Title: Multi-tasking machines: a new approach to increase the productivity of aircraft components manufacture

Authors: P. Selvaraj, E. Thirumal, P. Radhakrishnan

Addresses: Aeronautical Developmental Agency, Bangalore 560 017, India. ' Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India. ' Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore 632014, Tamil Nadu, India

Abstract: Aircraft components are produced using precision manufacturing processes like turning, milling, drilling, jig boring, grinding, polishing, etc. in multiple setups. Increase in tolerance stackup, large in-process inventory, requirements of several jigs and fixtures and large cycle time are the problems encountered in the aircraft component manufacture. Multi-tasking machines offer a convenient solution for this problem by limiting all the operations to a single multitasking machine. This study has been carried out to quantify techno-economic benefits of multi-tasking machines. Some typical general system components like cover, housing, valves, etc. have been taken for investigation. Alternate machining strategy using multi-tasking machines have been proposed. An attempt has been made to compare between the multi-machines and multi-tasking machines in terms of time, cost, number of setups involved, etc. for the manufacture of aircraft components.

Keywords: multi-tasking machines; aircraft components; mill-turn; turn-mill; machining time; set-up time; grinding; productivity; techno-economic benefits; machining strategy; precision manufacturing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2006.010986

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2006 Vol.27 No.1, pp.24 - 30

Published online: 26 Sep 2006 *

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