Assistenz bei der Modernisierungsplanung

Zusammenfassung

In diesem technischen Bericht wird das agentenbasierte Assistenzsystem aus Nutzersicht beschrieben, das im Rahmen des DFG-Projekts FlexA entwickelt wurde. Das Assistenzsystem unterstützt den Benutzer bei der Anwendung der in FlexA entwickelten Methodik MHFW18. Konzipiert wurde das Agentensystem mithilfe der Gaia-Methode, die Umsetzung erfolgte mithilfe von JADE (Java Agent DEvelopment Framework). JADE stellt dem Entwickler vorgefertigte Klassen zur Entwicklung von Software-Agenten zur Verfügung und bietet darüber hinaus FIPA-konforme Kommunikationsmöglichkeiten zwischen den Agenten. Nähere Informationen zur Konzeption des Agentensystems sind in MWHF17 beschrieben. Das Assistenzsystem ist zweigeteilt aufgebaut und besteht aus (1) einem Tool zur Verwaltung des Modells des Automaten (PPR Model Manager) sowie (2) der eigentlichen Methodik von FlexA, um Produktionsanfragen zu überprüfen und Flexibilisierungsvorschläge zu generieren. Der PPR Model Manager wurde implementiert, da mit steigender Größe der betrachteten Automaten eine manuelle Modellerstellung zu aufwändig und fehleranfällig wurde. Zudem deckte kein am Markt befindliches Modellierungswerkzeug von Haus aus alle benötigten Funktionen ab, weshalb eine Eigenentwicklung vorgenommen wurde. Eine künftige Portierung des Assistenzsystems auf verbreitete Austauschformate wie AutomationML ist denkbar.

Zusammenfassung

Automated manufacturing machines in the discrete manufacturing domain frequently face changes in requirements, such as volatile customer demands or changes in product variants. Due to this, machines need to become more flexible to cope with these changing conditions. Therefore, manufacturing machines have to undergo adaptation processes during their operational phase. The adaptation processes might include mechanical, electrical, and software changes. In industrial practice, experts individually perform these adaptation processes without methodological support, which is time-consuming and highly error-prone. This article proposes a systematic approach for supporting the different phases of the adaptation process. The producibility check of a production request based on a suitable skill model of the system is addressed as well as the automatic generation of adaptation options. Furthermore, the article provides concepts for analyzing the impact, effort and benefit of the generated adaptation options. Additionally, a multi agent architecture is presented for the implementation of the proposed adaptation approaches. The entire assistance concept was applied to a lab-size production machine to validate the applicability of the approach.

Zusammenfassung

Global trends in manufacturing urge existing machines to become more flexible, as the production environment becomes increasingly dynamic. In order to attain this “flexibilization”, existing machines have to be adapted during their operational phase, i.e. mechanical changes, changes of sensors and actuators, software changes, or a combination thereof have to be performed. The adaptation of existing machines is a complicated and time-consuming process, as various interdependencies have to be considered. Therefore, a systematic approach for generating adaptation options is crucial for a successful adaptation of machines. State-of-the-art approaches primarily focus on the adaptation of products and, thus, are not appropriate for manufacturing machines. Accordingly, this paper presents an approach for the generation of adaptation options to support the adaptation of manufacturing machines. Furthermore, a use case study is presented and discussed, where the approach is applied to an industrial manufacturing machine. Here, the results demonstrated that the approach is applicable for an industrial manufacturing machine and can automatically generate valid adaptation options.

Zusammenfassung

The environment of todays automated manufacturing machines is highly dynamic. Unpredictable changes in customer demands and shorter product lifecycles pose challenges for automated manufacturing systems which usually are designed for a static context. Thus, flexibility and changeability are discussed in order to face the challenges that arise from the dynamic production environment. This paper presents the results of two literature reviews on flexibility indicators and changeability indicators and discusses the determined indicators as well as their usage in the literature over time. A classification of the indicators based on their frequency of usage is also given.

