automatic teller machine

Companies require a structure to grow and be profitable. Our design of an organizational structure will help us manage and identify the talent that needs to be added to the company. Planning the structure will ensure that there is sufficient human resources within the company to achieve the goals set out in the company's annual plan. It is also important that responsibilities are clearly defined. Each person has a specific description of the job and each job occupies its own position in the organizational chart of the company.

The flow of information is essential to the success of our organization. The structure of the organization is designed to ensure that workers and departments coordinate their efforts and have lines of communication that are integrated into the structure. The finance, sales, and marketing departments can inform the Vice-President of Finance and Sales because this team member represents a senior management who will process the information and prepare the corresponding financial reports. It also has a direct connection with other managers and the CEO of the company.

The operations department is responsible for the design of our production processes, production plant, production planning and control, inventory management, raw material purchases and equipment, quality control, and other functions related to the production of our products. Similarly, the department of engineering and design is in charge of monitoring the continuous improvement within the company. The constant evaluation of the markets, the development of new products, the application of new technologies, and the technical support to the users are the objectives of the department.

Our organizational structure ensures that the company will have the right people in the right jobs. The structure will be able to detect weaknesses or shortcomings in the management team of the current company. As the company grows, the structure of the organization shall evolve with it.

V-Diagram

Our V-diagram demonstrates from a simplified perspective how our system process is applied in an engineering development project.

A clear identification of the user's needs, the necessary requirements, continuing with the development of the system architecture and then moving towards the physical architecture and the detailed design, are standard engineering processes that are applied today in the development of engineering projects.

Verification is the proof that what we are doing is what the documents say that we should do; Validation is the proof that what we are doing is working and is effective.

User Needs

System Requirements

User Needs

User Needs

Operational Node Connectivity (OV-2)

Our OV-2 (Figure 2) describes how our system interfaces with all other systems and components which come into contact. The processes form the core structure of every organization, the tasks that are performed day after day are linked to many processes that must always have as an intrinsic objective to fulfill the mission and vision of the organization. Our communication information flow demonstrates what the tasks are, step by step, the roles, the relationship between areas of the organization, times of execution and those responsible.

The identification, understanding and management of our interrelated processes as a system contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in achievement the objectives set.

System Requirements and Trace Matrix

The system requirements with corresponding trace to need lines of the OV-2 is presented in Table 1.

The AFS will be operated with less noise. It will not disturb livestock when feed is being dispensed and not dispensed. Electricity will be the main power to source this equipment. The equipment will be designed in such a way that it is adapted for use in the United States. The equipment will be designed so that it can use a general purpose “Alternating-current” (AC) electric power supply. AC power is delivered to the homes and businesses and it is the form of electrical power that consumers use when they want to plug in some of their home appliances. We will focus on two primary properties the electric power supply, voltage and frequency. Both properties are different dependent on where the equipment is being used in the world. For use in North America, a voltage of 120v and a frequency of 60Hz is used. The equipment will be designed to simplify setup. We will give step by step instructions on setup.

The continuous improvement process is one of our goals. For that reason, the equipment's updating is an important key in order to be one of the most modern feed systems in the market. The direct relation with the manufacturing companies will give us the opportunity to improve our system continuously, getting info about the costs, permissions, etc. It is important to have the availability of more than one manufacturing company, in order to find the necessary parts of our feed system at nearby areas, saving shipments costs, and shortening installation times.

The AFS will need ongoing technical support that guarantees the perfect performance of the entire system. We will focus on problem solving, helping users through instructions by the Internet, phone, or sending one of our workers to the site to fix the problem. Easy installation is the biggest advantage that the system will have. The participation of customers in the installation of the equipment, will enable a better understanding of the whole system.

OV-5/ IDEF0

Integration Definition functional modelling method is frequently utilized in industry for functional modelling. This standard method supports the analysis of a set of related activities or functions with the emphasis on the relationships between these activities or functions. It results in a hierarchical series of diagrams, text, and glossaries cross-referenced to each other. IDEF0 models form an important communication tool when discussing the analysis of a system.

