| Life cycle design requires that all design parameters be considered in an integrated fashion from raw material acquisition through final product retirement and disposal. Although this is a goal for which many engineers strive, it is difficult to put into practice because of time and fiscal constraints. Simulation has been used for many years in the area of manufacturing design. Advancements in simulation software have led to the design of user-oriented modular simulation packages which decrease the time needed to build a simulation model and offer opportunities for developing simulation systems tailored to particular needs. By combining modular simulation software techniques with the domain knowledge of a specific manufacturing technology a simulation system which not only generates traditional production output but also integrates environmental, quality, and cost criteria into the simulation can be provided. These simulation systems can be made available to design engineers to aid in life cycle design assessments. This dissertation presents a methodology for designing such simulations. There are three subsystems of these reusable simulation systems: (1) the user input subsystem which gathers and stores user information specific to the manufacturing options which are being analyzed, (2) the simulation subsystem which consists of numerous submodels which can be linked together in various ways to model the manufacturing option and capture information needed for the output reports, and (3) the output report subsystem which uses information both from the user and generated by the simulation to calculate quality, environmental, cost and production information and communicate it back to the user. An example of a modular multi-criteria simulation for the filament winding composite manufacturing industry shows both the viability of the research and the utility of such a simulation. |
