Proceedigs
on
Proceedigs of
of the
the 15th
15th IFAC
IFAC Symposium
Symposium
on
Available
online at www.sciencedirect.com
Information of
Control
Problems
in
Proceedigs
the 15th
IFAC Symposium
on
Information
Control
Problems
in Manufacturing
Manufacturing
May
11-13,
2015.
Ottawa,
Canada
Information
Control
Problems
in Manufacturing
May
11-13, 2015.
Ottawa,
Canada
May 11-13, 2015. Ottawa, Canada
ScienceDirect
IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-3 (2015) 579–584
Towards
Towards Industry
Industry 4.0
4.0 -- Standardization
Standardization as
as the
the crucial
crucial challenge
challenge
Towards
Industry
4.0
Standardization
as
the
crucial
challenge
for
highly
modular,
multi-vendor
production
systems
for highly modular, multi-vendor production systems
for highly modular, multi-vendor production systems
Stephan
Stephan Weyer*,
Weyer*, Mathias
Mathias Schmitt**,
Schmitt**, Moritz
Moritz Ohmer***,
Ohmer***, Dominic
Dominic Gorecky****
Gorecky****
Stephan Weyer*, Mathias Schmitt**, Moritz Ohmer***, Dominic Gorecky****
German
German Research
Research Center
Center for
for Artificial
Artificial Intelligence,
Intelligence, Trippstadter
Trippstadter Straße
Straße 122,
122, 67663
67663 Kaiserslautern,
Kaiserslautern, Germany
Germany
*(Tel:
+49631-205
75
3408;
e-mail:
stephan.weyer@dfki.de);
**(e-mail:
mathias.schmitt@dfki.de);
German
Research
Center
for
Artificial
Intelligence,
Trippstadter
Straße
122,
67663
Kaiserslautern, Germany
*(Tel: +49631-205 75 3408; e-mail: stephan.weyer@dfki.de); **(e-mail: mathias.schmitt@dfki.de);
***(e-mail:
moritz.ohmer@dfki.de);
****(e-mail:
*(Tel: +49631-205
75 3408;
e-mail: stephan.weyer@dfki.de);
**(e-mail: mathias.schmitt@dfki.de);
***(e-mail:
moritz.ohmer@dfki.de);
****(e-mail: dominic.gorecky@dfki.de);
dominic.gorecky@dfki.de);
***(e-mail: moritz.ohmer@dfki.de); ****(e-mail: dominic.gorecky@dfki.de);
th industrial revolution describes the realization of the Internet of Things
Abstract:
of the
the 44th
Abstract: The
The vision
vision of
industrial revolution describes the realization of the Internet of Things
within
the
context
of
the
factory
realize
significantly
higher
flexibility
and
of
Abstract:
The vision
of factory
the 4th to
industrial
describes
realization
of the Internet
of Things
within
the context
of the
to
realize aarevolution
significantly
higher the
flexibility
and adaptability
adaptability
of production
production
systems.
Driven
by
politics
and
research
meanwhile
most
of
the
automation
technology
in
within
the
context
of
the
factory
to
realize
a
significantly
higher
flexibility
and
adaptability
production
systems. Driven by politics and research meanwhile most of the automation technologyofproviders
providers
in
Germany
have
recognized
the
potentials
of
Industry
4.0
and
provide
first
solutions.
systems.
Driven
by
politics
and
research
meanwhile
most
of
the
automation
technology
providers
in
However,
presented
Germany have recognized the potentials of Industry 4.0 and provide first solutions. However, presented
Germany
have
recognized
the
potentials
of
Industry
4.0
and
provide
first
solutions.
However,
presented
solutions
so
far
represent
vendor-specific
or
isolated
production
system.
In
order
to
make
Industry
4.0
solutions so far represent vendor-specific or isolated production system. In order to make Industry 4.0 aa
solutions these
so farproprietary
represent vendor-specific
or isolated
production
system.
In order to make
Industry
success,
approaches
be
by
and
solutions.
For
this
success,
these
proprietary
approaches must
must
be replaced
replaced
by open
open
and standardized
standardized
solutions.
For4.0
thisa
KL
KLapproaches
has
realized
a
very
first
multi-vendor
and
highly
modular
production
system
success,
these
proprietary
must
be
replaced
by
open
and
standardized
solutions.