OV-5 Methods and materials

In this project the IDEF0 functional modelling method was applied to analyze the various functions and their inter-relations in a structured manner. This analysis was applied as the basis to generate configurations for an automated feeding system.

IDEF0 diagrams consist of boxes (three to six) with arrows. The boxes represent functions, activities or processes. Each function can be detailed into a new diagram, called child diagram. The arrows represent data and objects influencing and inter-relating those functions. In addition to inputs and outputs, IDEF0 includes Constraints and Mechanisms or resources that influence a function (see Figure 3 and Figure 4). Edraw Max was used as a tool to develop it.

Input: data or objects that are transformed by the function – e.g. Unfed animals, food/product.

Constraints: conditions required for the function to produce correct outputs – e.g. Environment, technical support, installation, feed standards.

Resources/Mechanism: support the execution of the function – e.g. Users, power supply, feed delivery system, and cleaning supplies.

Output: data or objects that result from the function – e.g. feed animals, cleaned feeder system.

OV-5 Results and discussion

A-0 shows the automated feed system diagram with six function (see Figure 5).

Load Food – These are the food materials that are needed for feeding. Product is dedicated as input in this function. The food is loaded into the system ready for the next process.

Prepare Food – This is the process by which the loaded food is transformed to an edible form.

Configure Feeder – these are the measures taken and required to ensure that the food is prepared in the right conditions such as the surrounding environment, there is enough technical support, the food standards.

Initiate feeding – this is the main objective of loading the food, preparing it, and then configuring it- to feed the hungry poultry. In this case therefore, the animals are fed.

Halt feeding – after the animals are fed and satisfied, the next step is to stop the feeding.

Clean feeder – this is for the purpose of ensuring that the feeder is left in good condition for the next feeding. After the feeding is over, the feeder should be cleaned properly so that there are no constraints except technical support. So cleaning supplies are needed.

Each of the six function are detailed down to the lowest possible level; A-1 contains the function Load food. Food supplier, Receive food, Measure food (see Figure 6).

Food supplier –provide food from the supplier.

Receive food – receive the food from the supplier.

Measure food – here the food is verified to ensure that it has been received in the right quantity and quality to ensure that the food will be enough to load it.

A-2 shows the function Prepare food. Transfer food, Measure food, Time (see Figure 7).

Transfer food- this is after the food is prepared and ready, it is transferred.

Measure food – this is to make sure that the food is in the desired quantity that is enough for feeding.

Time – here feeding time is set i.e. how long the feeding should take.

Furthermore, A-3 shows the function Configure feeder. Turn feeder on, program feeder (see Figure 5).

Furthermore, A-3 shows the function Configure feeder. Turn feeder on, program feeder (see Figure 8).

Turn on Feeder – after inspecting and confirming that the feeder is in good condition, it is turned on. Here there is need for power supply, good environmental conditions that are favorable for the feeder, and keen technical team.

Program Feeder – after turning on, the feeder is programed or set in the right settings for feeding and the feeding starts.

Moreover, A-6 shows the function Clean feeder. Define needs, Add cleaning supplies, Start cleaning, Halt cleaning, Power off feeder (see Figure 9).

Clean Feeder – after the feeding is done.

Define Needs - here the feeder requires professional inspection to identify the materials that are required to clean the feeder.

Add Cleaning Supplies – after identify the cleaning needs of the feeder, the right cleaning supplies are added for the best cleaning results.

Start Cleaning – immediately the cleaning suppliers are added, the cleaning processes starts.

Halt Cleaning – This is after the feeder is thoroughly cleaned.

Turn off the Feeder – After it is cleaned, the feeder is turned off to be turned on during the next feeding time.

Functional Analysis and Comparison to the OV-5

Consider the functional analysis, which describes how the system should work, and the interdependencies (see Figure 10).

