Attribute process methodology : feasibility assessment of Digital Fabrication Production Systems for planar part assemblies using network analysis and System Dynamics

Abstract

A Digital Fabrication Production System (DFPS) is a concept describing a set of processes, tools, and resources that will be able to custom produce an artifact according to a design, fast, cheap, and easy, independently of location. A DFPS project is a complex assembly of custom parts that is delivered by a network of fabrication and assembly processes. This network is called the value chain. Evaluating feasibility of a DFPS project has two main problems: first, how to evaluate assemblability of the design; second, how to evaluate performance of the value chain. This thesis formulates Attribute Process Methodology (APM); a framework that describes assembly and value chain structure as a network of attributes and processes and uses System Dynamics to evaluate its performance.