Design of a Flexible Skill-Based Process Control System Considering Process-Relevant Properties

Abstract

The Industry 4.0 research initiative strives to facilitate globally interconnected, flexible, and highly adaptable production systems. The use of skill-based control mechanisms such as OPC UA skills offers the prospect of a straightforward and flexible interchange, as well as the seamless integration of individual participants and processes through standardized interfaces. Furthermore, by enhancing these skills with evaluation parameters pertinent to the processes, such as CO2 equivalents or the duration of specific skill executions, a foundation is laid for creating a customizable and adaptable composition of processes based on specific production process needs. In this article, the OPC UA skill concept is expanded with process-relevant properties, and a structured procedure for the introduction of skill-based process control is presented. The developed concept was implemented and tested on an industrial use case of glass pane completion. The aim of this publication is to demonstrate the potential of skill-based process control that has an integrated assessment of skills.