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Systems Integration Division
The Systems Integration Division (SID) performs work that contributes to measurement science and standards needed for integrating engineering information systems used in manufacturing, construction, and cyberphysical systems. Areas of work include manufacturing enterprise integration; green manufacturing and construction; engineering and manufacturing products, processes, equipment, technical data, and standards; collaborative manufacturing research pilot grants; manufacturing fellowships; systems integration and engineering; life-cycle assessment; cyberphysical systems; productivity measurement; sustainability; and energy efficiency.1
The SID is organized into four groups: Life Cycle Engineering, Information Modeling and Testing, Systems Engineering, and Process Engineering. The division’s work is divided into two areas: systems integration for manufacturing and construction applications (referred to below as systems integration, or SI) and sustainable manufacturing. Systems integration is an area of significant development and strength for the division, while the sustainable manufacturing area is new and evolving. Both areas are of significant importance and relevance to the SID’s focus and mission. The SID has 25 technical staff, 4 administrative staff, and 20 associates.
TECHNICAL PROGRAMS
Systems Integration for Manufacturing and Construction Applications
Accomplishments
The mission of the systems integration (SI) program is to promote U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness in areas of critical national priority by anticipating and meeting the measurement science and standards needs for integrating engineering information systems. The research projects are focused on much-needed technologies of relevance to the challenges currently faced by industry. The general areas are manufacturing interoperability, system integration for manufacturing and construction applications, and sustainable manufacturing. The overall quality of research in SI is very high.
Many of the SI staff are well regarded by their peers. They have developed robust expertise in several key areas, including support of standards development for systems engineering, model-based engineering, development and support of the Standard for Exchange of Product (STEP) model data standards (ISO 10303-242 [STEP AP242]), composite manufacturing, additive manufacturing, and assisting vendors in implementation of the new functionality. The high-quality technical and laboratory capabilities of the SI serve collectively as a national and international testbed for interoperability. In researching and influencing interoperability standards, SI staff are among the best internationally. This
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1 National Institute of Standards and Technology, “The Engineering Laboratory’summaries of Our Activities, Accomplishments and Recognitions,” Gaithersburg, Md., July 2014.
has been recognized through awards such as the PDES, Inc.2 award to a division staff member for excellence in the technical management and outstanding contributions to the STEP file analyzer program and for playing a leading role in accelerating the development and implementation of advanced capabilities in support of model-based manufacturing.
The SID has been a leader in the STEP standard’s development and its dissemination to industry and has created a system for measuring conformance of the system integration model-based enterprise (MBE) product manufacturing information (PMI) validation program.
SI staff have been actively supporting the system integration and upgrading of standards related to enterprise integration; supporting pilot projects that include small and medium-sized businesses for new standards and enterprise integration; supporting the development, testing, promulgation and adoption of standards; developing a toolkit and training materials to permit small and medium-sized businesses to participate in an integrated enterprise; working with companies and associations to raise awareness of system integration and standards; and disseminating the information by participating in the workshops, meetings, and conferences.
Opportunities and Challenges
The SI program has no laboratory testbeds, which are needed for the division to demonstrate its work. Travel restrictions present a serious challenge for the staff, curtailing their ability to connect with peers and the industry to understand changes in the technological landscape. There is a need to develop division- and project-level performance metrics and tracking methods.
Overall Assessment
The SI program has developed strong expertise in several key areas, including system integration and STEP standards. The SI program has had significant impact on relevant standards and has been very proactive in standards—bodies for example, STEP, the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE), Object Management Group (OMG), World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG), and ASME—by providing expertise and best practices and by holding workshops. The research projects are focused on appropriate technologies relevant to industry challenges. The quality of the programs is high. The SI program has no testbeds, which are needed to demonstrate its work. Travel restrictions present a serious challenge for the staff.
Sustainable Manufacturing
Sustainable manufacturing is a complex area involving many perspectives. The sustainability issue needs to be evaluated in a global framework.