We also develop above an OV-5, which is the same thing, but from a different perspective. We want to understand how they are similar and how they differ. If we consider the functional analysis and the OV-5, we find they differ, yet are describing the same thing. Also, we can use each document to further our understanding of the other document. However, these clarifications and insights leads to more requirements and a better description (view) for our system.

The Similarities

· In both cases, feed must be loaded to the feeder.

· Also both processes require the configuration of the feeder i.e. it must be set in the right feeding settings such as fed time before feeding starts.

· Both are explaining/illustrating the same process and the end result is the same.

The Differences

· The functional analysis is automatic i.e. does not require a lot of manual work as compared to the OV-5 for instance in the case of determining the feed level, refilling the feed while the feeding going on.

· The functional analysis is more detailed yet simplified as compared to the OV-5. This means that it is easy to understand the functional analysis by just going through the diagram but for the OV-5, the diagram alone is not enough to understand.

· The Functional Analysis is a technological development of OV-5. This means that the functional analysis has been updated to make it simpler and less manual using the current technology. It is more machine oriented as compared to the OV-5.

OV-5 and Functional Analysis Conclusion

The IDEF0 functional modeling method can provide the necessary insight in relation between functions and related aspects that influence the design of an AFS. The combination with a functional analysis diagram makes it a valuable approach for generating alternative configuration for automated feed system. This approach can promote communication and understanding between experts. New developments can easily be incorporated and evaluated.

System Architecture

With the OV-5 and functional analysis in place, the system architecture for the automated feed system can be developed. The architecture selected for this development is displayed in Figure 11.

Beginning on the left of the figure, the power subsystem will be responsible for distributing all necessary electrical power for the remaining subsystems. Considering the physical scale of the system is large, and that subsystems will typically be located far from each other, centralizing the power distribution in its own subsystem should allow for a more efficient design by reducing the redundant components that would be required if each subsystem were responsible for its own power management. Centralized power distribution will also allow the power subsystem to be wired directly to the electrical panel, if needed.

The storage subsystem will be responsible for receiving and storing the feed used by the system. It is expected that the system could be configured to run automatically for several days at a time, so being able to store feed is a key driver of this capability.

The transfer subsystem is then responsible for receiving feed from the storage subsystem and transporting it to the dispenser system. Rather than maintain storage at each feed dispenser, the transfer subsystem allows the feed storage to be physically separated from the feed dispensers. This physical separation should allow easier access to the storage subsystem (by a feed delivery truck, for example) than if the storage subsystem were placed in the middle of poultry pen. To support scalable sizing of the system, the transfer subsystem can be duplicated as many times as needed.

Once the transfer subsystem has transported the feed, the dispenser system receives it. The received feed is then dispensed to the poultry. The dispenser subsystem will dispense the feed in a controlled manner, such that the feed is only replenished if it is empty. It will continue to dispense the feed up to the maximum amount allowed by the farmer’s configuration. Like the transfer subsystem, the dispenser subsystem supports scalable system sizing by being repeated as many times as necessary.

The controller subsystem is responsible for monitoring and controlling the remaining subsystems. Once configured, the controller will determine when the storage subsystem should provide feed to the transfer subsystem; it will determine how long the transfer subsystem should operate; and it will determine how the dispenser subsystem should dispense its feed. These tasks will be assisted by monitors installed in the storage and dispenser subsystems. The monitors in the storage subsystem will report feed quantities available so the controller can ensure enough feed is available before feeding begins. The monitors in the dispenser subsystem will report how much dispensed feed remains so that the controller can make decisions about whether to command further feed dispensing.

The final subsystem on the diagram is the human interface. Its responsibility is to provide an interface between the farmer and the controller so that the farmer can input the necessary configuration and receive information back about how the system is operating. Required configuration inputs include time and frequency of feeding, and the amount of feed to dispense. The human interface subsystem will then report back how feeding is progressing, how much feed remains in storage, and other useful information.

