Chapter 2 - Digital Manufacturing: the evolution of traditional manufacturing toward an automated and interoperable Smart Manufacturing Ecosystem

Abstract

Manufacturing systems have undergone many changes with regard to their structure, organization, and operation. This chapter charts the technical developments in manufacturing systems over the last 70years. The basic building blocks of Computer-Aided Manufacturing and their evolution to Computer-Integrated Manufacturing systems are discussed. We describe today's Smart Manufacturing paradigm, which is central to Industry 4.0. We identify the key components of the Smart Factory and highlight its technical challenges through the presentation and discussion of frameworks and architectures. In order to create smart factories capable of autonomous optimization of interconnected processes, disparate computer and communication systems have to operate with many machines, devices, and manufacturing infrastructure, requiring the development of advanced protocols and standards. Interoperability is a major challenge that needs continued research to achieve the integration of many devices in industrial environments and to develop global standards. The harnessing and use of data to create Digital Twins of manufacturing systems shows great promise in diverse applications, including for predictive maintenance. The whole of the product lifecycle from design through to manufacture and use can now be captured digitally in Product Lifecycle Management systems. The vision of interoperable, smart manufacturing ecosystems is slowly becoming a reality.