For
this
reason,
the
SmartFactory
reason, the SmartFactory has realized a very first multi-vendor and highly modular production system
KL
as
reference
4.0.
contribution
gives
overview
of
status
of
has realized
a very
first multi-vendor
highly modular
production
reason,
the SmartFactory
as aa sample
sample
reference for
for Industry
Industry
4.0. This
This
contribution
gives an
anand
overview
of the
the current
current
status system
of the
the
KL
KL initiative
to
aa highly
multi-vendor
production
line
based
on
SmartFactory
as a sample reference
for Industry
This modular,
contribution
gives an overview
of the
of the
initiative
to build
build 4.0.
highly
modular,
multi-vendor
production
linecurrent
based status
on common
common
SmartFactory
KL
concepts
activities.
The
findings
experiences
of
are
initiative to build
a highly
multi-vendor
production
line based onproject
common
SmartFactory
concepts and
and standardization
standardization
activities.
The modular,
findings and
and
experiences
of this
this multi-vendor
multi-vendor
project
are
documented
as
an
outline
for
further
research
on
highly
modular
production
lines.
concepts
and
standardization
activities.
The
findings
and
experiences
of
this
multi-vendor
project
are
documented as an outline for further research on highly modular production lines.
documented as an outline for further research on highly modular production lines.
© 2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Keywords: SmartFactory,
SmartFactory, Industry
Industry 4.0,
4.0, Standardization,
Standardization, Flexible
Flexible Production.
Production.
Keywords: SmartFactory, Industry 4.0, Standardization, Flexible Production.
1.
1. INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION
In
In the
the last
last ten
ten years
years we
we have
have been
been witness
witness of
of aa fundamental
fundamental
transformation
in
of
In the last ten years
have life
beenthrough
witnessthe
of aemergence
fundamental
transformation
in our
ourwedaily
daily
life
through
the
emergence
of
Information
Communication
Technologies
(ICT).
transformationand
in our
daily life through
the emergence
of
Information
and
Communication
Technologies
(ICT).
Computers
getting
so
to
inside
Informationare
Communication
Technologies
Computers
areand
getting
so small
small they
they seem
seem
to vanish
vanish (ICT).
inside
nearly
all
technical
devices.
this,
Computers
getting
so small
theyBeyond
seem toall
inside
nearly
all of
ofareour
our
technical
devices.
Beyond
allvanish
this, things
things
communicate
in
a
world-wide
network:
the
Internet.
nearly
all
of
our
technical
devices.
Beyond
all
this,
things
communicate in a world-wide network: the Internet. This
This
trend
will
find
way
industrial
communicate
in a world-wide
Internet.
This
trend
will certainly
certainly
find its
its network:
way also
alsothe into
into
industrial
production,
which
will
benefit
increasingly
from
trend
will
certainly
find
its
way
also
into
industrial
production, which will benefit increasingly from the
the
advances
computer
In
production,
whichand
benefitsciences.
increasingly
from this
the
advances in
in ICT
ICT
andwill
computer
sciences.
In Germany,
Germany,
this
trend
is
4th
Industrial
Revolution,
in
advances
in ICTthe
In Germany,
this
trend
is called
called
theand
4thcomputer
Industrialsciences.
Revolution,
in shorthand,
shorthand,
Industry
4.0
Wahlster,
Helbig,
It
trend is called
the 4th Industrial
Revolution,
in shorthand,
Industry
4.0 (Kagermann,
(Kagermann,
Wahlster,
Helbig, 2013).
2013).
It is
is aa
synonym
for
the
transformation
of
today's
factories
into
smart
Industry
4.0
(Kagermann,
Wahlster,
Helbig,
2013).
It
is a
synonym for the transformation of today's factories into smart
factories,
which
are
intended
to
address
and
overcome
synonym
for
the
transformation
of
today's
factories
into
smart
factories, which are intended to address and overcome the
the
current
shorter
lifecycles,
highly
factories,challenges
which are of
intended
address and
overcome
the
current
challenges
of
shorterto product
product
lifecycles,
highly
customized
products
and
stiff
global
competition.
current
challenges
of
shorter
product
lifecycles,
highly
customized products and stiff global competition.
customized products and stiff global competition.
