Smart reconfigurable manufacturing systems
In the reconfigurable manufacturing system concept, production entities are designed to be added, removed or modified quickly to respond to changing production needs. The plug-and-produce paradigm has been the most prominent practical approach to implementation. However, it has focused primarily on interoperability of components and services. Scientists are evolving that concept to include consideration of the capabilities and 'skills' of the new devices and their impact on the overall capabilities of the production system. The EU-funded SKILLPRO (Skill-based propagation of 'plug&produce'-devices in reconfigurable production systems by AML) project helped to make this possible. Project partners developed the system architecture's three main framework components: the Asset Management System, the Manufacturing Execution System and the Skill Execution Engine. The consortium decided to fully rely on industrial standards to facilitate the use of the SkillPro-Framework and idea in industrial settings. The description of the components in the system is based on the open standard Automation Markup Language (AutomationML), an open and free data format for description and exchange of parts and assets of the digital factory. The communication between the components is implemented using the standard OPC-UA. Researchers developed new robotic skills concerning the detection, manipulation and movement estimation of objects. They also devised new methods to detect humans, human-robot-interaction and the data fusion of different sources for mobile robot use. The SKILLPRO team successfully validated the common framework, demonstrating the feasibility of automatic configuration, the autonomous production schedule and interaction of components based on skills. It also demonstrated the seamless interplay among several partners in performing a common production task. SKILLPRO promises several noteworthy reductions, from ramp-up time, process planning effort and production lead-time to energy consumption costs in current manufacturing systems. It will also boost production flexibility and market share. EU manufacturers should become more competitive in the years to come.
Keywords
Manufacturing systems, plug-and-produce, SKILLPRO, reconfigurable production systems
