Colloquia

Samenvatting

VDL ETG constructs a large array of high industry, technical machinery. A section of their production run is dedicated to the production of modules for the next generation of High NA-EUV Lithography machines. These machines are responsible for the creation of computer chips which strive to uphold Moore's law. 

One of the areas in which VDL ETG faced challenges was the installation of cables onto the Force Frame modules. These modules are assembled in an ISO 6 cleanroom and are large enough to require ample movement during production. The size and context contraints of production, in combination with the format in which the mechanics receive their instructions, has led to the installation process being unoptimised, with many oppertunities for mistakes to be made. The cable installation process takes place early in the production timeline meaning that any mistakes made can add up to major time losses and cost.

This project has taken a close look at the current production methods and work-flow inefficiencies in order to uncover where mistakes are being made most often and how the overall timeline can be improved. Past data, observations and mechanic input has been combined in order to provide accurate problem areas for which different solutions were designed. Tackling the areas which showed the most margins for improvement as well as being balanced when it comes to the feasibility of their introduction into the current work-flow. The solutions furthermore made use of literature findings such as human instruction interaction and error avoidance to improve their design. 

As a secondary requirement VDL ETG wanted to improve the digital work instruction for the cable assembly in their current format, without the introduction of new means. In order to improve the production in the short term. This was done by looking into the language, visuals and context provided by the current instructions and creating new ones which formed a cohesive, well structured set of work instructions. Further improved by introducing elements found in literature, which better make use of the users' cognitive abilities.

The solutions were tested by mechanics in a controlled environment, in order to analyse their effectiveness and expected improvements. The results showed that there were two concepts which showed a good range of improvements, both in efficiency, as well as mechanic execution. One concept introduced the use of AR projections in order to overlay cables routes on the physical frame and the other concept has taken the working principles behind metro routes, in order to better convey cable routes in the complex and confusing context of the Force Frame.