Modern Production Plants Research Articles

Should extra virgin olive oil production change the approach? A systematic review of challenges and opportunities to increase sustainability, productivity, and product quality

Extra virgin olive oil is constantly gaining interest for its outstanding health and nutritional properties. However, the production process generates roughly four times more waste than the quantity of oil. For this reason, improvements in extra virgin olive oil production and in the valorisation of olive mill by-products are urgently needed, thus motivating this work. The first aim of this review is to summarise current knowledge regarding machines, plants, and processes in extra virgin olive oil production. The second aim is to suggest specific innovations and improvement strategies to increase sustainability, productivity, profitability, and quality. This review clearly highlighted the copious advantages of modern production plants, which can control oxidation processes, avoid temperature increases, and significantly improve the quality of extra virgin olive oil. However, the production chain must face the monumental environmental sustainability challenge. In this direction, this review highlighted that scientific and technological research has made great strides in managing olive mill by-products, suggesting several strategies related to the recovery of polyphenols and applications in agriculture, feed, and food. However, to succeed in this ambitious project, harmonious teamwork between European policies, states, regions, and private companies is needed.

Energy Efficient Pneumatics: Aspects of Control and Systems Theory

As the public call for increasing efforts in achieving the global climate protection goals intensifies, discussions about the efficient use of resources and energy are on the daily agenda. As many other areas, the industry has seen itself facing growing concerns about the long neglected environmental aspects. Since a large proportion of the energy in production is used by pneumatic drives, this survey paper exclusively focuses on pneumatics in handling and automation technology and presents the most common components, followed by multiple model-based strategies to increase energy efficiency in modern production plants. First, single units are studied extensively and methods for design and energy efficient control are presented. Since in production lines pneumatic drives are generally operated in large networks, the second part focuses on energy efficient strategies at plant level. These include an optimized adjustment of the supply pressure, a cascaded air usage, and an automated adaptive control pattern. Care is taken to ensure that the considered approaches are applicable in today’s industrial plants, which is demonstrated by experiments in a production line. The experimental findings show the immense potential of the discussed measures in the form of compressed air savings of more than 60% compared to the industry standard.

KIcker: An Industrial Drive and Control Foosball System automated with Deep Reinforcement Learning

The majority of efforts in the field of sim-to-real Deep Reinforcement Learning focus on robot manipulators, which is justified by their importance for modern production plants. However, there are only a few studies for a more extensive use in manufacturing processes. In this paper, we contribute to this by automating a complex manufacturing-like process using simulation-based Deep Reinforcement Learning. The setup and workflow presented here are designed to mimic the characteristics of real manufacturing processes and proves that Deep Reinforcement Learning can be applied to physical systems built from industrial drive and control components by transferring policies learned in simulation to the real machine. Aided by domain randomization, training in a virtual environment is crucial due to the benefit of accelerated training speed and the desire for safe Reinforcement Learning. Our key contribution is to demonstrate the applicability of simulation-based Deep Reinforcement Learning in industrial automation technology. We introduce an industrial drive and control system, based on the classic pub game Foosball, from both an engineering and a simulation perspective, describing the strategies applied to increase transfer robustness. Our approach allowed us to train a self-learning agent to independently learn successful control policies for demanding Foosball tasks based on sparse reward signals. The promising results prove that state-of-the-art Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithms are able to produce models trained in simulation, which can successfully control industrial use cases without using the actual system for training beforehand.

Vibration monitoring of CNC machinery using MEMS sensors

Industry 4.0 relies on the adoption of digital technologies to gather data in real time and to analyse it, providing useful information to the manufacturing system. In this paper, what solutions modern production plants that are aspiring towards compliance with philosophy of the Industry 4.0 have to adopt, monitor and analyse the vibration data of the manufacturing systems using existing process and tool monitoring solutions. In addition, detailed explanation of vibration level reading in order to increase the protection of the production sources (machines, devices etc.) against human errors and malfunctions in terms of Total Quality Management (TQM) and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) with the concept’s levels TPM1(operator level) and TPM2(periodic conditional reviews etc.) will be giving with a Montronix system’s integration on a CNC milling machine. Besides, optimization and monitoring function of production process will be demonstrated with related graphs and tables with values of different scenarios.