A
A high
high product
product variability
variability and
and at
at the
the same
same time
time shortened
shortened
product-life-cycles
require
agile
and
flexible
A
high
product
variability
and
at
the
same
timeproduction
shortened
product-life-cycles require agile and flexible
production
structure,
which
can
be
reconfigured
rapidly
for
new
product-life-cycles
require
agile
and
flexible
production
structure, which can be reconfigured rapidly for new product
product
demands.
This
flexibility
cannot
be
achieved
by
structure,
can be of
reconfigured
product
demands. which
This degree
degree
of
flexibility rapidly
cannot for
be new
achieved
by
traditional
automation.
Instead,
modular
factory
structures
demands.
This
degree
of
flexibility
cannot
be
achieved
by
traditional automation. Instead, modular factory structures
composed
smart
–– the
so-called
Cyber-Physical
traditional of
automation.
Instead,
factory
structures
composed
of
smart devices
devices
themodular
so-called
Cyber-Physical
Systems
–
are
in
of
composed(CPS)
of smart
– the so-called
Cyber-Physical
Systems
(CPS)
– that
thatdevices
are network
network
in an
an Internet
Internet
of Things
Things
(IoT),
key
overcome
currently
rigid
Systems
(CPS)
that are to
network
in anthe
Internet
of Things
(IoT), are
are
key –elements
elements
to
overcome
the
currently
rigid
planning
and
production
processes
(Broy,
Kargermann,
(IoT),
are
key
elements
to
overcome
the
currently
rigid
planning and production processes (Broy, Kargermann,
Achatz,
The
and
to
success
planning 2010).
and production
processes
(Broy,
Achatz,
2010).
The challenge
challenge
and key
key
to the
theKargermann,
success of
of
highly
modular
factory
structures
is
multi-vendor
Achatz,
2010).
The
challenge
and
key
to
the
success
of
highly modular factory structures is multi-vendor
interoperability
of
can
highly
modular
factory technology,
structures which
is multi-vendor
interoperability
of automation
automation
technology,
which
can only
only be
be
achieved
through
coordinated
standardization
interoperability
of
automation
technology,
which
can
only
be
achieved through coordinated standardization actions
actions
achieved through coordinated standardization actions
between
between the
the relevant
relevant technology
technology providers,
providers, integrators
integrators and
and
end-users.
between
the
relevant
technology
providers,
integrators and
end-users.
end-users.
KL initiative paves the way for this specific
The SmartFactory
SmartFactoryKL
initiative paves the way for this specific
The
KL
interdisciplinary
collaboration
between
various
initiative paves
the way
for thisindustrial
specific
The
SmartFactory
interdisciplinary collaboration
between
various
industrial
companies
and
the
research
community.
With
the
purpose
interdisciplinary
collaboration
between
various
industrial
companies and the research community. With the purpose of
of
supporting
the
development,
application
and
evaluation
companies
research community.
purpose of
supporting and
the the
development,
applicationWith
and the
evaluation
of
KL
innovative
plant
supporting
the development,
applicationthe
andSmartFactory
evaluation KL
of
innovative industrial
industrial
plant technologies,
technologies,
the
SmartFactory
KL
can
be
recognized
as
the
first
European
vendor-independent
innovative
industrial
plant
technologies,
the
SmartFactory
can be recognized as the first European vendor-independent
factory
laboratory
for
the
industrial
application
of
can be recognized
European
vendor-independent
factory
laboratory as
forthe
thefirst
industrial
application
of modern
modern
ICT
(Zuehlke,
2010).
factory
laboratory
for the industrial application of modern
ICT
(Zuehlke,
2010).
ICT (Zuehlke, 2010).
Within
Within aa strong
strong network
network of
of automation
automation technology
technology providers,
providers,
aaWithin
multi-vendor
and
highly
flexible
production
line
a
strong
network
of
automation
multi-vendor and highly flexible technology
production providers,
line was
was
implemented
jointly,
which
essential
of
a multi-vendor
and highly
flexible production
line was
implemented
jointly,
which embodies
embodies
essential aspects
aspects
of
Industry
4.0.
