J. René Villalobos - US grants

This project will investigate different work allocation strategies in conjunction with operator replacement policies that appear to be more suitable for high labor turnover environments. The idea is to find work allocation methods that give less workload to new operators and automatically increase this load as they gain experience. In particular, the reduction of the effects of labor turnover on productivity when hybrid assembly methods based on bucket brigade and work sharing are used will be will be researched. This investigation will be performed by constructing the appropriate analytical and simulation models of different production lines and work allocation and operator replacement strategies. An important characteristic of the research is the close collaboration that will be maintained with industry. In order to develop and test the models, the investigators will gather information and validate the research results in the facilities of the industrial partner.

High labor turnover, frequently cited as a major contributor to lagging productivity and competitiveness of the U.S. industry, represents enormous costs that impact the competitiveness of a manufacturing firm. The costs more frequently associated with labor turnover include those associated with recruiting and training the new employees. However, there are other costs, such as production losses caused by the variability introduced by the new operators into the assembly line, that are frequently ignored. These production losses are the result of the learning process that the new employees go through and that the current assembly lines are not designed to accommodate. While the usual approach to deal with high labor turnover focus on reducing it by using long-term strategies such as better recruiting and giving incentives to employees to stay with the company, this research project seeks engineering solutions to mitigate its negative effects. This is particularly important for the period in which the benefits of the implementation of long-term policies are not felt yet.

This award provides funding for the conduct of the annual National Science Foundation Design, Service and Manufacturing Research Conference. This conference brings together researchers in all program areas within the Division of Design, Manufacture and Industrial Innovation (DMII), and researchers from related programs in the Divisions of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC), Electrical and Communication Systems (ECS), Civil and Mechanical Structures (CMS), Information and Intelligent Systems (IIS), Materials Research (DMR), International Programs (INT), and Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (SBE), specifically the Innovation and Organizational Change Program (IOC). Grantees will present their research in poster sessions and attend sessions covering topics that extend beyond their immediate area of research. Ongoing research in manufacturing related research activities are presented by the grantees from the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia (CONACyT), Mexico, and grantees from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the National Research Council (NRC), Canada. The conference seeks to ensure that the individual researchers supported by NSF are informed about the ongoing activities of their colleagues, eliminate duplication of efforts and foster a higher degree of cooperation among researchers. In addition, the conference allows all Principal Investigators to meet each other and to meet with their respective NSF Program Officers.

The goals of the conference are: (1) to broaden the outlook of all participants; (2) promote transfer of ideas and technology from one area of research to another; (3) to allow those working in a related area of research to get to know their peers so as to avoid duplication of research and to encourage cooperation, and (4) to allow personal contacts from the collective research community, the NSF, CONACyT, NSERC, and NRC program staff to discuss manufacturing research in detail, clarifying issues and problems in ongoing projects.

This research proposes the development of a methodology that will result in the automated generation of inspection algorithms of new surface mounted Technology (SMT) components. The envisioned methodology will make possible the development of automated visual inspection (AVI) systems that develop and optimize their own inspection algorithms for new components. Under this notion the resulting development framework will minimize the intervention of human developers to obtain inspection algorithms that meet minimal performance measures in terms of component discrimination and sensitivity to changes in environmental variables. This methodology will be based on a vector discrimination approach for the identification of defective components whose basic characteristics have already been developed. This vector approach, in conjunction with a hierarchical classification, will be used to obtain the envisioned methodology. This methodology does not seek the replacement of the human developer; the proposed framework will free him/her from tedious tasks, so that s/he can focus on more complex tasks such as the development of morphology-based features that may be needed for more sophisticated inspection tasks.

If successful, this research will significantly shorten the time required to develop inspection algorithms for SMT components. This reduction in development time will result in added manufacturing flexibility that will translate into more rapid introduction of new products into existing manufacturing lines and shorter design lead-times. This flexibility will contribute to give a competitive advantage to the electronics industry, which has a clear strategic importance for the USA. It is also expected that as a direct result of the funded activities the PI expand the concept of multi-disciplinary pyramidal research teams. This concept has given excellent results in terms of recruiting undergraduate students to continue on to graduate school and also in terms of the participation of minority students in research activities.