Development of an online rheometer for simultaneous measurement of shear and extensional viscosity during the polymer extrusion process

Abstract The demand for valid and reliable online process surveillance control of modern production plants in extrusion and compounding has considerably increased in recent years. We present an online rheometer for simultaneously measuring the extensional and shear viscosity of polymer melts and filled compounds during processing. The unique die design features a hyperbolic slit contraction that enables constant extensional rates along the die. Further, pressure transducers can be incorporated directly into the two slit sections, which prevents material from accumulating in pressure holes. The rheometer was implemented to a compounding line containing a Leistritz ZSE27 MAXX co-rotating twin-screw extruder and strand pelletizing. We demonstrated the applicability for condition monitoring based on several examples. The rheological behavior of a polypropylene random copolymer is characterized during twelve successive extrusion cycles. We compared our results to oscillatory shear measurements with a plate-plate rheometer. Decrease of extensional viscosity were less severe than the decrease of shear viscosity during multiple extrusion runs. Blending a high and a low viscous polypropylene produced similar behavior. The Trouton ratio which is based on both the extensional and shear viscosity was introduced as an additional quality parameter. For distinguishing between different PP/PS compounds or PP glass fiber compounds, the Trouton ratio is a valid and beneficial parameter. Additionally, different methods for evaluating the melt flow rate (MFR) from shear viscosity data were compared.

The Image of Contemporary Polish SEZ – Spatial Aspects on the Selected Medium-Sized Cities

The genesis of the article is an attempt to present a contemporary image of the Polish Special Economic Zones in the selected aspects. The topics presented in this publication are aimed at highlighting the complexity of interactions that are observed in the field of privileged areas, how special economic zones have influenced and continue to affect changes in the Polish economy, labour market, social processes and spatial transformation of the cities and regions. The interdisciplinary nature of the article is a multi-directional attempt to highlight issues related to the functioning of SEZ in Poland. As a result of the analysis of various studies, the publication presents both positive and negative aspects of these zones, an objective summary that covers almost a quarter of a century of the existence of SEZ on the territory of Poland. Currently, SEZ have become one of the symbols of the Polish systemic transformation. They are not at the centre of our attention and yet have a significant impact on the Polish manufacturing industry. SEZ is also another form of the structure and a change of the existing configuration of industrial areas in the cities. The strategic task of the special economic zones was to introduce modern production plants with new production technologies to the Polish reality of the early nineties of the last century, and to change the quality of work, increasing its efficiency. Contemporary urban and suburban space undergoes transformation, changing the purpose of old buildings and establishing new ones, enforcing reconstruction of the existing transport systems, and directing workforce to new routes. It is also a new standard of work space organization: on the one hand, it is based on an old type production system, and on the other, it is closed and isolated. On its site, there are completely different rules and laws, including both tax reliefs for investors and the suspension of employee rights. The author looks at the selected regions of the cities, in which they are located, like Mielec, Świdnica, Oława, Dzierżoniów, Polkowice, Niepołomice or Legnica. The analysis covers both the regional dimension as well as the geographical and human one, on the local scale, referring to the spatial and social conditions.

