Methodology for the design of a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM)

Purpose – In manufacturing, dedicated machine tools and flexible machine tools are failing to satisfy the ever-changing manufacturing demands of short life cycles and dynamic nature of products. These machines are limited when new product designs are introduced. The solution lies in developing responsive machines that can be adjusted or be changed functionally when these change requirements arise. These machines are reconfigurable machines which are becoming the new focus, as they rapidly respond to product variety and volume changes. A sheet metal working machine known as a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM) has been developed. The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology, function-oriented design approach (FODA), which was developed for the design of the RGS&BPM. Design/methodology/approach – The design of the machine is based on the six principles of reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs), namely, modularity, scalability integrability, convertibility, diagnosability and customisability. The methodology seeks to optimise the design process of the RGS&BPM through a design of modules that make up the machine, enable its conversion and reconfiguration. The FODA is focussed on function identification to select the operational function required. Two main functions are recognised for the machine, these being cutting and bending; hence, the design revolves around these two and reconfigurability. Findings – The developed design methodology was tested in the design of a prototype for the reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine. The prototype is currently being manufactured and will be subjected to functional tests once completed. This paper is being presented not only to present the methodology by to show and highlight its practical applicability, as the prototype manufacturers have been enthusiastic about this new approach. Research limitations/implications – The research was limited to the design methodology for the RGS&BPM, the machine which has been designed to completion using this methodology, with prototype being manufactured. Practical implications – This study presents critical steps and considerations in the development of reconfigurable machines. The main thrust being to explore the best possibility of developing the machines © Vennan Sibanda, Khumbulani Mpofu and John Trimble. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/ legalcode The authors are very grateful to the National Research Foundation (NRF), Gibela Rail Consortium and the Industrial Engineering Department at Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) for providing relentless support during the research, any opinion, findings, recommendations and conclusion expressed in this material is that of the authors. NRF, Gibela and TUT have no liability in this regard. Guillotine and bending press machine Received 26 June 2020 Revised 12 August 2020 Accepted 31 October 2020 Journal of Engineering, Design and Technology EmeraldPublishingLimited 1726-0531 DOI 10.1108/JEDT-06-2020-0254 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1726-0531.htm