A
for
successful
implemented
whichrequirement
embodies essential
of
Industry
4.0. jointly,
A crucial
crucial
requirement
for the
the aspects
successful
collaboration
more
ten
was
Industry 4.0. with
A crucial
requirement
for partners
the successful
collaboration
with
more than
than
ten industrial
industrial
partners
was the
the
definition
mechanical,
and
communication
collaboration
more thanelectrical
ten industrial
was the
definition of
of with
mechanical,
electrical
and partners
communication
standards
between
all
vendor-specific
subsystems.
definition
of
mechanical,
electrical
and
communication
standards between all vendor-specific subsystems. This
This
standardization
is
to
interoperability
standards
between
all vendor-specific
subsystems.
This
standardization
is fundamental
fundamental
to guarantee
guarantee
interoperability
between
different
modules
of
the
production
line.
It
enables
standardization
is
fundamental
to
guarantee
interoperability
between different modules of the production line. It enables
technology
providers
to
cooperate
other
between different
modules
the production
line.with
It enables
technology
providers
to ofclosely
closely
cooperate
with
other
provides
opportunity
technology
providersand
closely and
cooperate
other
technology providers
providers
andtoresearch,
research,
and
provides with
opportunity
to
develop
and
the
interaction
components
from
technology
andof
opportunity
to
develop providers
and test
test and
the research,
interaction
ofprovides
components
from
different
manufacturers
their
networking
to develop
and test theand
of components
from
different
manufacturers
andinteraction
their mutual
mutual
networking under
under
real
different
manufacturers and their mutual networking under
real conditions.
conditions.
real conditions.
The
of such
such aa heterogeneous
heterogeneous
The design
design and
and implementation
implementation of
production
helps
new
requirements,
The
design line
and implementation
of such
production
line
helps to
to identify
identify
newa heterogeneous
requirements,
challenges,
research
priorities
towards
the
production
line and
helps
to identify
requirements,
challenges, gaps
gaps
and
research
priorities new
towards
the era
era of
of
advanced
manufacturing:
New
architectures,
challenges,
gaps and
research priorities
towards
the era of
advanced digital
digital
manufacturing:
New control
control
architectures,
new
and
advanced
digital manufacturing:
New control
architectures,
paradigms,
common
new engineering
engineering
and programming
programming
paradigms,
common
new engineering and programming paradigms, common
2405-8963 © 2015, IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Peer review©under
responsibility of International Federation of Automatic
Control.
611
Copyright
Copyright
© 2015
2015 IFAC
IFAC
611
10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.06.143
Copyright © 2015 IFAC
611
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Stephan Weyer et al. / IFAC-PapersOnLine 48-3 (2015) 579–584
May 11-13, 2015. Ottawa, Canada
580
communication standards and IT security are emerging issues
to be investigated (Weyer, Fischer, 2015).
(CPPS). The traditional production hierarchy will be replaced
by a decentralized self-organization enabled by CPS
(Zamfirescu et al. 2014). They depict autonomic components
with local control intelligence, which are able to
communicate to other field devices, production modules and
products through open networks and semantic descriptions.
In this way, machines are able to self-organize within the
production network. Production lines will become so flexible
and modular that even the smallest lot size can be produced
under conditions of highly flexible mass production.
Additionally, a CPS-based modular production line allows an
easy plug-and-play integration or replace of new
manufacturing unities, e.g. in case of reconfiguration.
This paper deals with the documentation of this multi-vendor
project to exchange best practices and lessons learnt for
further research on highly modular production line. The
contribution starts in chapter 2 with the investigation of the
state of the art related to Industry 4.0. In chapter 3, the
conceptual approach for the development of the highly
modular, multi-vendor production line is described. Crucial
issues along the practical realization will be illustrated in
chapter 4. In conclusion, the paper ends with an evaluation,
lessons learnt and future prospects to the ongoing work.
The third paradigm mentioned above, the Augmented
Operator, targets at the technological support of the worker
in the challenging environment of highly modular production
systems. Industry 4.0 is not gravitating towards worker-less
production facilities (unlike the CIM-approach of the 80s):
Human operators are acknowledged as the most flexible parts
in the production system being maximally adaptive to the
more and more challenging work environment (Schmitt et al.
