Chapter 21
Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering
Modelling and Maturity Assessment
in a Circular Economy Perspective
Kristian Martinsen, Carla Susana A. Assuad, Tomomi Kito,
Mitsutaka Matsumoto, Venkata Reddy, and Sverre Guldbrandsen-Dahl
Abstract Decisions made in the development stage of a new products will affect the
whole lifecycle of the product. Manufacturing costs, product performance, maintainability and customer satisfaction in the use phase are parameters the engineers need
to consider. In a sustainability perspective can durability and a potential long lifetime
with less breakdowns be regarded as positive. Additionally, in a circular economy
perspective the potentials for easy disassembly, recyclability and remanufacturing or
reuse at the end of life are important. The selection of precision levels and tolerance
limits on geometry and material properties in the design phase of mechanical components are decisive for these aspects. While tolerance selections traditionally focused
most on meeting customer requirements and interchangeability of parts for assembly,
the product development engineers are now facing several “Design for X”—challenges where tolerance selections and distributions are one of the key issues. This
paper describes a Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering (CLTE) model describing
information flow for tolerance engineering throughout the product lifecycle. The
model includes feed forward and feedback of data and information between functional requirements description, tolerance synthesis and analysis, manufacturing
process capabilities, measured product performance and end-of-life considerations.
Keywords Tolerancing · Quality assurance · Lifecycle · Closed loop tolerance
engineering
K. Martinsen (B) · C. S. A. Assuad
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
e-mail: kristian.martinsen@ntnu.no
T. Kito
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
M. Matsumoto
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
V. Reddy
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), Hyderabad, India
S. Guldbrandsen-Dahl
SINTEF Manufacturing, Vestre Toten, Norway
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_21
297
Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering
Modelling and Maturity Assessment
in a Circular Economy Perspective
Kristian Martinsen, Carla Susana A. Assuad, Tomomi Kito,
Mitsutaka Matsumoto, Venkata Reddy, and Sverre Guldbrandsen-Dahl
Abstract Decisions made in the development stage of a new products will affect the
whole lifecycle of the product. Manufacturing costs, product performance, maintainability and customer satisfaction in the use phase are parameters the engineers need
to consider. In a sustainability perspective can durability and a potential long lifetime
with less breakdowns be regarded as positive. Additionally, in a circular economy
perspective the potentials for easy disassembly, recyclability and remanufacturing or
reuse at the end of life are important. The selection of precision levels and tolerance
limits on geometry and material properties in the design phase of mechanical components are decisive for these aspects. While tolerance selections traditionally focused
most on meeting customer requirements and interchangeability of parts for assembly,
the product development engineers are now facing several “Design for X”—challenges where tolerance selections and distributions are one of the key issues. This
paper describes a Closed Loop Tolerance Engineering (CLTE) model describing
information flow for tolerance engineering throughout the product lifecycle. The
model includes feed forward and feedback of data and information between functional requirements description, tolerance synthesis and analysis, manufacturing
process capabilities, measured product performance and end-of-life considerations.
Keywords Tolerancing · Quality assurance · Lifecycle · Closed loop tolerance
engineering
K. Martinsen (B) · C. S. A. Assuad
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
e-mail: kristian.martinsen@ntnu.no
T. Kito
Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
M. Matsumoto
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
V. Reddy
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), Hyderabad, India
S. Guldbrandsen-Dahl
SINTEF Manufacturing, Vestre Toten, Norway
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
Y. Kishita et al. (eds.), EcoDesign and Sustainability I, Sustainable Production, Life Cycle
Engineering and Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6779-7_21
297