Today, electronic work instructions soft-ware is instrumenta.docx
- 1. Today, electronic work instructions soft- ware is instrumental to the shop floor. And market leaders are investing in the integra- tion of electronic work instructions (EWIs) with 3D visualization and simulation soft- ware, so operators aren’t just following along with instructions, they’re able to view animations of each step and sometimes even improve things right on the spot. Here’s what you need to know about the past, present, and future of electronic work instructions in manufacturing opera- tions management, as well as discuss eight ways they’re transforming the shop floor. From paper-based to next-generation It’s vital that you have clear and repeatable instructions for every manu- facturing process. Traditionally, shop- floor workers would hang laminated pieces of paper on the wall with dia- grams and explanations of each step. The shortcomings of this are obvious, particularly when an engineering change order (ECO) was required and those changes needed to be sent to engineer- ing, revamped, sent back to manufactur- ing, reprinted, relaminated, and so on. If we’re talking about a global operation,
- 2. this becomes even more of a challenge. The more complex something you’re building is, generally the more com- plex those instructions have to be, and a paper-based approach can be limiting. But computer technology on the shop floor wasn’t always as easily accessible and widespread as it is today. Since document control software has become widely adopted, however, EWIs have made their way into the manufactur- ing environment. EWIs have improved the way supervisors and operators build products, and the way they interact with engineers and maintenance personnel. The technology enables a centralized, standardized, and automated document management system, and can be found on most modern manufacturing shop floors. In addition to improving communica- tion and collaboration on the shop floor, streamlining EWIs mitigates many of the traditional risks associated with changing a work order. In the past, an engineering change may have been ordered, but never completed or at least never communi- cated to the appropriate personnel once completed. With automated workflows, notifications can be triggered to ensure the process is completed and the appro- priate personnel are notified. Workflows can also ensure that the right instructions
- 3. are being followed on time and in the context of the manufacturing process. As the use of simulation and 3D visual- ization software becomes more prevalent, moving from engineering onto the shop floor, EWIs are becoming an even more effective tool. By integrating EWIs with this technology, an operator can watch each step of a process played out via animations. In some cases, operators and supervisors are trained to actually make changes and improvements to these processes in real time rather than waiting for an ECO. With the continuous advancement of technology, we expect to see further integration between plant and process design, 3D visualization, simulation soft- ware, workflow software, manufacturing execution systems, and electronic work instruction software. The role of EWIs Increasingly, modern manufacturing operations management (MOM) plat- forms offer EWIs as an application within a broader portfolio of applications that integrate via the same software platform. INfOCUS 8 ways electronic work instructions are transforming the shop floor By Mike Roberts, LNS Research
- 4. PLE1311_INFOCUS_V5msFINAL.indd 16 11/14/13 10:50 AM Standardization on the MOM platform facilitates the sharing of information and workflows, and is often a driver of great- er collaboration capabilities in globally distributed manufacturing environments and even between functional units. Eight benefits of EWIs Moving from paper-based work instructions to EWIs, there are many benefits. When accounting for the centralization, standardization, and automation capabilities offered by today’s MOM software platforms, those benefits increase dramatically. Below are eight ways EWIs are improving shop-floor operations and making manufacturers more effective: 1. Reduced downtime: Because com- munication is easier with an electronic routing and delivery system, less time is required to take maintenance actions or make engineering change orders. 2. Stronger communication: A cen- tralized document management system enables greater ability to share docu- ments within the manufacturing envi- ronment, across facilities, and between
- 5. functional units. Stronger communica- tion creates fewer errors. 3. Closed-loop manufacturing and quality processes: With a centralized platform, EWI/ECO content and data can be more easily shared with correc- tive and preventive action management and audit management processes. 4. Closed-loop manufacturing and engineering processes: With a central- ized platform, EWI/ECO content and data can be more easily shared with the failure more and effects analysis processes. 5. Reduced waste/scrap: The ability to communicate and collaborate with engineering more effectively helps to improve first-time quality and reduce waste in the manufacturing environment. 6. Easier communication of regula- tory changes: Because many industries face dynamic regulatory environments, EWIs help to quickly communicate changes required for shop-floor processes and validate that personnel have been made aware of and are following them. 7. Faster new product introduction process: Streamlining communication and collaboration between manufacturing and engineering reduces the time required to develop, test, and build new products.