2013). As the most flexible entity in the production systems,
workers will be faced with a large variety of jobs ranging
from specification and monitoring to verification of
production strategies. By the same token, s/he will manually
intervene in the autonomously organized production system,
if required. Optimum support when tackling the versatile
range of problems is provided by the mobile, contextsensitive user interfaces and user-focused assistance systems
(Gorecky, Schmitt, Loskyll, 2014). Proven, forward-looking
solutions are provided by established interaction technologies
and metaphors from the consumer goods market (e.g. tablets,
smart glasses and smart watches), which do, however, need
to be adapted to industrial conditions. Through technological
support it is guaranteed that workers can realize their full
potential and adopt the role of strategic decision-makers and
flexible problem-solvers. As a result, the steadily rising
technical complexity can be handled.
2. STATE OF THE ART
In this following section, we review the vision and key
paradigms of Industry 4.0 as a crucial step towards advanced
ICT-based manufacturing and highly modular production
systems.
2.1 The vision of Industry 4.0
Industry 4.0 is a strategic initiative of the German
government that was adopted as part of the “High-Tech
Strategy 2020 Action Plan” in 2011 (Kagermann, Wahlster,
Helbig, 2013). In Germany, a major debate on Industry 4.0
has started, which in the meanwhile has spread also to other
countries, like the US or Korea. The idea behind this term is
that, the first three industrial revolutions came about as a
result of mechanization, electricity and IT. Now, the
introduction of the IoT and CPS into the manufacturing
environment is ushering in a 4th Industrial Revolution.
In Industry 4.0, field devices, machines, production modules
and products are comprised as CPS that are autonomously
exchanging information, triggering actions and controlling
each other independently. Factories are developing into
intelligent environments in which the gulf between the real
and digital world is becoming smaller. The strong bias of the
electro-technical and hierarchical world of factory
automation will transition to smart factory networks, that
enable dynamic re-engineering processes and deliver the
ability to respond flexibly to disruptions and failures.
2.3 Modular production systems
In the course of the changing production environment similar
approaches in realizing modular factory systems already
exists. As an example for a modular production platform, the
flexible assembly concept FlexiMon (Klose, 2014) or the
research project AutoPnP (Ostertag, 2014) can be mentioned.
However, these concepts are pursued on a vendor-specific
level, and are thus less in accordance with the vision Industry
4.0, which stipulates interoperability and congruence of
multi-vendor solutions.
2.2 Key paradigm of Industry 4.0
Central aspects of the Industry 4.0 can be further specified
through three paradigms: the Smart Product, the Smart
Machine and the Augmented Operator. The guiding idea of
the Smart Product is to extend the role of the work piece to
an active part of the system. The products receive a memory
on which operational data and requirements are stored
directly as an individual building plan. In this way, the
product itself requests the required resources and orchestrates
the production processes for its completion (Loskyll et al.
2012). This is a prerequisite to enable self-configuring
processes in highly modular production systems.
3. CONCEPTUAL APPROACH
The SmartFactoryKL has made it one of its overarching
objectives to overcome vendor-specific, stand-alone solutions
and create a solid base for cross-vendor solutions within the
manufacturing environment. A new multi-vendor and highly
modular production system driven by representatives of
research and industry shows such a solution and already
demonstrates the paradigms of Industry 4.0 within industrial
The paradigm of the Smart Machine describes the process of
machines becoming Cyber-Physical Production Systems
612
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May 11-13, 2015. Ottawa, Canada
relevant applications. To realize this industry-driven
intention, the SmartFactoryKL puts the industry in the
position to provide or tribute a production module or a crosssection technology for such a highly modular production line.
Accordingly, every involved industrial partner took over a
building block of the whole production structure. The
SmartFactoryKL was in the lead to define the standards and
concepts required for the interoperability and to realize the
final plant integration. The standardization process between
the technology providers, integrators and end-users was
divided into several key stages. In first instance, interface
requirements for such a plant structure has been analyzed and
a variety of approaches has been pursued, jointly discussed
and prioritized. Regarding to the heterogeneous environment
mechanical, electrical as well as communication standards
were finally defined to guarantee such a smooth technical
interaction between all these vendor-specific systems.
581
integration between business applications and the
manufacturing level. It highly implies that there is no direct
connection between each vendor-specific module, neither in a
mechanical or electrical way nor in a communication sense.