Physical Architecture

Following the system architecture, the physical architecture is illustrated in Figure 12. Each subsystem from the system architecture has been decomposed to show the selected components that will make up each subsystem.

The storage subsystem is made up of three primary components. The hopper will receive feed from the feed delivery system, whether that system is made up of a wheelbarrow, tractor, delivery truck, or some other means of delivery. Quantities of feed can be easily dumped into the hopper (ideally installed below ground level) for collection. The conveyor belt will transport feed from the hopper into a bin or silo, making feed delivery easy by keeping the hopper at or below ground level. This means a tractor or truck can dump large quantities of feed downward while the conveyor belt handles transportation to a tall bin or silo. The bin or silo then stores the feed until it is ready for use. Selection of a bin or silo will depend on the size of the farm where the system is installed. This component is configurable to support a wide variety of customer needs.

Secondary to the main components is the storage subsystem monitor. This monitor consists of an ultrasonic sensor or sensors, depending on the size of the bin or silo. Feedback from the sensors is read by the controller to determine what quantity of feed is currently stored in the silo or bin.

The transfer subsystem consists of two main components and is connected directly to the base of the silo or bin. These components are a pipe with an internal auger connected to a motor to drive the auger. The corkscrew motion of the auger is used to move feed along the pipe to its destination. Operating commands are sent directly from the controller to the motor driving the auger. The transfer subsystem can be thought of as a modular unit, in that multiple pipes and motors may be connected to the storage in order to achieve sufficient capacity for larger farming operations.

The transfer subsystem terminates at the dispenser subsystem, where the feed rests above a hatch. When feed is ready to be dispensed, the hatch simply opens to drop feed into a bin below. Once in the bin, poultry have access to the dispensed feed for feeding. A force plate placed in the base of the bin measures the weight of the remaining dispensed feed, and the measurement is fed back to the controller for monitoring. The hatch may be opened and closed as necessary to control the feed dispensing based on the commands received directly from the controller. Like the transfer subsystem, the dispenser subsystem is considered modular, and larger operations will most likely install several dispenser subsystems as part of the overall automated system.

The controller subsystem consists simply of a PC running a custom-built application. This application serves many purposes, beginning with generating a user interface to be displayed by the human interface subsystem.

The first page available in the user interface is the configuration page. Here, the farmer is able to set the following parameters for the system: times of day to feed; maximum quantity of feed to dispense during each feed cycle; and amount of feed to dispense at once. This configuration is augmented with additional information entered at the time the system is installed, including the dimensions of the silo or bin in the storage subsystem and the size of the system (number of transfer and dispenser subsystems). All of this information assists the controller in dispensing the correct amount of food and managing its monitoring capabilities.

The second user interface page generated by the application is for monitoring the system. Information from the ultrasonic sensors in the storage subsystem is interpreted to provide a real time measure of the remaining feed in storage. Force plate measurements from the dispenser subsystems allow a real time display of feed currently dispensed for the poultry at each dispenser. Also displayed are indications of the current state of each subsystem. This way, the farmer can determine at a glance if the storage conveyor belt, transfer motor, or dispenser hatch is in the correct state for each stage of the feeding process.

The final page generated by the application is the control panel. This page gives the farmer access to needed controls for operation and secondary controls for diagnostics. The normal operation controls allow the farmer to operate the conveyor belt when loading the storage subsystem and to begin a feeding cycle manually if desired. Diagnostic controls allow the farmer to manually operate the transfer motors or dispenser hatches to assist in troubleshooting failed components. The farmer may also use the control panel to put the system into a maintenance mode, disabling automated operation while repairs or cleaning are performed.

