The Role Of Mathematical Concepts In A Technology Of Your Choice (Vehicle Manufacturing)

Use of mathematical concepts in vehicle manufacturing
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Use of mathematical concepts in vehicle manufacturing
Introduction
The vehicle manufacturing technology spans back to the 17th Century where the use of steam powered engines as a means of transport was overtaken by the efficiency of a combustion engine which was more efficient and reliable (colorado.edu, n.d). The pioneers of vehicle manufacturing technology include Henry Ford and Ramson Olds, who oversaw the mass production of motor vehicles on a commercial scale. Initially, the vehicle manufacturing technology comprised the use of precise engineering of individual parts and assembly using handcraft means. This meant that only a few vehicles would be manufactured at a time. However, the United States introduced the use of assembly lines which saw the incorporation of robots in the assembly process which rely on the use of mathematical models so as to come up with precise operational parameters (Bellis, 2016). This technology is interesting because, while it was seen as a threat to the security of jobs in vehicle manufacturing industry, the technology has enabled the industry to have higher efficiency and produce vehicles in a record volume over the years since its incorporation.
How it works
The robots used in vehicle manufacturing are programed using mathematical models which specify the commands and parameters for each operation that they are engaged in. In this case, robots get instructions on the task to undertake such as lifting a given part of a vehicle, move it to the vehicle in the assembly line and fix it. This is followed by a new but a repetitive operation for each of the robots in a vehicle assembly line. The determination of the distance that a robot will move to pick a vehicle part, force to be applied in lifting and fixing in the vehicle are all pre-determined using mathematical models (Ding, Jin, Ceglarek & Shi, 2005). Thereafter, the concept is fed into computer in the form of a program, which gives the robot a command based on the predetermined computer program.
Problem statement
The complexity in vehicle manufacturing accounts for the high cost of producing a vehicle. While in the past vehicles used to be produced in batch process whereby each vehicle was assembled in full, the introduction of a vehicle assembly line and incorporation of robots within the assembly line in place of human labor has led to improved efficiency and production of vehicles in high volumes. However, each operation of an individual robot is very unique and precise, which requires a lot of uniformity and calculations of the dimensions so as there is enough clearance area for each operation. To achieve all this, different mathematical concepts are applied in calculating the...