This grant is a one year NSF/CONACyT collaborative research award to design, develop and form a network of US and Mexican universities working on research and educational projects in the area of electronics manufacturing. The objective is to advance scientific and engineering knowledge through joint research efforts of investigators from the United States and Mexico having complementary talents and interests taking advantage of Network infrastructures. The collaborating universities are: Arizona State University, Texas A&M University, and Universidad de Guadalajara).

Emphasis will be on the establishment of a MANufacturing NETwork (MANET). It is expected that the proposed network will serve as a model to be extended later to other universities in both the United States and Mexico. It is also envisioned that the formation of MANET can be a catalyst for development of an integrated electronics manufacturing industry in the Southwest US and Northern Mexico, with consequent economic benefits to both countries. Once the network is well established in manufacturing research projects, it will be natural to extend it to other technological areas and industries. The project activities include: (1) access to laboratory equipment and student support to implement remote connection among the universities (TAMU), and (2) provide access to 2D and 3D flexible inspection systems and student support to implement the remote connection among the universities (ASU).

A planning meeting will be held to determine if the Arizona State University is to become a research site to the existing multi-university Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Engineering Logistics and Distribution (CELDi). The meeting will provide an opportunity to develop a recruiting plan for industrial partners, deploy the recruiting plan and prepare for the submission of a full center proposal.

The Arizona State University site will focus on two major areas of research: supporting the development and implementation of efficient and effective US-Mexico Logistics practices and enabling further productivity improvements as well as state-of-art supply chain and logistic practices in the Semiconductor Industry.

Full center proposal to join the I/UCRC in Logistics and Distribution (CELDi)

0839969 Arizona State University; Jesus Villalobos


Arizona State University (ASU) seeks to join as an additional site the I/UCRC in Engineering Logistics and Distribution (CELDi). ASU should complement CELDi research by focusing on two major areas of research: (i) supporting the development and implementation of efficient and effective International Logistics practices, and (ii) enabling further productivity improvements as well as state-of-art supply chain and logistics practices in the regional industry. Research housed by the ASU site will contribute to improvements in the cost, quality, and responsiveness of a regional industrial base that is increasingly global. This effort will focus on increasing the relative and absolute competitiveness of this industry, by providing access to leading-edge knowledge, tools, systems, and benchmarking opportunities. The initial activities at ASU will focus on efficient international logistics practices, as well as productivity and cost improvements in production and supply chain operations.

The proposed center will be a catalyst for the regional economic development and also for increasing the number of students who decide to pursue advanced degrees in logistics and productivity related fields. Students will not only have direct access to research initiatives at ASU, but will also have the opportunity to interact with students and researchers from other institutions, listen to visiting speakers, and become involved in a variety of projects directly sponsored by CELDi. The center plans to include undergraduate, women and minority students in research teams. It is anticipated that every project will have at least one undergraduate student participating in it. ASU has a clear commitment to diversity.

This U.S.- Chile visit proposal will support one senior researcher, one graduate student, and one undergraduate from Arizona State University, under the direction of Dr. Jesus R. Villalobos, on two visits to Chile during 2011. The primary goal of these visits is to refine collaborations on the development of a research framework for international supply chains of perishable commodities between investigators from Arizona State University and the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso in Chile (PUCV). The PI and the visiting students will participate in work sessions with Drs. Rosa Guadalupe Gonzalez Ramirez, Pablo Miranda Gonzalez, and José Ceroni Díaz, from The Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, all with strong expertise in Port Operations and Management. The students will extend or compare their current research approaches to include considerations of Chilean ports and supply chains. The impact of port service variability is especially important in the supply chains for perishable commodities, which are of great importance in the commerce between Chile and the United States. One of the main objectives of these visits is to set the analytical framework to incorporate perishability into supply chain decision. In particular, the research team plan to develop a methodology for the design of port operations that will best serve the shippers of these types of commodities.

This collaboration will be a catalyst for regional commercial development and will form an initial core of US and Chilean researchers that will expand to researchers from other Latin American countries over time. Additionally, the proposed activities will strengthen the material of undergraduate and graduate courses that address theoretical and practical issues in port logistics, and supply chain planning and management. It is believed that the resulting collaboration will also increase the number of students obtaining advanced degrees in logistics. This award is supported by the Americas Program of the Office of International Science and Engineering and the Division of Industrial Innovation and Partnerships of the Directorate of Engineering.