- 6. 8. Reduced risk and improved effi- ciency: With automatic notifications triggered for both shop-floor and engi- neering workers, the likelihood of a non-conformance or compliance issue is much lower. PE Mike Roberts is a research associate at LNS Research. As part of the 2014 Global Auto-mation & Manufacturing Summit, Control Engineering and Plant Engineering are looking for manufactur- ers who want to share their success stories with a global manufacturing audi- ence. They are issuing a Call for Pre- sentations for the 2014 Summit. Control Engineering and Plant Engi- neering, in partnership with Hannover Fairs USA, will present the 2014 Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014, at the Industrial Automation North America Show, part of IMTS 2014 in Chicago. Building off the success of the inau- gural 2012 event, the 2014 Global Automation & Manufacturing Summit will feature success stories from man- ufacturing around the country. Submissions for presentation can include Word documents, videos, Power- Point presentations and any other con-
- 7. tent you think will be helpful in evaluat- ing your plant for inclusion in the 2014 Summit. Go to www.plantengineering.com/ summit for the form to submit to your proposal today. Proposal submissions are due by Dec. 20, 2013. Tell your plant’s success story at 2014 event PLE1311_INFOCUS_V5msFINAL.indd 17 11/14/13 10:50 AM Copyright of Plant Engineering is the property of CFE Media and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. Questions Write a 200- to 300-word short-answer response to the following: (Please provide reference for the answers, when possible) -515- 1. "Optimizing Database Design" Please respond to the following: Many legacy systems require normalization. Identify at least two factors that should be considered in order to produce an optimal normalized set of tables when performing
- 8. normalization. Include in your discussion a detailed example on how each factor would eliminate data redundancy. Optimal database design recognizes proper organization of table structures and relationships. Suggest at least two methods that can be used to improve the design of a database system. (Make sure to provide examples with your responses. These examples should demonstrate and support your response.) 2. "Denormalization Functionality" Please respond to the following: Having an adequate data model to serve specific business needs of an organization is important. Evaluate the need for denormalization within an organization. Provide at least three examples that prove denormalization is useful to data consumers. Using a data-modeling checklist can help database developers design efficient data repositories. Suggest at least two possible scenarios that could take place if one of the steps in the data- modeling checklist (table 6.7 in Chapter 6 of the textbook) is missed. (Identify a situation/situatins where denormalization is useful and then provide three examples to support your identification of the situation.) 3. "Relational Set Operators" Please respond to the following: A relational Database Model allows database users to analyze data thoroughly. To accomplish this, advanced commands such as UNION and INTERSECT may be used. Describe a business scenario where a UNION relational set operator may be used to merge two similar data sets. Within the context of your business
- 9. scenario, analyze the analysis and data consistency advantages of using a UNION operator rather than simply merging two data sets into one result table. Suppose you are tasked with finding common data elements amongst various data sets. Specify how an INTERSECT operator may assist you in accomplishing this task. Construct a query that can perform the same function as the INTERSECT operator without using the “INTERSECT” syntax within the query. Note: An Oracle Server may be used to test and compile the SQL Queries developed. 4. "Advanced SQL and PL / SQL" Please respond to the following: Extracting and interpreting data can be very valuable to an organization. Describe the importance of using sub queries in a database system. Provide at least two business case scenarios to support your response. A good IT professional is able to be versatile in SQL programming styles. Identify at least two possible advantages of utilizing PL / SQL instead of standard SQL Syntax. Explain whether either syntax provides enhanced code processing capabilities with examples. Note: The Strayer Oracle Server may be used to test and compile the SQL Queries developed. 5. "Planning the DBLC" Please respond to the following: The development of a database requires thorough methodology that ensures quality within the solution. Imagine you have been contracted to develop a finance database that will help an organization track monthly expenditures by departments. Using the DBLC, discuss the various activities that you would have to achieve each phase. Assess possible challenges that may exist within each phase. Suggest actions that one can perform in
- 10. order to overcome these possible challenges. In order to mitigate risks associated with a database, it is essential to consider common sources of database failures. Describe at least two possible database failures that may occur once a database is placed into operation. Suggest actions that may be performed in order to avoid or mitigate these possible failures. 6. "Logical and Physical Design" Please respond to the following: In order to ensure optimal database performance, the logical and physical design should consider the user requirements thoroughly. Suppose you have been hired to transform a conceptual model into a logical model for a sales database. Describe the specific steps that you must perform in order to appropriately construct the database model. For each step mentioned, speculate the risks that would take place and how you would avoid or mitigate those risks. Suggest at least three activities that are required in the physical design process of a database to ensure adequate physical storage and data access. Analyze why user, security groups, and role definitions are essential to maintain the integrity of the database. -517- 7. "Scope Creep" Please respond to the following: Describe a previous project in which you were involved, where scope creep occurred. Explain why it occurred and at least one (1) way it could have been prevented.
