A Visual Approach to the UCN Industrial Playground

Abstract

The demand for Industry 4.0 skills has increased over the last couple of years. This paper will focus on the multidisciplinary skillsets of IT, Production and Automation Engineering that are being trained on the UCN Industrial Playground (UCN IP). This platform has become an interesting common ground for understanding the knowledge gap in SMEs, when the idea of Industry 4.0 is explored and discussed. But with unexpected consequences led by COVID-19, an emergent need for new procedures start the discussion without having the foundational tools to set off the initial discussion.This paper will present an approach towards a virtual learning factory and present a digital twin platform setup with hardware-in-loop and thought into the ISA95 automation triangle, cyber-physical systems, and simulation timing issues. The paper will also explore the balance between time invested and skills learned – when going from an understanding from a physical setup to a visual approach.