PARABEL: Parallell utvikling av produkt, produksjonsprosess og verdikjede for høyintegritets brannvarsling

Autronica Fire and Security is a leading innovator and manufacturer of fire security equipment. The company has a turnover of approx. 987 Million NOK (2015), and has a high share of export. With its 400 employees, Autronica is a significant employer within technology and manufacturing in Norway. In the PARABEL project, Autronica is collaborating with a consortium of industry and research partners to develop a new methodology for concurrent engineering, adapted to their company context. The research project is linked to a new product development process that will result in a new and modern platform for alarm systems. The end product must comply with a range of technical, functional and economic requirements to be competitive in the market. HV Plast is contributing with competence on plastic components, and Inventas is participating with their knowledge within mechanical engineering and product design. From academia, SINTEF Raufoss manufacturing is working multiple methods to achieve Design for Manufacturing and Assembly. SINTEF Technology and Society is contributing with their knowledge within operations management and supply chain design. In 2017, the partners have worked further to detail out the production system with the product. The PARABEL project is working with principles of concurrent engineering, meaning a design of product and production processes in parallel. The product development process is now behind the original progress plan, but the consortium believes that the experience from the cooperations makes a solid fundament for conclusions Some of the results so far indicates that the challenges of concurrent engineering approaches must be met by defining clear interfaces between actors and processes. Planning and execution of frequent "review points" should be done to coordinate tasks that mutually influence each other. The development tasks have different cycle times, which creates risks of deviations and unsynchronized progress. Proper communication and planning are key enablers to secure synchronized progress.We've experienced the challenges of parallelising activities that have been more sequential traditionally. There are more options available, but more actors to involve and it is more difficult to keep all their information synchronised. The PARABEL project have worked extensively in 2017 to develop further versions of a demonstrator for an automated assembly line and with special focus on managing variants mixed in the line. A central element in the work has been to integrate supply chain thinking in the new product development process. This concept is called three-dimensional concurrent engineering (3DCE). An integrated approach is taken toward design of product, process and supply chain. This has established new ways of working and thinking compared to traditional development processes of the partners. Next period will be preparing the production process and comparing it to the theory Within supply chain design, the effort has been less than planned for 2017. The work on a Handbook for this type of parallel project is completed. A simulation model has been developed for various analyzes of production systems and delivery time/service. With an automated production line where change over between different variants does not require additional resources or time, we have found that you do not need a finished goods warehouse. The handbook is completed in two variants, one for internal Autronica use and one for Sintef

Autronica Fire and Security er ledende innovatør, produsent og leverandør av brannsikkerhetsutstyr. Bedriften har en omsetning på ca. 800 mill NOK i 2012 med høy eksportandel, og er med sine 390 ansatte en betydelig arbeidsplass innen teknologi og varepro duksjon i Norge. Et av målene i PARABEL-prosjektet er å utvikle ny branndetektor for olje- og gassindustrien. Produktet som skal utvikles i prosjektet vil bestå av en ny og moderne produktplattform for alarmsystem. Det nye produktet må tilfredsstille en rekke tekniske, funksjonelle og økonomiske krav for å være konkurransedyktig i markedet. Produksjonssystemet må håndtere små batcher innenfor et stort variantspekter. Man vil etablere en svært fleksibel produksjonslinje som kan redusere omstillingstide n kraftig. Dette stiller også krav til design av produktet. For å nå målene er det et behov for å utvikle metoder som kan analysere produktfunksjonalitet, produksjonssystem og verdikjeden i parallell. Man ønsker å benytte prinsipper fra "concurrent engi neering", eller design av produkt og prosess i parallell. Her vil man tilføre en tredje dimensjon som analyserer hvordan verdikjeden påvirker denne utviklingsprosessen. Dette prinsippet er kalt tredimensjonal "concurrent engineering". Den overordnede ide en for verdiskapning i prosjektet er å utvikle og teste en metode for parallell utvikling av produkt, produksjonsprosess og verdikjede. Ved å anvende metoden, søker Autronica å øke omsetning, redusere produktkostnad, forbedre prosess-stabilitet, redusere time-to-market, og styrke verdikjedeintegrasjonen. PARABEL vil være sentralt for Autronica og deres bedriftspartnere for å sikre fortsatt produksjon i Norge og sikre seg en unik posisjon i markedet for brannsikring, spesielt rettet mot et fortsatt økende internasjonalt olje- og gassmarked.