Algorithmic strategy for optimizing product design considering the production costs

Abstract

This article describes a new interactive design approach integrating the constraints associated with production include manufacturing and assembling. The proposed method, in the form of an algorithm, allows optimisation of product design by minimizing production costs at each iteration, without compromising its functionality. The novelty of this algorithm in terms of modeling and optimisation of production costs in the design phase is its ability to dynamically evaluate the cumulative costs of production as a function of design and procedural choices. The availability of this information first allows the identification of design points and/or procedural points that generate significant production costs, and second, suggests improvements and recommendations that aim to optimize production costs. These experiments were conducted at a smart factory installed in our organisation. The proposed algorithm involves four steps. To optimise production costs, the designer must input all of the required data into the simulation and thereby identify the most significant cost elements to optimise. Then, the designer uses the suggested recommendation list to modify the relevant design and/or manufacturing parameters, thus obtaining the new, optimised production costs. If the first result is unsatisfactory, other iterations can be performed.