Outside of generating the user interface, the primary function of the application is to monitor and control the automated feeding process. The process begins by reading the ultrasonic sensors in the storage subsystem to get an accurate measurement of the amount of feed stored. If the amount of feed available is less the amount needed for the feed cycle (per the configuration), then the cycle will not start. Assuming the amount of feed available is adequate, the controller will command the motors in each available transfer system on to begin moving the feed from storage to the dispenser. After sufficient time has elapsed for the feed to travel through the transfer system, the controller will command the hatch in each available dispenser open. This causes the feed to fall into the dispenser bin where it is available to the poultry. The level of feed remaining in the dispenser bin is measured while the poultry eat. When the dispensed feed level is low enough, the controller checks to see if the maximum amount of feed for this feed cycle has been dispensed yet. If the maximum has not yet been reached, the controller will command the hatch open again to dispense more feed. This cycle continues until the amount of dispensed feed reaches the maximum allowed. Once the cycle finishes, the system halts and waits for the next feed cycle to begin.

One final function of the application is to accept a “stop” command, which is intended to be used in case of malfunction or other abnormal condition. The will force the controller to halt system operation by commanding the conveyor belt and motors off and the hatches shut. Once the abnormal condition is removed, removal of the “stop” command will allow the controller to resume normal operation.

To allow the farmer to interface with the controller, the human interface subsystem implements a touchscreen and a physical “stop” button. The touchscreen is wired to the PC in the controller subsystem with standard VGA and USB connections, ensuring easy setup and replacement, if necessary. User interface pages are displayed on the touchscreen for the farmer to interact with. The physical “stop” button sends a discrete signal to the PC, interpreted as a “stop” command, which causes the system to halt as described above. Note that the human interface subsystem provides no power button. It is expected that if power is available, the system will always be running.

The final subsystem physical architecture is that of the power subsystem. For the external power interface, no plug is planned. The subsystem will be wired directly into the electrical panel, and will support 120VAC at 20-600A depending on the size and needs of the specific installation. The 120VAC mains power will be fed directly to components in the other subsystems, such as the motor, conveyor belt, and PC, which require 120V for operation. A transformer within the power subsystem will produce 5VDC to power the low voltage sensors used to monitor the system.

Validation and Verification

To ensure the final system meets the needs of US farmers, validation will take place in two phases. For the first phase, focus groups consisting of farmers with varying sizes of operations across multiple states will be presented this preliminary design. Feedback will be gathered on the implemented features to see if farmers feel any key features are not present. Feature additions are not planned in response to this feedback, but mostly negative feedback would probably result in some rework.

The second phase of validation will occur once prototypes of the system are available. Select farmers will be eligible to have a prototype system installed on their farms for a trial period of up to one year. During this time, farmer feedback will be compared against the originally identified needs to ensure that each identified need has been properly met.

Verification of the system will begin early in development and continue until the system is in service. Independent verification is considered crucial to ensuring the system meets requirements and the quality standards of this company. For this reason, the Verification and Validation organization has been paired with the Quality organization and placed under the VP of Operations. Engineering and Design organizations are separately placed under the VP of Engineering and Design. Reference the OV-4 discussion above for more detail on the organizations.

This corporate structure gives the Verification and Validation organization independence in three ways. First and foremost, the engineers responsible for verification and validation are different from those that designed it. Since they have no ownership in the system design, they will be less likely to bias the results of their work. Second, the engineers responsible for verification and validation have a different reporting structure than the design engineers. This ensures that design managers, with a stake in the system design, will be less likely to influence verification results by pressuring their subordinates. Finally, thanks to organizational independence, the Validation and Verification organization has its own budget to perform its work. This ensures that cost overruns on the design side will not threaten the integrity of the verification.

The Verification Plan is outlined in Table 2. Four verification methods are possible for each requirement: Test, Analysis, Inspection, and Demonstration. Test shall be the preferred method of verification. If test alone cannot completely verify a requirement, test plus any other verification method shall be the next preferred method of verification. If no portion of the requirement is testable, any other method or combination of methods is acceptable, so long as the requirement can be completely verified with the chosen methods.

