JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018 - 18

BUSlNESS digitalization
Fig. 2: Left: a KARIS AGV
equipped with a vision system
and artificial intelligence (AI)
that communicates with the
factory's Manufacturing Operations
Management (MOM) system and
negotiates with other AGVs to
determine its next task and route.
Right: Siemens Tecnomatix Plant
Simulation software simulating
a factory operation with KARIS
AGVs. The goal of this simulation
is to optimize the number of AGVs
and charging stations needed (and
their locations) in order to meet
production demands

maintenance systems and
processes, thus ensuring
high uptime and better productivity.

Fig. 3: The part on the left is designed
for conventional machining. The
organic-shaped part on the right
has been optimized for additive
manufacturing with reduced mass and
equal strength. New Siemens additive
manufacturing solutions with generative
design and simulation technology yield
reimagined parts like the one on the
right with topology-optimized shapes for
performance and weight

can re-plan its next location
of production/machine or
assembly/inspection station
based on availability. At
any point in time, the AGV
recalculates on the fly the
trip to its next production
location, while the necessary
electronic work instructions
are sent to that new location
dynamically, in the course of
operations. Robot, machine
or 3D printer instructions
are uploaded to the next station and wait for the arrival
of the new job. The same
for cutting tools, fixtures,
jigs, or any other production
resource needed for the next
production step.
All production devices will
be fully connected and will
communicate, at the minimum, their location, status
(working/waiting/blocked),
temperature, humidity, etc.
In cases where the production
system is a computer-controlled machine or station,
the information gathered
could be much richer. When

18

the station is a manual
station, or set on an old machine, the information will
be collected via attachable
sensors.
To make the system as flexible as possible, resources
will be able to communicate
with other resources, with
parts, sub-assemblies and
products. In the factory of
the future, each product
will carry a chip storing all
the relevant production and
quality inspection information. When that product
arrives to a station, the chip
on the product will transmit
to the production station a
range of data including the
process that needs to be
executed, the tool, fixture,
machine programs to be
used, other that needs to
beexecuted, the tool, fixture,
machine programs to be
used, other necessary raw
materials or parts, and the
required worker skills.
Also, some of the production
resources will be located on

top of moving platforms.
This will further increase
flexibility because it will
make it possible, when needed, to bring the resources
to the part/product. For
example, a computer numerical controlled (CNC) robot
could be placed on a moving
AGV platform to send the
robot to the right location
to perform a machining or
polishing operation without
having to move the part/
product from its current
location.
In such a case, it will be
possible to 3D print a part
or subassembly, and to finish
the job to perfection by
sending a robot to perform
the finishing operation, right
after the 3D printer has finished creating the part.
A cloud-based Manufacturing
Operational
Management
(MOM) system will collect
information from resources,
enabling much better and
more
adaptive
factory

jec composites magazine / N°118 January - February 2018

The information collected
during production from the
process, part or product and
production resources will
be shared with the product
design and manufacturing
planning departments. This
will help to improve the
product, make the manufacturing process more robust,
and also help the production
management
people
to
identify the best practices,
by comparing production
processes in different plants
around the globe.

Human-robot
interactions
In the Smart Factory, people
will work alongside cooperative robots (co-bots), which
will have more sensors and
become more human-aware.
Robots with vision systems
and artificial intelligence
(AI) will be able to perform
autonomous tasks, move
to new locations, replicate
work done by humans and
adapt to evolving situations,
such as changes to the
position of parts/products.
Learning at the Smart
Factory will be facilitated by
the use of virtual reality (VR)
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #118 - January/February 2018