- 11. 8. "Dependencies" Please respond to the following: Suggest at least three (3) potential challenges of controlling the project schedule when outsourcing critical tasks. Suggest the manner in which you could mitigate such challenges. 9. "Cost Estimation in Software Development Projects" Please respond to the following: Predict the challenges of cost estimation for software development projects where requirements are usually not clear in early stages of the project. Argue whether or not the fluidity of requirements introduced by agile methodologies contributes to such challenges. -518- 10. "Prototyping" Please respond to the following: Give an example of a software system for which developing a prototype would result in saving a significant amount of development time. Explain why the prototype will save development time in this case. Give a different example of a software system for which developing a prototype would not result in saving a significant amount of development time. Explain why the prototype will not save development time. 11. "Architectural Styles" Please respond to the following: Analyze two architectural styles of your choosing and, for each, give an example of a real-world application whose software design would benefit by incorporating your chosen style. Justify
- 12. your response. Evaluate the driving factors or conditions that affect the selection of an architectural style for a given open-source software application. Provide two examples of these conditions and how they help determine an application’s architectural style. 12. "Object-Oriented Software Design for Everything?" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity (Unified Modeling Language Website.), take a position on whether or not an object-oriented approach can be used to develop any type of system. Provide two examples that support your position. Explain how Unified Modeling Language (UML) diagrams can be linked to and implemented by an object-oriented programming language such as C# or Java. Provide at least three examples to support your response. 13. "Design Patterns" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity (Unified Modeling Language Website.), using UML and text, identify a creational design pattern and describe a situation where it could be applied. Provide a justification as to why it should be used over other creational design patterns that are available. Using UML and text, identify a behavioral design pattern and describe a situation where it could be applied. Provide a justification as to why it should be used over other behavioral design patterns that are available. 14. "Data Structures" Please respond to the following: Imagine you are asked to write a program to print out a yearly
- 13. calendar. In this program, the user enters the year desired, and the output is a calendar for that year. Determine how the representation of internal data will affect the way in which the program is written. Produce two examples of data structures that might be used in the scenario above. (Hint: Are your data structures cumulative or not? How is a leap year handled?) 15. "Generating Test Cases" Please respond to the following: From the e-Activity:” (Use the Internet to research the various methods used to generate test cases in a software development project. Take note of how these methods are used to identify and perform path testing. Be prepared to discuss.)”, identify at least two methods used to generate test cases in software development, and explain how they are used to identify and perform the path testing. Take a position on whether or not the structure of a program can reduce the number of test cases. Provide a specific example to support your answer. -555- 16. "Goal Types and Categories" Please respond to the following: Compare and contrast behavioral goal and soft goals. Provide four examples to support your points.
- 14. Propose five functional goals and five non-functional goals. Propose how you would determine if a goal should be classified under the functional category or the non-functional category. 17. "Goal Model Building" Please respond to the following: Suppose that you are building a goal model of a system you are designing. Identify/propose the best three best practices for selecting one or more of the fifteen heuristic rules that apply to the building of a goal model? From the e-Activity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGgLYXY9yhE.), determine if you can you easily depict these AND/OR nodes on a goal diagram. Predict three challenges you foresee in using a graph-based diagram to model goals. 18. "Obstacle Categories and Prevention" Please respond to the following: Suppose that you are performing an obstacle analysis of the software that you developed for the self-parking car discussed previously. Determine which of the following obstacle categories you would apply during the analysis: hazard obstacles, threat obstacles, dissatisfaction obstacles, misinformation obstacles, inaccuracy obstacles, and usability obstacles. Defend the selected category that you selected with two examples. The alternative techniques for obstacle prevention are goal weakening, obstacle reduction, goal restoration, obstacle mitigation, and doing nothing. Examine the alternative techniques and select the one that you would use for obstacle presentation. Defend your selection. 19. "Obstacle Diagrams and Obstacle Identification" Please
- 15. respond to the following: From the e-Activity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8h- xBIkiY_w.), determine any similarities or dissimilarities between the goal model diagrams and obstacles diagrams. Provide one example of when you would use the tautology- based refinement technique. One example of when you would use the obstructed target technique. Defend why you chose to use each technique in the examples that you did. 20. "Conceptual and Object Models" Please respond to the following: Provide one example of an entity object, association object, agent object, and an event object. Determine which one of these object types closely resembles or mirrors a conceptual object model. Provide a rationale. From the e-Activity (http://www.youtube.com/watch?), examine the key features of a class diagram. Predict whether you would be able to examine a class diagram and point out entities, associations, attributes, and operations. Determine how you would be able to tell them apart. 21. "Building Models" Please respond to the following: Suppose you were building an object model for an online banking system. Determine which of the 14 heuristics for building models you would use to build the banking system. Provide a rationale.
- 16. Blackboard is a Web-based learning management system used by Universities for instructions, online interaction, and for educational assessment. Provide three examples of composite objects that are used in Blackboard. Explain why you believe they are composite objects.