Risk Management

All business activities of a company generate risks. This, rather than being a negative aspect, sets the stage for a corporate policy oriented towards the valuation of processes. That is, it incorporates risk as a fundamental part of the commercial work. Therefore, our company must take into account three aspects when it comes to consolidating a risk management plan:

The context: The environment that surrounds the commercial activity of the company, both internally and externally. The objective is to determine which market strategies are most appropriate in each case.

Risk assessment: It is the definition of the elements that generate it, as well as its causes and effects.

Treatment: Once these risks are established and their effects analyzed, our company must take another step and propose strategies to reduce them or, at best, to eliminate them.

The exchange of information must be constant and be present at all stages of the process. Analyze the situation at every moment and to take action decisions will ensure efficient risk management. Only through continuous and exhaustive monitoring is it possible to identify in advance the possible threats that are generated. This monitoring must be present at all stages of the company, covering all risk management processes, to be truly effective.

Operational risk

The operational risk results from the possibility for the company to incur losses due to deficiencies or failures in human resources, processes, technology, infrastructure and occurrence of external events.

The risk management in our company demands an integral vision of the risks in the different areas and operations, as well as the solutions for the management of these. This is a priority issue for the company that sees opportunities along with associated risks.

Types of Uncertainties

Epistemic uncertainty

It is the lack of knowledge or information in any phase or activity of the modeling process (Ahl & Buntain, 1997).

Aleatory uncertainty

It is the random variation of the uncertainty inherent in a physical system or the environment under consideration (Ahl & Buntain, 1997).

Recognizing that different types of uncertainty exist is important because of the practical consequences of decision-making in the presence of uncertainty. A summary of risks for the system is provided in Table 3 (Cross, 1996).

With the risks summarized, each of these risks is quantified in Table 4 based on its likelihood and potential impact.

Likelihood

5

6

4

5

3

3, 7

2

2, 9

1

1, 4, 8

1

2

3

4

5

Consequence

Conclusion

The purpose of the AFS is to manage poultry feeding for large or small American farmers, thereby simplifying their day-to-day operations. The system will provide value by reducing labor costs, increasing productivity, and reducing feed waste (versus manual feeding).

Development of the system was driven by user needs. By identifying all stakeholders early in the design and illustrating their interactions with the OV-2, the system requirements naturally followed. As a result, the system is expected to meet the needs of most stakeholders. This expectation will be confirmed when validation through focus groups and trials occurs.

With system requirements traceable back to user needs, the OV-5 and functional analysis were developed. The bottoms-up and top-down approaches to functional modeling provided valuable insight into how the users might interact with the functions, and how the functions might interact with each other. Several iterations of these analyses were needed to ensure the identified user needs were accounted for.

The functional models then provided the basis for the system and physical architectures. By taking the needed functions of the system and combining the scalability requirement, a system architecture of several subsystems was developed. Several of the subsystems are modular, and may be repeated as many times as needed depending on the scale of the installations. Large farm operations may install many transfer and dispenser subsystems, while small farm operations will probably only install several of those subsystems.

The physical architecture took the system architecture and defined all necessary interfaces and components to make up each subsystem. This way, each subsystem could be passed along to component engineers to perform the remaining detailed design. Guided by the system requirements, they will prefer off-the-shelf components to custom ones.

With the design in place, a plan for verification was developed. This described how each requirement would be tested, analyzed, inspected, or demonstrated to verify its correct implementation. The OV-4 provides an organization that supports independent validation and verification teams from the design teams. Independence between design and validation and verification will ensure adequate verification of the system and reduce the risk of missed problems due to bias in the verification process.

President / CEO

VP of Engineering and Design

Engineering

VP of Operations

Manufacturing, Assembly and Integration

VP of Finance and Sales

VP of Human Resources

Design

Innovation and New Product Development

Supply Chain

Quality, Verification and Validation

Technical Support

Finance

Sales

Marketing