Delft University of Technology
Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering Transport Technology / Logistic Engineering
A.H. Mey Productstructurering t.b.v. het produktbeheer.
Masters thesis, Report 93.3.LT.4137, Transport Technology, Logistic Engineering.
Stinis Krimpen can be characterised as a production company with a large product variety. Consequently, recording of product data and product structure becomes a problem for existing production information systems of this company and of similar companies. In this context the prevention of data redundancy is very important.
For the development of a product model the Identity Relationship modelling technique has been used. This model can serve as the basis of an
information system. It consists of two parts, the first and most important part concerns the assembly structure. With this structure model products can be described at four different levels:
Generic, common assembly structure; Version, different product variants; Specification, assemblies of variants; Realisation, products at customer level.
The second part of the product model comprises the material model in which a relation is established between products and the use of material. By considering product parts as material and not as products a reduction of product data is achieved. In this point the model distinguishes itself from other concepts of product modelling.
In the model a difference is made between a generic product and a specific part. A specific component is conceived as a product that exists only within one generic product. Therefor there is no need to identify this component on all four levels, which prevents unnecessary redundancy.
To elucidate the product model and to give more insight into the way of structuring a product, the example of a hoisting beam bas been elaborated. If tabies are used that have been generated with the model the insight in the structure of mostly complex products is lost. The solution for this problem is a graphical presentation which allows the structure to be depicted in a more convenient way. It can a so be used as an interface to enter and modify product data.
Finally the product model and presented interface technique have been tested on the case of a Semi-Automatic Container spreader. This showed that it takes less effort to create new specifications once the common product structure is entered and if certain parts and subassemblies are used in different products.
Reports on Logistic Engineering (in Dutch)
