A Virtual Factory Model for Manufacturing Graphite Composite Natural Gas Vehicle Tanks

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Dagnino, Aldo^{a; *} | Morgan, Sean^b

Affiliations: [a] Information Technology Center, Electric Systems Technology Institute, ABB Power T&D Company, Inc., 1021 Main Campus Drive, Raleigh, NC 27606 | [b] SAP Canada, 600 400 3rd Avenue S.W., Calgary, AB T2P 4H2, Canada

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Aida Dagnino.

Abstract: EDO Canada Ltd. is an aerospace company located in Calgary that decided to begin fabrication of natural gas vehicle tanks. This paper describes a virtual factory approach that assisted EDO reconfiguring their plant. The system uses QUEST (from Deneb Robotics) to represent, generate, animate, and model several plant configurations. The system includes a user interface and a production scheduling procedure using heuristic rules and a genetic algorithm This project was developed in a Joint Research Venture between EDO and the Alberta Research Council (ARC). The technology in this project was the result of ARC's participation in the GNOSIS consortium within the Intelligent Manufacturing Systems initiative.

DOI: 10.3233/ICA-1997-4402

Journal: Integrated Computer-Aided Engineering, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 250-259, 1997