Project Concept

Prioritized Requirements

  1. Client Satisfaction - It is most important that the client that purchases this machine has their requirements met by the machine (it must last long, be easy to use, and cheap) so that they will purchase more machines from us in the future to keep us in business
  2. Safety for the User, Surroundings, and Environment - It is very important to have safety for the user, surroundings, and environment. If the user, surroundings, and environment are hurt are damaged by our machine, that would be unethical for us to sell our machine for use.
  3. Usability - It must be easy for the user to use and quickly learn how to use, which will save money and reduce the risk of mistakes when using the machine.
  4. Cost per bolt - This is very important, although not as important as client satisfaction, safety for user, and ease of use for user. We want to minimize the cost of making a bolt as much as possible, without sacrificing client satisfaction, safety requirements, and usability by the user.
  5. Reliability in Difficult Environment - The machine must work in high/low temperature and humid environments. Noise should be minimized, so vibrations, if any, should be muted in order to protect the user’s hearing. Toxic materials used to manufacture the machine or produced by the machine must be eliminated either by not producing/using toxic materials or properly disposing of toxic material.
  6. Follow the Law - Following the law in terms of patents, and intellectual property is important because we can be sued by intellectual property owners if we follow their protected designs.
  7. Follow manufacturing and process standards - The machine’s materials and processes should meet MIL-S-23284A standards. Standard tolerances for loose and tight fits must also be used to ensure the parts fit together as intended. If the parts in our machine don’t fit together, we will lose money for parts that can’t be assembled together.
  8. Weight of the Machine - Weight should be minimized if possible to make transportation easier/cheaper.
  9. Sustainability of the Machine’s Materials - This machine will have a long use life, so using recycled/recyclable materials will probably have a very low benefit to the potential risk of using potentially weaker recycled material.

Cost

Cost is the highest consideration in this design, since it will directly affect whether or not the client will purchase our machine. The cost to make each bolt and the upfront cost of the machine must be minimized in order to maximize attractiveness to potential clients.

Key Metrics for optimum price per bolt:

  • High level of process automation
  • Zero material waste
  • Speed of production
  • Longevity of die
  • Little mechanical wear per bolt
  • Minimum heat use per bolt (in our case since billet is always heated, increase speed)

Client

Our client is a company that intends to sell hexagonal bolts. The client would like to make as many metallic bolts as possible, while minimizing the cost per bolt. The upfront cost of the machine should be as cheap as possible, while still being able to produce bolts with high strength and uniformity.

User

The intended users are the operators who will put feed billet material into the machine. The operations of the machine should be easy to understand (as simple as pressing a button) and quick to learn in order to minimize learning time.

Safety

Safety is important, because a machine that applies lots of pressure can easily mildly or severely injure an operator who mistakenly gets themselves/their appendages caught in the heading machine. That being said, the user must be able to instantly stop the machine’s motion in an emergency. Machine activation should also require two buttons on the machine required for activation, to prevent the operator from having a hand accidentally caught in the machine. It should also be very easy to know whether or not the machine is on, with bright colored lights for operation/non-operation so people know it’s on/off. The fumes that come out of the hot gases and heading process must be managed and not breathed in by the operator. Vacuuming for all of the fumes that out-gas from the high temperatures and chemical reactions from hot-working will be required. A heat shield for the operator is also required, since high heat can burn the operator.

Standard

This machine should follow the MIL-S-23284A standard for Steel Forgings, Carbon and Alloy, For Shafts, Sleeves, Propeller, Nuts, Couplings, and Stocks. This is a standard to a hot, metal forming process that has design guidelines for the machine.

Law

The materials and processes of this machine must not be hazardous to the environment and ecosystem. They must follow RoHS product level compliance based on the European Union’s Directive 2002/95/EC, the Restriction of the Use of certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS). Products compliant with this directive with this directive do not exceed the allowable amounts of the following restricted materials: lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), with some limited exceptions.

Potential toxic waste produced by the machine must be stored and disposed of properly, such that it will not be harmful to the environment and ecosystem.

Environments

In a factory setting, the machine must perform in very hot and humid environments. It must be reliable and not break or stop working because of hot and humid environments.

Weight

Weight should be minimized to the point where it the machine and die can be reasonably transported. The machine must be able to be shipped from our factory to the client’s location, and if the machine is too heavy, it may not be able to be reasonably shipped.

Sustainability

Recycled and/or recyclable materials can be used in the machine if reasonable. Not necessary, since this machine is intended to be used for a long time.