• 054200 - MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS ENGINEERING II

The design and management of production systems asks for methods devoted to the performance evaluation and optimization of system configuration and control. In the scope of the framework provided by Manufacturing Systems Engineering I, this course deals with mathematical models of manufacturing systems aimed at evaluating the performance and optimizing the configuration and contrl of manufacturing systems. Different mathematical models will be studied and applied based on the characteristics of manufacturing systems.

The goals of the course are:

• Identify trends, technologies and key methodologies in the industrial domain
• Design solutions applying a scientific and engineering approach (Analysis, Learning, Reasoning, and Modelling capability deriving from a solid and rigorous multidisciplinary background) to face problems and opportunities in a business and industrial environment 

The methodologies studied in the course will be applied within the Project lab to a real case study. The Project lab is part of the innovative didactics program of Politecnico di Milano. 

After passing the exam, the student will be able to:

• Analyse production problems and devise the requirements for manufacturing systems;
• Develop models of manufacturing systems based on a mathematical representation of their characteristics and behaviour and according to the required level of detail;
• Identify, select, and manipulate mathematical methodologies to support the design, management and control of manufacturing systems;
• Design the configuration and control of manufacturing systems and estimate their performance.

After completing the Project lab, the student will be able to:

• Write a technical project report;
• Present the results achieved during the analysis, modelling and testing activities.

The course is based on lectures, classworks, project lab and optional activities. Guest international speakers will be invited to give special lectures. The Project lab is part of the innovative didactics program of Politecnico di Milano. 

Technical design of Manufacturing systems. Relations between technological specifications and production system types. State-based modelling of manufacturing systems. Continuous-time Markov chains to model simple manufacturing systems. Analytical methods (queueing networks) to model complex productions systems and estimate key performance indicators. Approximate analytical methods to model unreliable manufacturing systems and evaluate their performance. Decomposition techniques to evaluate the performance of long flowlines.

Design of Manufacturing Systems Control. Optimization of token based production policies. Hedging point policies.

Analysis of real production systems.

The assessment will be based on a final exam and the evaluation of the Project lab reports. Project lab reports are required during the semester and are aimed at assessing the capability of applying the knowledge to a real case. The final exam consist of a written test including practical and theoretical exercises.  Practical exercises assess the ability to understand and analyse realistic industrial problems and then create appropriate models based on the learnt methodologies to design manufacturing systems and evaluate the impact of possible reconfigurations. Theoretical exercises request to describe and elaborate on concepts, models, techniques and methodologies presented during the course. 

In addition to the mandatory evaluation, students will be given the possibility to improve the final grade through:

• an optional oral exam on theoretical and practical questions related to the topics included in the program (max 3 points);

• optional project work (max 3 points). The work will focus either on the application of a learnt methodology to a real industrial case or the further development of a learnt methodology.

In total, a maximum of 4 points can be added to the grade of the written test.

suggested pages: 83-129

suggested pages: 1-13

suggested pages: 365-377

suggested pages: XVII-XIX; 1-18; 59-99