Furthermore, the integrated webserver ensures a fast transfer
of large data volumes per https, the basic network protocol
used to distribute information on the World Wide Web. For
the communication with the Smart Product, a standardized
data type is used, called Object Memory Model (OMM)
(Neidig, Stephan, 2009). Next to job data, the current state of
production (i.e. current production steps) is stored on the
product memory.
4. REALIZATION AND CRUCIAL ISSUES
The following section describes crucial key issues of the
realized multi-vendor, highly modular production line via
standardized interfaces.
3.1 Electro-mechanical standards
4.1 Production line and process
As described, the strict collaboration of vendor-specific
hardware and software as well as their implemented
functionality can only be successful as long as standards
define the interface between manufacturers. Fundamental
standards describe the mechanical consistency between the
manufacturer modules. This includes the module dimensions
as well as the material flow in form of a standardized
conveyor belt and innovative sluice system. The electric
interface is defined by a universal plug-in connector for
standardized electricity, compressed air, Ethernet and
emergency shut off. The connector is depicted in Figure 1.
The production line consists of five vendor-specific modules
serving for the manufacturing of an exemplary product, a
customized business card holder (Figure 2). The assembling
process starts at the engraving module. Initially, all
customized job data is written on the product memory. The
product itself carries this information along the whole
lifecycle. The digital product memory is realized through a
RFID chip, which is integrated in the base plate of the
product. The engraving module afterwards unloads the base
plate of the business card holder and applies a customized
engraving to it via a CNC-controlled miniature milling
machine. Thereupon, the engraved base plate is rotated and
placed on a work piece, which bring it to the next production
module. The next two vendor-specific modules take over the
mounting of a clip to the casing bottom of the business card
holder and the assembly of different colored casing elements.
A robot places the customized cover on the base plate and
force fits the parts together.
Figure 1: Electromechanical consistency between
manufacturer modules by a universal plug-in connector
Additionally, an automatic neighborhood detection allows an
independent topology derivation. Therefore, each module
contains a RFID tag and reader in both sides. The specific
module information can be deduced automatically by
adjacent modules. This information is then forwarded via
OPC UA to a main server. The current topology is accessible
at any time for any subordinated system.
3.2 Communication standards
With regard to the communication interface, three
technological specifications should be mentioned: OPC UA,
the webserver technology and the RFID data format. The
industrial communication protocol OPC UA allows a vertical
Figure 2: Multi-vendor, highly modular factory systems
(© Lapp Group | Maiwolf)
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Another module applies an individual 2D barcode on the top
side of the business card holder through laser marking. The
final module performs two different tasks: a final inspection
of the product using a high-resolution camera, and the
commissioning of the finished customized business card
holder. Before and after each processing step, the production
memory is read and updated via RFID.
and built specifically for this project under the supervision of
the SmartFactoryKL. While of somewhat limited
functionality, with only monitoring support but no
management, this implementation still demonstrates some
key features of an infrastructure tailor-made for modular
production environments. Each box has four standardized
physical connectors, one being an input port and three output
ports. All outputs are interchangeable. They can be used to
either connect more boxes – resulting in a tree-like
infrastructure topology – or production modules. The
connectors carry power, compressed air, Ethernet and safety
signals. Each production module only has a single plug of
this type. It requires no further connection to any other
system. This setup is depicted in Figure 3. The boxes contain
a fully manageable industry-grade Ethernet switch and
firewall which allows state-of-the-art network management
and security. They also incorporate a distributed energy
monitoring system to measure energy consumption locally at
each output port. This data is transmitted to a server where it
is stored for analysis and visualization.
4.2 Plug and Produce
As depicted in Figure 2, modules can easily be removed or
added during the plant operation, which gives the ability to
the plant operator to select the manufacturing module of the
provider that is most suited to the given requirements. The
module integration is realized through the electro-mechanical
interface as already described in chapter 3.1. In the case that a
new module is detected in the plant structure which
corresponds to the same standard, the sluices open and the
product can be passed. During maintenance, individual
production units can be inspected without shutting down the
entire production system; redundant units can replace a
serviced module within the line.
For future iterations the SmartFactoryKL has already begun
cooperating with its partners on a standard for smart
infrastructures which details functionalities and interfaces for
such infrastructure boxes but does not dictate any
implementation details. The partners will implement this
standard each in their own way, hereby demonstrating a truly
multi-vendor modular infrastructure, fitting the vision of
modular production facility. Subsequent versions will take
significant steps towards being smart and self-managing.
