Statistical interfaces for production of a permanent magnet based rotor

A production-system simulation model for manufacturing cost of a permanent-magnet based rotor, analyzing the influence of uncertain parameters by utilizing the Monte Carlo method. The uncertain parameters studied include investment and bill of materials costs as well as cycle time. The resulting influence of these uncertainties are presented for each case individually, as well as all possible combinations, giving seven total cases studied. Cutting tool costs over a range of batch sizes show that investment uncertainty has rapidly declining impact even within fairly low batch sizes. BOM cost variations, especially for the permanent magnets maintain a sizeable influence over the range of batch sizes. The Weibull distribution based model for permanent magnet insertion shows that profit margins derived from point based nominal data is not reliable for pricing of manual production processes. The presented approach is useful both for decision making regarding new production, as well as pricing in competitive markets with narrow margins.