Utilization of laser beam oscillation to enhance the process efficiency for deep-penetration welding in aluminum

Laser beam remote welding is an established process in modern production plants. For instance, remote welding is used as a fast joining technology with rather large structural welds in car body manufacturing. Besides the advantages, such as noncontact machining and low process times, laser beam processing is also characterized by a low efficiency in contrast to other joining technologies. Therefore, this research has drawn attention to the improvement of the process efficiency for laser beam welding of the aluminum alloy AlMgSi1. The experiments were performed using a high power diode laser with a beam converter. The used scanning unit allowed a lateral beam oscillation perpendicular to the feed direction. Thereby, a new process was developed on the basis of high frequent beam oscillation. Hence, the sinusoidal beam oscillation enabled a defined heat input, whereas the laser beam was accelerated and the molten pool was widened. As a consequence, the process design leads to a significant preheating of the process zone, which contributes to a reduction in the deep-penetration welding threshold. Accordingly, low laser power is necessary to generate comparably large molten pools by means of laser beam oscillation. Correlating the amount of molten material with the deposited laser power, the results clearly show an increased process efficiency for the deep-penetration welding regime.

Standards Energize Automation and Control [Standards

Examines the relationship between standards development and automation and control. Over the past decades, there has been a boom in automation. We have come to depend on automation techniques and tools. Software and hardware tools facilitate the transactions of financial markets, energy production and distribution, travel, and modern production plants for almost all products. Discusses work being done by standards organizations, including the IEEE to ensure the quality and safety of automated products/services. Standards address a range of issues, including but not limited to various protocols to help maximize product functionality and compatibility, facilitate interoperability, and support consumer safety and public health. Standards form the fundamental building blocks for product development by establishing consistent protocols that can be universally understood and adopted.

Design and Instantiation of a Modular System Architecture for Smart Factories

This paper describes a system architecture modular production plants in the discrete, loosely connected flow production. The system architecture serves as solution pattern for the conception of modern production plants, which are characterized by mechatronic changeability, individualized mass production and internal and external networking. The system architecture is complemented by a set of cross-manufacturer specifications on mechanical, electromechanical and information technology-related aspects, which were developed, applied and demonstrated by means of the example of the pilot plant of the SmartFactoryKL.

Ontology-based framework for maintenance activity analysis and support: a case study for petroleum plant

In most modern production plants, there has been increased implementation of effective plant maintenance management systems. In the last decade, a large number of studies have been conducted and a wide array of software packages has been developed for optimizing and managing plant maintenance activities. The main focus of most of these studies and systems is to manage the plant maintenance costs at high level management. instead of improving the maintenance activities at the plant elements. These systems have been successful in providing valuable assistance to plant management to manage maintenance activities at a high level. However, an effective plant maintenance analysis module concerning plant maintenance components is still in demand in many production plants. It is also vitally important to provide decision support to stakeholders for the efficient and effective maintenance of the production process. This paper presents an analytical framework that provide the stakeholders the flexibility in making maintenance decisions based on the information collected through plant monitoring process and from the plant maintenance work order history. In our previous work, we designed and implemented two stages of our proposed framework using ontology and business rules which allows to define the logical structure and maintenance operation of a production plant with the objective of improving the plant maintenance activities. To include maintenance benchmark, maintenance analyser dashboard and maintenance decision support components, we have extended the ontology and the framework to ensure that decision makers have sufficient knowledge to make the right decision at the right time. The proposed extended framework is designed, implemented and evaluated using an example petroleum production plant as a case study.

Improving the flow [resource optimisation in logistics

Modern production plants often rely on a continuous and uninterrupted supply of material to the assembly line or production process. The two main areas where optimisation of the resources to transport the material can help are in the factory itself and in managing the inbound and outbound flow of supplier's transport. Optimising these can achieve a better flow of material especially in situations of fluctuating demand - and significant monetary saving in the resources needed to accomplish the work. Optimisation of the internal transport can significantly improve the capacity of a plant without expansion. Several manufacturing industries are featured to illustrate the benefits of resource optimisation.