4.3 Smart Infrastructure
When developing a highly modular, scalable automated
production line, it quickly becomes apparent that one needs
an equally modular and scalable infrastructure to
accommodate the needs of the production equipment. In this
scenario, infrastructure is defined as an interconnected
system, that supplies energy, provides a secure and reliable
means of communication and establishes a functionally safe
environment for modules to operate in. Smart infrastructure
is an infrastructure system that requires little to no human
assistance for performing common configuration and
maintenance tasks (Lapp, 2014). It has decentralized
intelligence to route energy and communications efficiently
but also allows for a centralized viewpoint for managing and
monitoring energy and communication flow as well as
diagnostics.
A fundamental aspect of this envisioned infrastructure is that
it is constantly aware of its own topology, state and
capabilities as well as the identity and requirements of
connected equipment. It can use this information to optimize
itself for business metrics like availability or cost. It can do
this by either routing energy and communication flows
efficiently or giving advice to operators for improving the
infrastructure layout.
4.4 Manual Work Station
The automated production line of five automatized modules
is extended by the concept of a computer-assisted, manual
workstation, supporting manual, small-parts assembly by
augmented reality and advanced sensor technology (Gorecky
et al., 2013). The concept follows the Augmented Operator
paradigm and allows a flexible and modular integration into
automatized production lines. By means of RFID, relevant
information and assembly instructions can be deducted
directly from the incoming product or raw material, allowing
mass production of highly individualized products. The
worker is supported by virtual instructions directly at the
point-of-action by tablet or smartglasses (compare Figure 4),
whereas the sensor-based workflow monitoring through a
static 3D-camera allows tracking of the status of the
production processes at the manual workstation. Thus, the
manual assembly can be synchronized with the automatized
production line following a “human-in-the-loop” concept.
Figure 3: The first generation of infrastructure boxes
In its current iteration, the SmartFactoryKL has implemented
this in cooperation with its partners by selecting components
from their respective catalogues and combining them into
what is called an infrastructure box. This box was designed
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engraving control, which means that the production of
personalized products is implemented at the module level.
5. EVALUATION AND LESSON LEARNT
During the planning, development and operation of this
modular production plant, a lot of experience has been
gathered. The lessons learnt will be explained in this section.
From a purely organizational perspective, it has become
apparent that many automation technology providers are
interested and willing to cooperate towards the common goal
of Industry 4.0. Slow moving standards bodies drive them
towards smaller, more dynamic groups.
On the technical side, the plant shows that in some scenarios,
that even current technology can already be applied in
innovative ways to leverage the benefits of distributed control
and modular processes. At this point, each module in the
production line is governed by a central PLC. It has been
seen, though, that Soft-PLCs, which allow for greater
integration between PLC and IT programs, are at an
advantage in this regard, as they can be integrated more
flexibly with other systems and are generally quicker to pick
up new interoperability features like OPC UA. OPC UA is a
major part of the interoperability model that has been chosen
for the production line. However, all of the PLCs showed a
lack of complete implementations of the protocol. While a
trend to move OPC UA implementations from external PCbased systems into PLC firmware has been observed, they are
all as yet unfinished to some degree. Modelling of module
capabilities and states with semantically rich complex data
types is still impossible. Also, OPC UA’s advanced
communication paradigms, like methods and events are
commonly not supported by PLCs. However, vendors make
constant improvements in this area and it can be surmised
that this issue will become continually less relevant.
Figure 4: Computer-assisted, manual workstation
4.5 Control Architectures
As already mentioned, modular production lines require
decentralized control architectures. Within the production
line various control architectures are already implemented.
Next to several classic PLC control systems, one module
already offers an SOA (Service Oriented Architecture) PLC
for a more efficient, data-consistent, secure, and standardized
communication. Service-orientation is a powerful approach to
integrate software modules with defined functionality into
large and distributed IT systems. The SOA PLC within the
module allows a top-down communication from the
ERP system via MES, PLC down to the sensor and will
already be an intermediate step to a decentralized selforganization. Furthermore, the magazine components of the
engraving module can be mentioned as a preliminary stage of
a decentralized control structure in form of CPS as described
in chapter 2. They are equipped with compact controllers and
Ethernet interfaces to achieve full functionality and to also
allow self-diagnosis.