Zusammenfassung

Automated manufacturing machines need to evolve in order to compete in nowadays turbulent manufacturing environment. This evolution process is achieved by performing different adaptations of the system, i.e. mechanical changes, changes of sensors and actuators, software changes, or a combination thereof. Currently, this adaptation process is mostly based on the experience of experts and is time-consuming and error-prone. This contribution proposes an approach that integrates tool support in the adaptation process to assist the engineer in the overall process. The approach uses a multi agent system in order to analyze production change requests and to generate and evaluate possible adaptation options for the machine based on a mechatronic model of the system including interdependencies between products, processes and resources on parameter-level. Thus, adaptation options can be generated on a fine-grained level. An illustrative example for the concept is given by the application on a modular production system.

Zusammenfassung

Bestehende automatisierte Produktionssysteme sind einem ständigen Wandel unterworfen, da sie an geänderte Rahmenbedingungen angepasst werden müssen. Dies kann durch Änderungen der Hardware und/oder der Software erfolgen, wobei der Änderungszyklus der Software im Allgemeinen kürzer ist. Dabei ist für die Planung der Anlagen-Evolution auch die Abschätzung des durch eine Softwareänderung entstehenden Aufwands von Interesse. Unter Berücksichtigung von SPS-spezifischen Besonderheiten wird in diesem Beitrag das Konzept eines Assistenzsystems vorgestellt, das die Aufwandsabschätzung durch die Kombination von fallbasiertem Schließen mit der Anwendung von Software-Metriken unterstützt. Anschließend wird die Umsetzung des beschriebenen Assistenzsystems sowie eines Tools zur automatisierten Anwendung von Software-Metriken auf SPS-Programme gezeigt.

Zusammenfassung

Due to current trends in manufacturing, existing machines need to become more flexible to cope with a more dynamical production environment. To achieve this“flexibilization”, existing machines have to undergo adaptation processes during their operational phase, i.e. mechanical changes, changes of sensors and actuators, software changes, or a combination thereof. A fundamental part of these adaptation processes is the generation of adaptation options. Here, many constraints and interrelations must be considered, which complicate these processes and may result in suboptimal or error-prone results. Therefore, a systematical and efficient approach for generating adaptation options is indispensable for a successful adaptation process. State-of-the-art approaches mostly focus on the adaptation of products and are not appropriate for manufacturing machines. Accordingly, in this contribution an approach for the generation of adaptation options is proposed to support the adaptation of manufacturing machines. The approach is based on the interdependencies between products, processes, and resources. The application of the approach is demonstrated by an illustrative example of a pick-and-place unit.

Zusammenfassung

Due to different trends in manufacturing, existing mechatronic systems, such as automated manufactur-ing machines, are obliged to evolve in order to cope with a quickly changing environment. The evolution of mechatronic systems is achieved by adaptation processes, where changes in the physical structure of a system and/or its automation software are performed. An important phase of an adaptation process is the modeling and analysis of existing interdependencies between system elements which serve as a basis for subsequent adaptation phases. However, current modeling approaches mostly focus on single sys-tem element types and do not regard the holistic system, i.e., products, processes and resources. Accord-ingly, in this contribution a concept for modeling interdependencies between products, processes and re-sources is proposed with the aim of providing a solid data base for the generation of adaption options. The application of the concept is demonstrated by an illustrative example of a pick-and-place unit.

Zusammenfassung

Die Verknüpfung Smarter Komponenten zu dezentral koordinierten IoT-Netzwerken bietet neue Chancen für die Produktionsautomatisierung. Allerdings ergeben sich neue Herausforderungen und ein Bedarf an Konzepten für das durchgängige Engineering, die Integration bestehender Komponenten und derer Absicherung für einen verlässlichen Betrieb.

Zusammenfassung

Existing production systems need to become more flexible and reconfigurable in order for manufacturing companies to stay competitive in nowadays highly dynamic markets. To achieve this goal, existing machines have to undergo various kinds of adaptation processes. As currently there is no standardized procedure, adaptations are mostly individually performed which results in a time-consuming and error-prone process. A systematization of the adaptation process could guide engineers through this complex task and may reduce errors and execution time. Thus, this paper is aimed at proposing a systematization approach for the adaptation of manufacturing machines. The application of the approach is illustrated by an adaptation scenario of a testing machine.