Marcelo Argüelles, chairman of Grupo de Empresas Farmacéuticas Sidus, on Argentine competitiveness

Executive Overview The Grupo de Empresas Farmacéuticas Sidus is an Argentine Business Group with a leading role in contributing to an upgrade within the country's pharmaceutical sector. The organization has successfully faced the evolutionary challenges of this changing sector, in addition to having implemented a thorough internationalization process based on technological innovation. The Argüelles family founded the company in 1938. In the early 1980s the company envisioned the prominent role to be played by biotechnology and created Bio Sidus S.A., so as to concentrate resources on research and development. Throughout its history, the Grupo de Empresas Farmacéuticas Sidus has made continuous investments in research, equipment, technology, and human resources. Currently, it is the third-largest producer in the Argentine pharmaceutical sector being the owner of the three most modern production plants of their kind in Latin America. Today, 65 years after its birth, the group is managed by the second generation of the Argüelles family. Marcelo Argüelles, CEO and chairman, leads a team of 900 professionals, including scientists, technicians, marketing experts, and administrative personnel, all of whom have been the recipients of constant training investments by the company. As for Bio Sidus S.A., after twenty years in operation, it has become a leading organization in its field. Such leadership is based on an efficient integration of business, science, and technology. The company sells six types of protein, not only in the local market but also in more than 30 other countries. Bio Sidus S.A. also has over ten molecules under development and is taking the first steps in such scientific fields as vegetal and animal biotechnology and chemical synthesis. The firm has leveraged its own technology to generate biotechnological raw materials in Argentina. It has successfully integrated science and industry through research agreements with government and private institutions of both national and international origin. The company has also leveraged a biomedicine-exporter profile based on quality products and international competitiveness. The motto of the company is “Progress with science.”

'We Have To Train Men From Labourers': the Agricultural Implement Trade 1918-1945

Between the wars, H. V. McKay's Sunshine Harvester Works was one of the more modern production plants in Australia. In a recent article in the Journal of Industrial Relations, Sandra Cockfield argues that industrial tribunals had little influence at McKay's, leaving management strategy unaltered and workers without influence or protection. The firm was able to de-skill the workforce using a minute division of labour and the mechanisation of production and replace men, first with cheap juvenile labour and later with women and girls. Using the records of the Sunshine Harvester Works and other implement firms, this paper argues that the success of Sunshine management was not so complete. Although decisions of industrial tribunals largely favoured Sunshine's management, modern production methods were not introduced without concessions to employees. In return for intense work routines, Sunshine paid its employees higher wages than were available in other implement firms, and to keep expensive plant in continual production it provided its employees with long-term employment. Despite claims to the arbitration courts that they required unskilled men, the firm frequently recruited those with experience and invested considerable effort and resources in training tradesmen. Women were only introduced in bolt and core-making. Throughout the period the Sunshine management to refused to offer formal recognition to unions. This did not stop employees from developing a collective ethos, and in the late 1930s a shopfloor unionism emerged at Sunshine.

Simulation in Small and Medium Sized Companies

Modern production plants are characterized by enhanced complexity considering increased automation and enlarged integration of computers. Therefore duration and risks of planning are increasing. In addition putting into operation of new or modified plants bring about considerable complications with start-up operation and furthermore decreases in rate of production. The main source of this behavior is often the insufficient tuning of the single devices. The aim of this paper is to give stimulus to utilize “simulation”, which is well known as a planning tool for a considerable time. However it is being used too less in order to find solution to the problems mentioned above.

Radioactive targets for nuclear accelerator experiments

The quality of a nuclear accelerator target is assessed in terms of its purity, mechanical strength, thickness uniformity and microstructure. High vacuum thin film condensation is the preferred production method, because it results in microscopically smooth targets of high purity. Special variants of this technique are used in our hot laboratory to prepare radioactive targets of good macroscopic and microscopic homogeneity while keeping the consumption of isotopic material on a low level. A particular type of carbon backing provides excellent mechanical strength to the targets. New equipment including modern production plants as well as glove boxes and hot cell facilities permits to maintain the service for a long period. In nuclear physics experiments with radioactive targets problems may arise from a possible contamination of the beam line or other equipment. A few protective measures to overcome these difficulties are mentioned.