The European E-RACE project is currently developing a new, computer based, customer oriented, assembly system specification tool. This has now produced a working prototype, as the project enters its final year.

The specification tool will aid the rapid and accurate specification of an assembly project and the product to be assembled. It also enables collaborative design of the assembly system solution by all of the participants; Supplier, System Integrator and Customer.

The other elements of the E-Race system assist in equipment specification for increased system flexibility. There is also a model of the system with 3D visualisation, plus the system provides detailed predictions of all performance and cost data.

This European project is led by TQC Ltd, Nottingham and involves 23 partners in Finland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. The project is partially funded by the relevant local governments and comes under the EUREKA Factory Framework 6 Umbrella. A full list of the partners can be found at: www.e-race.info

The E-Race project aims to develop a series of web-based tools that will; enable the rapid specification of a reconfigurable assembly system, assist in the negotiation and trade-off analysis between the customer and system integrator and will provide 3D visualisation and performance analysis of the design. By achieving these goals, the consortium aims to increase the accuracy of customer specifications and system reconfigurability whilst reducing both production lead times and overall costs.

The initial goals have been realised and the consortium is currently in the pursuit of the remaining objectives. These will be obtained through the development of several different web tools as well as completing the architecture. The specific work areas are:

• Analysis of the State-of-the-Art and of industrial requirements. This research was conducted during the early phases of the project and provided the project with a solid base for further development.
• Models and methodologies for requirements engineering and design for reconfigurability as well as the development of a knowledge meta-model. Currently, this work is at the second prototype stage and is being evaluated for finalisation. The work will allow a fast, accurate and simple elicitation of the User Requirement Specification (URS) and it will assist the engineers in the development of the System Requirement Specification (SRS).
• Tools for assembly planning, conceptual design and module selection. These will call to the SRS and their output will be full details of one or more proposed assembly system(s). These tools are also in their second prototype phase.
• Visualisation, simulation and verification tools. These tools will take the proposed system and provide a 3D visualisation as well as performance analysis. The performance data will also be compared to the URS to confirm the validity of the system. Much of the visualisation package is complete; there have also been significant developments in the performance analysis.
• Economic analysis. This package will provide full cost predictions for the entire lifecycle of the system. This will also be linked to the earlier elements of the project, thus enabling the cost implications to be a crucial decision-making factor. Work in this area is in advanced stages and is being linked to the modelling elements of E-Race.
• System architecture and legacy modelling. This area, which receives input from almost every partner, is fundamental to the overall construction and format of the E-Race system and also includes the storage of information libraries. Though considerable work has been done in this area, it must also be open to evolutions as the individual elements develop.
• Pilot implementation and assessment and the dissemination of the results. This final section will not commence until close to the end of the project, though preparations for this phase are ongoing. This section is fundamentally important to the project to ensure that E-Race is a success.

For more information please visit www.e-race.info

Within the UK there are a total of nine consortium members. There are two “Development Partners”: TQC Ltd and The University of Nottingham. TQC are the project co-ordinators and as such provide the overall management of the project. TQC also provide information and research for the project. The University of Nottingham are conducting research towards the system architecture, assembly planning and the requirement specification tool as well as the development of a prototype web portal.

There are five further industrial partners; Bespak Europe, Desoutter, GlaxoSmithKline, Riley Automation and System Devices. These partners are providing the consortium with information and feedback from both a customer’s and a supplier’s point of view. They will also be assisting with the dissemination activities, which is the specialist role of the final two partners; The British Automation and Robot Association (BARA) and The PRIME Faraday Partnership. More details on all of the partners can be found on the project website: www.e-race.info.

TQC have been driving the industrial input into this project, being aided by the partnership with the University of Nottingham. Previous experience has been gained by both lead partners through involvement in European and DTI funded projects such as Assembly Net. In addition, the work being performed within the UK for ERace has been supporting effort in the EUPASS project, which both TQC and The University if Nottingham are involved www.eupass.org.