There are other shortcomings of modern automation
components which need to be addressed to make modular
production line feasible for critical production environments,
outside of the lab environment. The modules in this
production line, over the last year, displayed a strong trend
towards higher failure rates. The usual usage conditions that
these components operate under are characterized by
constancy. Frequent power cycling and week-long periods of
power-loss are not common in current applications but will
be in future production plants where modules are often
moved or put in and out of storage. At least one failure in the
SmartFactoryKL plant can be directly attributed to a backup
battery running out of energy, leading to loss of all programs
and configurations on a motion controller. Some of the
modules have become considerably more erratic in their
bootup behavior, sometimes not booting up at all. At other
times some initialization routines are not completed
successfully. Over the course of one year, average start up
times for the entire plant from powering on to being ready for
operation have increased by about 180%.
4.6 Vertical integration of superordinate IT systems
For the future development of such highly modular, multivendor production systems, it is essential to monitor, to
control and to process data across all stages of development.
Superordinate IT-systems need to access data continuously
for this purpose. Key technologies for enabling vertical
integration within this plant structure are the communication
standards OPC UA and the integrated web server. The
integrated OPC UA server in every vendor-specific module
guarantees the problem-free interaction of different modules
beyond proprietary limits.
In this way, information about plant topology, work piece
specific energy consumption, and status messages is
transferred directly to superior IT systems. A further shining
example for a vertical integration action happens within the
first module. The intelligent handling unit initialize the
digital product memory via RFID with a production order.
This production order is loaded through an http-protocol by
the web server of the higher-level ERP-Systems via an
especially developed web client. According to the product
memory, an individual engraving is applied with a CNC
This decrease in reliability makes another issue with highly
modular production lines apparent. When designing a
monolithic production system today the client sets the
systems integrator hard targets for metrics like availability.
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which the SmartFactoryKL production line will undergo a
major upgrade.
The integrator will work towards these targets and meets
them by carefully selecting the right components and tuning
them all to work together. In a modular system, each module
is built individually with its own target availability. When
integrating several modules into a line the availability of the
entire system is the product of all modules’ availability
metrics. It follows that the availability of a modular
production line varies greatly with the type and number of
modules it comprises and that individual modules must
achieve higher values for these metrics than traditional
monolithic plants in order to remain efficient when integrated
into a larger line.
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Schlick, J., Zühlke, D. (2013). Augmented Assembly –
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1
The last notable observation has been made about a specific
design decision made in the SmartFactoryKL. There are
several problems with integrating material flow into the
production modules themselves. Firstly, it hinders flexible
reconfiguration of the line, because material flow is
interrupted while a module is being removed or inserted.
Also, any gaps from removed modules need to be closed to
resume material flow. Secondly, it couples two independent
functions closely together in a single machine. The solution
for material flow cannot easily be changed without replacing
or modifying any existing modules.
6. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
The broad application of future Industry 4.0 aspects will
require new qualifications over the next few years. Industrial
partner takes account of this fact by developing and providing
appropriate teaching and research platforms. With the
realization of this highly modular and multi-vendor
production line, a platform is provided that serves a test-bed
regarding further research and development topics. Within
current activities continually new requirements and fields of
action comes to light, which have to be in focus to reach the
visionary factory of the future.
The integration of further partners with different expertise
should extend the partner network to address all specific
requirements and new fields of action such as the
engineering, safety concepts or the simulation of multivendor systems. Moreover it will also be important to extend
the plant structure and test-bet by new vendor-specific
modules and systems to realize use cases in any kind of way.
Established working groups deal with the ongoing work on
the plant infrastructure, a stronger integration of
superordinate IT systems and smart human-machine
interaction. Manufacturer-specific infrastructure boxes should
be working within a multi-vendor backbone, which is based
on jointly-agreed standards. The same applies to
superordinate IT systems, which have to work more closely
together. Solutions for the engineering of multi-vendor
systems with several vendor specific PLM processes have to
be found. Furthermore, a seamless conversion of such
reconfigurable production systems into the digital world have
to be realized on a manufacturer independent way.
Nevertheless, there is still a strong demand for future
research activities within a network of industry and research.
Some of the milestones to the vision of the factory of future
will already be reached until the Hannover Fair 2015, for
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