Modeling and control of assembly/disassembly manufacturing line redesigned from flux to flexible manufacturing

Abstract

This paper proposes a redesigned model for transforming an assembly/disassembly mechatronics line into a flexible manufacturing system. The flexible manufacturing system model considered is based on a multi-agent manufacturing paradigm in the design of the manufacturing process but borrows elements from the reconfigurable manufacturing paradigm, proposing a modular extension of the system. With a minimal hardware update of the manufacturing system, the number of customizable products that can be produced was extended from one model to five models. This redesign to produce more models in a flexible way was possible primarily due to the characteristics of the initial product. To better understand and test the proposed modification, a Petri net model is proposed and simulations for two of the models are made. Using the simulation data and the proposed manufacturing process models a workstation equipped with an ABB robot and a transportation system equipped with a SCARA robot are introduced. Both systems have dual porpoises, the workstation can operate on the fabrication line or as an independent flexible manufacturing cell, and the transportation system is used to transport products from both the manufacturing cell and from the fabrication line considering the modularization and the configuration task from the reconfigurable manufacturing paradigm.