Real world engineering design problems are usually characterized by the presence of many conflicting objectives. Therefore, it is natural to look at the engineering design problem as a multiobjective optimization problem. This report summarizes a survey of techniques to conduct multiobjective optimization in an engineering design context.

Abstract. Agility metrics are difficult to define in general, mainly due to the multidimensionality and vagueness of the concept of agility itself. In this paper, a knowledge-based framework is proposed and presented as a candidate solution for the measurement and assessment of manufacturing agility. Given an enterprise, in order to calculate its overall agility, a set of quantitatively defined agility parameters is proposed and grouped into production, market, people and information infrastructures. The combined, resulting, measure incorporates the individual and grouped infrastructure agility parameters and their variations into one calculated value of the overall agility. The necessary expertise used to quantitatively determine and measure individual agility parameters is represented via fuzzy logic terminology that allows for human-like knowledge representation and reasoning. An example demonstrates the feasibility and applicability of the proposed approach. Key words: agility metrics, enterprise agility, agile manufacturing, fuzzy logic. 1.

The paper focuses on the design of wire harness assemblies for mass customization by a delayed product differentiation. In order to manufacture wide diversified products, two algorithms are proposed both using a generic representation of wire harness with all options and variants in order to produce each wire harness in a short period of time. An industrial case study is presented in a contractor/supplier context, where the supplier must respond in a short time and provide a totally diversified product, which is to be delivered according to the specifications provided by the contractor. In the particular case described above, two different algorithms are applied and compared.

The effective integration of configuration sys-tem development with industrial software development is crucial for a successful implementation of a Mass Customization strategy. On the one hand, configuration knowledge bases must be easy to develop and maintain due to continuously changing product assortments. On the other hand, flexible integrations into existing enterprise applications, e-marketplaces and different facets of supply chain settings must be supported. This paper shows how the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) as an industrial framework for model development and interchange can serve as a foundation for standardized configuration know-ledge representation, thus enabling knowledge sharing in heterogeneous environments. Using UML/OCL as stan-dard configuration knowledge representation languages, the representation of configuration domain-specific modeling concepts within MDA is shown and a formal semantics for these concepts is provided which allows a common understanding and interpretation of configuration task descriptions.

One essential requirement for business survival is the continuous ability to meet customer needs and demands. Market needs cause unceasing changes in product(s) life cycle, shape, quality, and price. Agility is an enterprise-wide response to an increasingly competitive and changing business environment, based on four cardinal principles:

Abstract: Agility metrics are difficult to define, mainly due to the multidimensionality and vagueness of the concept of agility. In this paper, a fuzzy logic, knowledge-based framework is presented for the assessment of manufacturing agility. The combined measure incorporates certain operational parameters, their variations, and their effect on the value of agility. The necessary expertise used to quantitatively determine and measure agility is represented via fuzzy logic terminology, which allows for human-like knowledge representation and reasoning. Emerging standards for distributed simulation and virtual reality are utilised to implement a distributed simulation testbed. The testbed is used to simulate, measure, and evaluate agility and its parameters. The simulation testbed integrates the modeling of agility infrastructures, simulation of an enterprise through its infrastructures, real-life data, and a virtual reality based interface. High Level Architecture (HLA) and Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) are standards selected for the implementation of the testbed.

When designing a new product family, designers and manufacturers have to define simultaneously the product structure and its supply chain. This leads to a complex optimization problem to solve in order to satisfy diversified customers ’ requirements with various options and variants. The paper focuses on modeling and solving this design problem. It consists in selecting a set of modules that will be manufactured in distant facilities and shipped in a nearby location plant for a final assembly operation under time limits. The objective is to determine the optimal set of modules able to define the bill of material of each finished product and to minimize assembly and production costs. We propose in this paper a two phase approach and an integrated one to solve this problem. We provide experiments on small instances in order to better understand the links between the product design and the supply chain design. Keywords: 1

Product and supply chain design using a taboo search

When designing a new product family, designers and manufacturers have to define both the product structure and its supply chain simultaneously. This leads to a complex optimization problem to solve in order to satisfy diversified customer requirements involving various options and variants. Furthermore, we must know the bill of materials for each product to evaluate production and transportation costs, which means that rapid methods for building bills of material are crucial. Our paper addresses this problem, which consists in selecting a set of modules to be manufactured at distant facilities and shipped to a nearby plant for a final assembly operation within a specified amount of time. The objective is a set of modules capable of defining the bill of materials for each finished product which will minimize production costs. Two fast heuristics are proposed to solve it. Experiments on small instances enable us to compare our results with optimal solutions, and experiments on larger instances enable us to compare the performance of the two heuristics.