Model-Based Engineering and Manufacturing CAD/CAM Benchmark

The Benehmark Project was created from a desire to identify best practices and improve the overall efficiency and performance of the Y-12 Plant's systems and personnel supporting the manufacturing mission. The mission of the benchmark team was to search out industry leaders in manufacturing and evaluate their engineering practices and processes to determine direction and focus fm Y-12 modmizadon efforts. The companies visited included several large established companies and anew, small, high-tech machining firm. As a result of this effort changes are recommended that will enable Y-12 to become a more responsive cost-effective manufacturing facility capable of suppording the needs of the Nuclear Weapons Complex (NW at sign) and Work Fw Others into the 21' century. The benchmark team identified key areas of interest, both focused and gencml. The focus arm included Human Resources, Information Management, Manufacturing Software Tools, and Standarda/ Policies and Practices. Areas of general interest included Inhstructure, Computer Platforms and Networking, and Organizational Structure. The method for obtaining the desired information in these areas centered on the creation of a benchmark questionnaire. The questionnaire was used throughout each of the visits as the basis for information gathering. The results of this benchmark showed that all companies are moving in the direction of model-based engineering and manufacturing. There was evidence that many companies are trying to grasp how to manage current and legacy data. In terms of engineering design software tools, the companies contacted were using both 3-D solid modeling and surfaced Wire-frame models. The manufacturing computer tools were varie4 with most companies using more than one software product to generate machining data and none currently performing model-based manufacturing (MBM) ftom a common medel. The majority of companies were closer to identifying or using a single computer-aided design (CAD) system than a single computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) system. The Inteznet was a technology that all companies were considering to either transport information more easily throughout the corporation or as a conduit for business, as the small firm was doing Successfully. Because PrdEngineer is the de facto CAD standard fbr the NWC, the Benchmark Team targeted companies using Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC) software tools. Most of the companies used Pm'Engineer for design to some degree, but found the PTC CAM product, PdManufacture lacking as compared to alternate CAM solutions. All of the companies visited found the data exchange between CAD/CAM systems problematic. It was apparent that these companies were trying to consolidate their software tools to reduce translation but had not been able to do so because no single solution had all the needed capabilities. In regard to organizational structure and human resources, two companies were found to be using product or program teams. These teams consisted of the technical staff capable of completing the entire task and were xmintained throughout the project. This same strategy was evident at another of the companies but with more mobility of members. For all companies visited except the small work structure breakdown and responsibility were essentially the same as Y-12's at this time. The functions of numerical control (NC), desi and process planning were separate and distinct. The team made numerous recommendations that are detailed in the report