Digital Manufacturing Laboratory was formerly the CAD/CAM Laboratory of Mechatronics Centre in Beijing Institute of Technology. The laboratory was renamed as Digital Manufacturing Laboratory in 2010. There are6 full-time teachers and about 40 graduate students in the laboratory. The main research and teaching fields are the digital modeling & information integration, virtual assembly & virtual reality, manufacturing execution system, pipe digital integration manufacturing& measurement, etc. Since the beginning of the 11th Five-Year Plan, the laboratory has undertaken more than 50 projects and the research fund has reached more than 50 million Yuan. The projects are mainly from the National Natural Science Foundation, the Defense Pre-Research Foundation, the National Defense Fundamental Research Foundation and other company cooperation projects. The basic research of the laboratory has resulted in many practical systems, which includes the Feature Modeling System, the Virtual Assembly Process Planning System, the Manufacturing Execution System, the Reconfiguration and Simulation System of Manufacturing lines, the Pipe Digital Integrated Manufacturing System and etc. All of these achievements are widely used in the productive process of military industrial products. The laboratory has published 10 public publications and more than 300 academic papers, half of which are indexed by SCI/EI. Besides, the laboratory has got 8 National Patents and more than 10 Copyrights of Computer Software. In addition, the laboratory has been awarded Ministerial Prize several times (twice for First Grade Prizes, 3 times for Second Grade Prizes and 3 times for Third Grade Prizes).
(1) Product Digital Modeling and Life Cycle Management: the research on 3D modeling and manufacturability analysis based on MBD technology, identification of manufacturing features and 3D process design is carried out. At the same time, multi-disciplinary integrated design and integration is carried out with the goal of multi-disciplinary and multi field integrated development in the whole life cycle of the product. Researches involved include product data management, enterprise integration framework, and development process management.
Figure 1: Digital modeling and manufacturability evaluation system
（2）Process Simulation and Digital Detection: conducting tube layout design / bending process / bending numerical control programming / bending die rapid design / bending process simulation, complex thin-walled parts processing deformation control, arc material additive manufacturing, metal/metal interface static seal mechanism, thread connection loosening failure mechanism, Accurate control and measurement of pre-tightening force of threaded connection, machine vision based pipeline measurement and device research, and through process test and theoretical analysis, the related process database is established.
Figure 2: Simulation of tube NC bending plastic forming process and mechanical analysis and parameter optimization of pipe bending process
（3）Digital Assembly and Process Control: The research of virtual assembly process planning and information management, assembly precision pre analysis, cable and pipeline layout design and assembly process simulation, assembly performance analysis and kinematics simulation based on physical properties, computer aided assembly process control and management, etc.
Figure 3: Preassembly accuracy analysis and cable wiring design and assembly simulation system
（4）Digital Workshop and Manufacturing Execution System: The theory and method of production line reconfigurable, production line modeling and simulation technology, the layout design of production line based on production unit and modularization, manufacturing execution system oriented to multi variety and variable batch production, and dynamic scheduling technology are developed, and the production line reconfiguration/layout/simulation system and rapid response manufacturing execution system are developed.
Figure 4: Three-dimensional layout planning and simulation evaluation of production system and dynamic scheduling system for workshop operation