Manufactures & Factories
❯
Robotic Process Automation
❯Adaptable factory
Robotic prehension of objects
For:
Customers, 3 rd parties, end users, community
Scope:
Outputting the end effector velocity and rotation vector in response to the view
from a red green blue depth (RGB-D) camera located on a robot's wrist.
Goal:
Improve Operation Efficiency
Adaptable factory
For:
Component suppliers (sensors, actuators), machine builders, system integrators,
plant operators (manufacturer)
Scope:
(Semi-)Automatic change of a production systems capacities and capabilities
from a behavioural and physical point of view.
Goal:
Improve Operation Efficiency
Empowering autonomous flow meter control - reducing time taken for proving of meters
For:
Process industries; humans
Scope:
Calibration of control devices
Goal:
Other
Powering remote drilling command centre
For:
Oil and gas upstream sector; environment, humans
Scope:
Oil and gas upstream (Deployed in 150 oil rigs and 2,5 billion+ data points each)
Goal:
Other
Order-controlled production
For:
Customer, producing companies, broker
Scope:
Automatic distribution of production jobs across dynamic supplier networks
Goal:
Other
Robotic task automation: insertion
For:
Incorrect AI system use; new security threats
Scope:
Robotic assembly
Goal:
Other
Robotic vision scene awareness
For:
Customers, 3 rd parties, end users, community
Scope:
Determining the environment the robot is in and which actions are available to
it.
Goal:
Improve Operation Efficiency
Value-based service
For:
Customer (product user), platform provider, service provider, product provider
Scope:
Process and status data from production and product use sources are the raw
materials for future business models and services.
Goal:
Other
Adaptable factory
For:
Component suppliers (sensors, actuators), machine builders, system integrators,
plant operators (manufacturer)Goal:
Improve Operation EfficiencyProblem addressed
The objective is to enable flexible production resources that enable fast
reconfiguration and adaptation to change situations, contexts, and requirements,
facilitating optimized resource usage under uncertainty.
Scope of use case
(Semi-)Automatic change of a production systems capacities and capabilities
from a behavioural and physical point of view.
Description
Use Case description taken from References [127], [128] and
[129]. Plug and Play using a home computer and a USB
cable, it is easy to connect new devices and use them almost
immediately without any additional effort. The flexibility
that has been available for quite a while on desktop
computers is now gaining importance for industrial
production. Demands on adaptability of production
infrastructure are already rapidly increasing. Shorter and
shorter product and innovation cycles require investment
decisions for new production facilities that reflect future
demand for production and process changes, where possible.
In addition, the growing volatility of orders is hindering the
optimal utilization of manufacturing lines with increasing
frequency. Flexibility and adaptability would become
increasingly important criteria in decisions regarding
construction and operation of new production facilities.
One example is product labelling. Various printing
technologies are available, for example tampon printers
(transferring ink from the printing form to the product using
an elastic tampon), inkjet printers and/or laser printers. In
an adaptable factory this type of operating equipment can be
connected directly to the automated production process.
Simply put, the material to be printed says: Print me. And
the tampon printer would ask: Is the material to be printed
greaseless? The ink jet printer would then ask about the
material characteristics, because it uses heat for the drying
process, for example. A laser printer would ask about the
material receiving the label to ensure sufficient contrast. Key aspects:
The application scenario for adaptable factories describes
the rapid, and in some cases completely automated,
conversion of a manufacturing facility, by changing both
production capacities and production capabilities. The key
concept for implementation is a modular and thereby
adaptable design for manufacturing within the factory.
Intelligent and interoperable modules basically adapt to an
altered configuration on their own, and standardized interfaces between these modules allow for quick and simple
conversion to adapt to changes in the market and customer
demands. Whereas the application scenario order-controlled
production emphasizes flexible use of existing
manufacturing facilities by means of intelligent connectivity,
this scenario describes the adaptability of an individual
factory by (physical) conversion.
Today, when creating a production line, the focus is usually
not only on quality, but also maximization of productivity
and profitability of a pre-conceived product range.
Individual components are connected statically and are
capable of producing the pre-conceived functionalities and
projected volumes. Frequently, a system integrator takes
care of coordinating the individual components and
developing a control system for the entire facility. However,
if the order level is driven by strong product individuality or
high fluctuation in demand, companies can no longer rely on
the advantage of particular production lines. In this case,
modular, order-oriented and adaptable manufacturing
configurations become more attractive: For example, they
increase overall utilization or ability to deliver products. At
the same time, however, the demands on individual
machines or manufacturing modules increase. Even more
important than high variance of specific manufacturing steps
would be the ability to combine individual modules with ease
and in any situation. In order to achieve this, the modules are
necessary to contain a self-description regarding their ability
to be combined or converted into a machine or plant very
rapidly and robustly. The following examples illustrate these
requirements.
A new network-enabled field device, for example a drive
with a new version of firmware, is hooked up to the
production line. The new device is necessary to be
provided automatically with network connectivity and
be made known to all online subsystems. The
participating systems are necessary to correspondingly
be updated.
An un-configured field device is introduced to
production, for example to quickly replace another
defective device. The field device now is necessary to be
individualized and parameterized due to the
information located in the software components.
A production facility is converted or modified because a
new product variation is planned. The control and
software-related changes are necessary to be detected
and automatically transmitted to all participating
systems.
After conversion of a plant, it is necessary to be possible
to move software components for process management
around the decentralized control units, while observing
certain criteria, such as output or availability.
A (new) function of the manufacturing execution system
(MES) is inserted or altered, for example the visualization of a situation not previously required. The
visualization is necessary to be done automatically and
access to the necessary information from the field level
is necessary to also be automatic.
This requires the mechanical engineer to design the internal
development processes accordingly. Modular machines
require modular engineering, based on libraries of re-
usable modules (platform development). Machine
architecture is necessary to be designed such that
combinable mechatronic modules are created, including the
Plug and Produce capability of production modules using
interoperable interfaces and adaptive automation
technology. This requires development of concepts for
services across manufacturer boundaries, such as
archiving, alerting or visualizing, as well as a low-cost
integration of MES functions.
Effect on value chains:
Value added is shifted from the system integrator to the
machine provider or its supplier, because the machines or
components are enhanced so that they are easier to
integrate. The type and quality of system integration change.
The present focus on (production) technology shifts to a
stronger focus on organization and business processes
related to production processes. In extreme cases, the
system integrator can become obsolete if intelligent, self-
configuring and interoperable manufacturing modules can
be created at the level of the machine suppliers.
Value added for participants:
For manufacturing companies, a quick, inexpensive and
reliable conversion of manufacturing becomes possible, so
that they can react quickly to changes in customer and
market demands. Increasing standardization and
modularization also expand the possibilities for combining
manufacturing entities of various providers and therefore
realizing the most economical solution for each individual
module.
Machine modularization opens up new areas with scale
effects for machinery manufacturers.