Course syllabus for Virtual production

Course syllabus adopted 2025-01-28 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameVirtuell produktion
  • CodePPU055
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTKMAS
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyAutomation and Mechatronics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
  • DepartmentINDUSTRIAL AND MATERIALS SCIENCE
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language English
  • Application code 55148
  • Maximum participants100 (at least 10% of the seats are reserved for exchange students)
  • Open for exchange studentsYes
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0106 Examination 5.2 c
Grading: TH		 5.2 c
0206 Laboratory 2.3 c
Grading: UG		 2.3 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

Manufacturing Technology

Aim

The aim of the course is to develop engineering students understanding of theories, methods and modern engineering tools in order to be able to develop production processes and operate complex production systems. The course will also awaken interest in further studies in the subject field, particularly the Chalmers Masters programme in Production Engineering.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

- Describe the concept of sustainable development in the society and account for the connection to a responsible production engineering practice both regarding economic, social and environmental sustainability. 
- Explain elementary concepts and methods concerning the design and operation of production systems. 
- Account for and apply methods for design of a sustainable production system in a virtual environment and execute a materials flow analysis. 
- Describe and apply the principles for line preparation regarding to sequence and balance. 
- Motivate the Computer Aided Engineer potential for the modern product development process. 
- Master the basic concepts of the industrial IT-environment and related problems and explain the necessity of an IT strategy enabling a systematic recovery of information throughout the entire product development chain. 
- Outline the role to be played by a data base in making an integrated product and production development effective, including version handling technique and the problems that are associated with the flora of different file formats, and also handling methods. 
- Describe the most important strategies and principles in automation. 
- Describe the different types of sensors, know their function and application areas.  
- Motivate the need to be able to control product performance and producer ability during the preparatory phase of the product development process. 
- Explain how an NC-machine works and how it is used for simple programming (CNC=Computer Numerical Control System). 
- Explain the meaning of the CAD/CAM-chain. Describe CAM according to its aim, advantages, input-parameters and the system for output as well as subsidiary operations and the chronology in the preparatory process. (CAM=Computer Aided Manufacturing). 
- Motivate the need for flexible production and describe the industrial robots design and control principles, furthermore explain the importance of the world of simulation when programming robots. 
- Account for a model showing how professional knowledge develops, different interaction ways for transferring knowledge, the motor skill learning curve and also explain learning's potential and limitations with regard to operator training in a virtual environment

Content

Production system refers to the entire system of people, tools and machines that cooperate in the development and production of products. Production is about constant adaptation of human and economic factors to changing conditions, which performs with the help of new theories and methods. The course focuses on the virtual world technology and related methods for understanding and securing production in terms of openness to new opportunities instead of it being constrained by business as usual. In this perspective, we introduce:

- The main factors of the general production system
- Factors that influence production systems
- Guidelines for organizing engineering workshops
- Production philosophies
- The concept of productivity
- Automation engineering basics
- Sensor technology
- Industrial robots technique
- Layout planning
- Production flow simulation
- Line balancing
- Simulation using manikins
- CAD-CAM Knowledge
- Theory and operator training in virtual environment

Organisation

The course consists of lectures, a project, practical training sessions and laboratory exercises. The course webpage will reflect all activities and constitutes the main source of information.

Literature

Sections from the book Process Theory : The Principles of Operations Management
Lecture slides
More materials from the reading guide

Examination including compulsory elements

Approved assignments, quiz, laboratory exercises, project report and written exam. Grading is based on adding written exam (50 points) and project report (20 points). In total max 70 points available.

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers about disability study support.