Traditional Automation Solutions Research Articles

On the Design Complexity of Cyberphysical Production Systems

Establishing mass-customization practices, in a sustainable way, at a time of increased market uncertainty, is a pressing challenge for modern producing companies and one that traditional automation solutions cannot cope with. Industry 4.0 seeks to mitigate current practice’s limitations. It promotes a vision of a fully interconnected ecosystem of systems, machines, products, and many different stakeholders. In this environment, dynamically interconnected autonomous systems support humans in multifaceted decision-making. Industrial Internet of Things and cyberphysical systems (CPSs) are just two of the emerging concepts that embody the design and behavioral principles of these highly complex technical systems. The research within multiagent systems in manufacturing, by embodying most of the defining principles of industrial CPSs (ICPSs), is often regarded as a precursor for many of today’s emerging ICPS architectures. However, the domain has been fuzzy in specifying clear-cut design objectives and rules. Designs have been proposed with different positioning, creating confusion in concepts and supporting technologies. This paper contributes by providing clear definitions and interpretations of the main functional traits spread across the literature. A characterization of the defining functional requirements of ICPSs follows, in the form of a scale, rating systems according to the degree of implementation of the different functions.

Identifying automated component handling requirements in a small batch multiple variant production system

Traditional automation solutions are invariably implemented in a piecemeal way, where feeding and handling solutions are only selected based on the requirements of a specific process. This results in a wide variety of different technological solutions being implemented across a factory, resulting in high maintenance costs and duplication of resources. Furthermore, automation is traditional restricted to low-variety high-volume production, where the capital cost can be easily justified. However, the global market is demanding greater product variety, which results in high component variety and small batch production making traditional dedicated automation solutions uneconomical. This paper presents a methodology for component classification which, identifies flexible component feeding and handling solutions for each component group within a particular factory. The methodology analyses the component flow within a factory and identifies six non-value adding component handling activities. An ABC analysis is used to identify the components and processes which involve the most handling operations. Based on the results of the ABC analysis, components are grouped according to the flexible feeding and handling solution which they best suit. The analysis concludes by presenting four component groups and, four flexible feeding and handling solutions.