The work presented focused primarily on energy use by manufacturing processes. This is a reasonable area of inquiry if it is clearly referenced to the larger framework. For example, for a gate-to-gate energy assessment, important parts of the analysis would include materials use, factory energy use, supply chain issues, and electric power generation. Under differing circumstances, any of the parts of the gate-to-gate analysis could surpass the process energy use. Even the gate-to-gate approach needs a larger framework. Nevertheless, manufacturing processes are legitimate targets for close scrutiny with respect to methods to assess the use of energy and the emission of carbon.
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2 PDES, Inc., is an international industry/government/university consortium committed to accelerating the development and implementation of standards-enabling enterprise integration and product life -cycle management interoperability for its member companies.
The SID team developed a system for classifying energy use for manufacturing processes using a faceted system approach. The classification system categories seem reasonable, but further demonstration of their utility and possible adoption by industry are needed before a clear understanding of the scheme can be achieved.
Two process-level energy models were addressed: injection molding and welding. These models appear to be mechanism-based models rather than equipment component-based models. The advantage of mechanism models is that they are simpler and intuitive. However, these models contain numerous adjustable parameters, such as mechanism efficiencies, that practitioners would need to measure. Rather than trying to model all manufacturing processes, an enormous task, the SID team could consider developing protocols for measuring equipment energy. For example, they could consider equipment measurement under different production volumes and parameter settings. Such an activity could serve as a testbed for this division. A standard scheme for equipment measurement might provide a very useful contribution to sustainable manufacturing. Pursuit of this activity could require supplementing current skills in the division with expertise in hardware and measurement. Such a scheme needs to be developed in a manner that allows it to be conducted in-house during production activities. Sustainable manufacturing, even if constrained to gate-to-gate analysis, involves far more than equipment characterization for energy use. Material use is arguably more important than equipment use and needs to be considered along with the factors previously mentioned. The task can seem overwhelming and begs for a framework that can partition the problem into identifiable and tractable portions.
The SID’s efforts to collaborate with the ASTM and the ISO on the development of standards for sustainable manufacturing are commendable. Current sustainability reports by manufacturing companies are extremely varied and often nearly impossible to interpret. A common confusion is the mixing up of sustainability and corporate social responsibility. Uniform reporting on sustainable manufacturing is a very important need in this area, and this is a problem that the division could address.
PORTFOLIO OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERTISE
Accomplishments
The diversity and expertise of the SID’s workforce is very good. Many of the experts in the division are well known in their field. The division has demonstrated excellent connectivity with industry and participation on standards committees. This contributes to enhancing the knowledge of the staff as well as the connectivity of the division to external activities, and it supports the division’s technology transfer and dissemination activities.
Opportunities and Challenges
SID staffing seems to be sufficient to support its current projects. However, with a potential increase in projects, such as in the sustainable manufacturing area, key expertise will be needed to enhance and expand the division’s resources.
FACILITIES, EQUIPMENT, AND HUMAN RESOURCES
Opportunities and Challenges
There are no testbeds associated with the SID. Most of the division’s activities involve software development, modeling, or analysis. However, many of the division’s activities include complex systems that require validation and demonstration tools. Having a testbed devoted to these activities could be of
great value to the division’s activities in the development, validation, demonstration, and transfer of technology.
DISSEMINATION OF OUTPUTS
Accomplishments
The division’s dissemination and outreach activities are focused on publications and participation in conferences and professional events and forums. The publications list for the division is extensive and shows significant activities and contributions. The publications are of high caliber, and the subjects addressed are appropriate.
Opportunities and Challenges
Other forms of dissemination can add value. For example, providing community colleges with assistance in instructing students in model-based engineering and specifically STEP would be of high value in helping to train young professionals on STEP and model-based engineering.
FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The division needs to expand its sustainable manufacturing activities and develop division- and project-level performance metrics for this area; periodically develop and evaluate its research portfolio, with the help of external experts; more effectively articulate its accomplishments; ensure, to the extent possible, that travel policies do not restrict business activities; assess recruitment and retention practices to ensure they are able to recruit and retain talented researchers; and establish a testbed to help in development, validation, demonstration, and technology transfer.
Recommendation: The Systems Integration Division should establish a testbed to support development, validation, demonstration, and technology transfer.
