up with the idea to follow the same organization as the major
aerospace companies which have a higher product interest. His attention was
toward assembly and delivery. Under this plan, he transformed his assembly
division into two product divisions: aerospace military and aerospace
commercial. The military division supported product design and development for
in-country and export customers; while the commercial division marketed
subcontract products from the North American and European markets. This form
of organization meets his vision for being customer oriented and even with the
larger size of his company, he now feels comfortable there is enough redundancy
to conform to the needs of this growing customer base. But, he is concerned this
might have created too much bureaucracy and territorial ownership.

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Anil
AnilKumar
Kumar
Acme
President
Acme President

VP
VPQuality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

VP
VPEngineering
Engineering
VP
VP
Sales
Sales
Machining
Machining
Center
Center

VP
VPManufacturing
Manufacturing

Composites
CompositesCenter
Center

VP
VPFinance/Accounting
Finance/Accounting

VP
VPCommercial
Commercial
Division
Division
Military
Military
Products
ProductsCenter
Center

VP
VPMilitary
Military
Division
Division
Commercial
Commercial
Products
ProductsCenter
Center

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Business
Business
Operations
Operations

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Procurement
Procurement
Agents
Agents

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Engineering
Engineering
Support
Support

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

Quality
Quality
Assurance
Assurance

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Appendix B
Case problem questions and study guide

Recommendations on N/C high speed machining dashboard

Suggestions on how to send the N/C programs to the shop floor
CBM recommendations for the machine shop including justifications
Suggestions on recycling process
Recommendations on storage and handling of the incoming prepreg
materials
Auto ID tracking
Reporting possibilities
Suggestion on the ply-cutting process improvements
Suggestions on ply locating using laser projection
How should Acme avoid mistake in ply lay-up
Record keeping and Auto ID suggestions for the Composites work in
process
Suggestions for the lay-up room scheduling system
Autoclave cure
Suggestions on how to maintain good quality
Auto ID suggestions
Recommend how to save and share the ultrasonic scans
Suggestions on a new trim and drill fixture; show investment vs. ROI and
justify the benefits (if any)
Why is it important to use simulation modeling? Should Acme be doing
that?
Can the assembly receiving process be improved?
Recommendations on System of Systems (SoS) for production control
Is Just-in-time a good idea for Acme? Explain pros/cons and a
recommended plan
Can framing process be automated
Design and develop a plan for the assembly work-in-process using
passive and active RFID. Show as much detail as possible
How can Acme ensure good drilling quality?
CBM for the 6-axis drilling machine
Cutter tool automated tracking recommendations
Drilling process dashboard architecture design
How can Acme optimize its system installation?
Technology recommendations for proper installation procedure: Example;
fasteners smooth and normal to surface
What can Acme do about off-quality parts and minimize shimming?
Can installation checkout be done a different way? In-process instead of
in critical path; automated, etc.
Design an assembly line flow process for Acme and explain its benefits
Should Acme continue to expand? Why?
Is the new organization suitable for the level of business? Any
suggestions on how to improve it.

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Recommendations on N/C machine performance reporting priorities

Suggestions on manual communication log books
CBM vs. PM: pros, cons, logical arguments for each
Any suggestions for storage and handling of the imported Composite
materials?
How can Acme avoid Composite material scrap?
Recommendations on RFID development for tool tracking
Can hand lay-up be automated?
Material and part inventory balancing suggestions
Can the part shortages be minimized? How?
Any recommendation on how to monitor the leaky tools?
Why is Takt time important and how can Acme track their travel work
(work that is moved and completed later)?
Design a system architecture to network power tools and machinery
Networking issues (latency, interference, volume, etc.) and how to handle
them
Recommendations on WIP inventory tracking for assembly
Outdoor asset tracking recommendations
Asset tracking costs vs. benefits
Develop an architecture for the plant HVAC system using CBM
technologies
Analytic determinations for the CBM system
Can Acme improve the performance of the plant air compressors?
Describe the method in detail
How can the sensor data be intuitive and understood. Design a
mathematical model and explain how it can be done
Explain how the sensor data can be filtered for users
Is power monitoring important? Explain a plan?
Design an architecture for supplier visibility system: what critical data
should be communicated? How?

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Appendix C
Term Paper
Your objective is to recommend the NEM technologies that will improve the
productivity of the Acme production systems
Try to answer as many case problems as possible (see the
suggested list on the next 4 pages); but concentrate on a few for
detailed investigations
Develop your plan based on the following criteria:
Originality
Creativity
Substantiation of the information presented
Coverage and depth
Your paper is due on or before December 15th, 2010
E-mail your completed paper to the following personnel:
Dr. Ravindra: ravib@iitk.ac.in
Dr. Al Salour: al.salour@boeing.com
Dr. Jag Sarangapani: sarangap@mst.edu
Dr. James Fonda: james.w.fonda@boeing.com
Dr. Nishchal Verma: nishchal.iitk@gmail.com
Dr. A.R. Harish: arh@iitk.ac.in

Comments by the author:

This case is hypothetical and is only intended to be used as a learning tool.
Al Salour

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