A Multi-agent Based Construction of the Digital Eco-factory for a Printed-circuit Assembly Line

Abstract

At present, manufacturing industries are required to consider sustainability of the global environment in addition to minimization of production cost. The digital eco-factory has been proposed for a simultaneous examination of environmental performance, productivity and manufacturability. This paper entertains how to construct the digital eco-factory with high accuracy and usability. In general, the digital eco-factory is constructed on the virtual production line modelling an actual production line and its components. A multi-agent based construction of the digital eco-factory was applied and a trial digital eco-factory has been implemented for a PCA (Printed Circuit Assembly) line. A PCA line consists of a solder paste printer, two or three electronic part mounters, reflow soldering oven and testing machine. In the PCA line, processes for the above machines proceed in sequence, these machines’ capabilities are modelled as individual machine agents. There are several types of printed boards produced, depending on the number of mounted electronic components and the temperature of the solder. When a blank PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is input to a solder paste printing machine, the production process is started. A PCB is modelled as a part agent which is one of the product agents. For some example virtual productions, power consumption of each machine on each line from the environmental view and productivity of each machine and each line are monitored. From the results of the trial implementation, it can be said that all components on the production line could be configured as software agents with required accuracy. These agents are called “machine agents.” In addition to machine agents, manufactured products such as workpiece and parts are also configured as software agents.