Welcome


Laboratory for Intelligent Systems, led by Professor Haruhiko Suwa, is a part of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Setsunan University. At our laboratory we strive genuinely earth-friendly manufacturing process and its decicion-making mechanism. The scope of our research includes: energy-efficient manufacturing systems, manufacturing intelligence, machinability of sintered carbide tools, stability-directed planning, and proactive/reactive scheduling.


Current Research

Highly Energy Efficient Manufacturing Systems

Energy-awareness has been recognized as critical in industry to pursue sustainable manufacturing along with reduction of CO2 emission and the energy costs. In addition to the development of energy-saving solutions by both of the the top-down approach like factory energy management systems (FEMS) and the bottom-up approach associated with eco-suited machining technologies, needs for much smarter and highly-automated manufacturing systems have been increased, therefore energy-awareness, not in manufacturing processes but energy-conscious planning must be considered. We focus on developing the smart way of energy-aware operations of manufacturing systems.

  • Manufacturing operations based on energy load planning
  • Energy-efficient optimization of tool paths
  • Prediction of power consumption and energy loss
  • Yonemoto, R. and Suwa, H. (2019) Evaluation of Energy Efficiency and Productivity in Scheduling by Using Physical Simulator, Transactions of the Institute of Systems, Control and Information Engineers, Vol.32, No.5, pp.185-191.
  • Samukawa, T. and Suwa, H. (2016) An optimization of energy-efficiency in machining manufacturing systems based on a framework of multi-mode RCPSP, International Journal of Automation Technology, Vol.10, No.6, pp.985-992.
  • Suwa, H. and Samukawa, T., 2014, Energy-Efficient Operation of Machine Tools Based on Electric-Load Profiles, Proceedings of the 16th International Machine Tool Engineers’ Conference.

Eco Machining of Sintered Tungsten Carbide

This is a collaborative work with Prof. Moriwaki and DIJET Industrial. Tungsten Carbide have extremely high hardness and wear-resistivity, which is expected to be applied widly to dies and molds in the near future. We are focusing on developing an efficient machining method of Tungsten Carbide, and examining the machinability and some properties of CBN tools and also diamond-coated carbide cutting tools.

  • Machinability of Sintered Tungsten Carbide Tools in Milling Process
  • Suwa, H., Sakamoto, S., Nagata, M., Tezuka, K., and Samukawa (2020) T., Applicability of Diamond Coated Tools for Ball-End Milling of Sintered Tungsten Carbide, International Journal of Automation Technology, Vol.14, No.1, pp.18-25.
  • Suwa, H., Sakamoto, S. and Samukawa, T. (2018) Capability of Diamond Coated Ball-End Tools in Milling of Sintered Tungsten Carbide, Proc. of 17th International Conference on Precision Engineering.

Stability Directed Planning against Uncertainties

This collaborative work with Dr. Morita at Takachiho University proposes a new framework for a stability-based decision making process in planning and scheduling, including builining a mathematical model and the development of efficient/high-speed methods with considering practical applications. The term "stability" refers to the higher predictability of a released plan/schedule and also signifies the robustness of the plan/schedule against internal and external uncertainties. In the past few years we have focused on the application of our idea to capacity requirement planning (CRP) in industry, and proposed a robust CRP method that we believe can generate a stable load plan against dynamic changes in a manufacturing environment.

  • Robust CRP model and method
  • Mathematical model and optimization method of buffer management
  • Suwa, H. and Morita, D. (2016) Reactive Project Scheduling Method to Enhance Project Progress under Uncertainty, Journal of Advanced Mechanical Design, Systems, and Manufacturing, Vol.10, No.3. DOI: 10.1299/jamdsm.2016jamdsm0051
  • Morita D and Suwa H (2015) An Exact Method for Robust Capacity Requirements Planning, International Journal of Automation Technology, Vol.9, No.3. (to appear)
  • Suwa H and Morita D (2014) Stability-Based Short-Term Capacity Requirement Planning under Uncertainty, Procedia CIRP, Vol.19, pp.123-128.
  • Morita D and Suwa H (2012) An Optimization Method for Critical Chain Scheduling toward Project Greenality, International Journal of Automation Technology, Vol.6, No.3, pp.331-337.