Microfactory concept with bilevel modularity

There has been an increasing demand for miniaturization of products in the last decades. As a result of that, miniaturization and micro systems have become an important topic of research. As the technologies of micro manufacturing improve and are gradually started to be used, new devices have started to emerge in to the market. However, the miniaturization of the products is not paralleled to the sizes of the equipment used for their production. The conventional equipment for production of microparts is comparable in size and energy consumption to their counterparts in the macro world. The miniaturization of products and parts is slowly paving the way to the miniaturization of the production equipment and facilities, enabling efficient use of energy for production, improvement in material resource utilization and high speed and precision which in turn will lead to an increase in the amount of products produced more precisely. These led to the introduction of the microfactory concept which involves the miniaturization of the conventional production systems with all their features trying to facilitate the advantages that are given above. The aim of this thesis is to develop a module structure for production and assembly which can be cascaded with other modules in order to form a layout for the production of a specific product. The layout can also be changed in order to configure the microfactory for the production of another product. This feature brings flexibility to the system in the sense of product design and customization of products. Each module having its own control system, is able to perform its duty with the equipment placed into it. In order to form different layouts using the modules to build up a complete production chain, each module is equipped with necessary interface modules for the interaction and communication with the other process modules. In this work, the concept of process oriented modules with bilevel modularity is introduced for the development of microfactory modules. The first phase of the project is defined to be the realization of an assembly module and forms the content of this thesis. The assembly module contains parallel kinematics robots as manipulators which performs the assigned operations. One of the most important part here is to configure the structure of the module (control system/interface and communication units, etc.) which will in the future enable the easy integration of different process modules in order to form a whole microfactory which will have the ability to perform all phases of production necessary for the manufacturing of a product. The assembly module is a miniaturized version of the conventional factories (i.e. an assembly line) in such a way that the existing industrial standards are imitated within the modules of the microfactory. So that one who is familiar with the conventional systems can also be familiar with the construction of the realized miniature system and can easily setup the system according to the needs of the application. Thus, this is an important step towards the come in to use of the miniaturized production units in the industry. In order to achieve that kind of structure, necessary control hardware and software architecture are implemented which allows easy configuration of the system according to the processes. The modularity and reconfigurability in the software structure also have significant importance besides the modularity of the mechanical structure. The miniaturization process for the assembly cell includes the miniaturization of the parallel manipulators, transportation system in between the assembly nodes or in between different modules and the control system hardware. Visual sensor utilization for the visual feedback is enabled for the assembly process at the necessary nodes. The assembly module is developed and experiments are realized in order to test the performance of the module

Liiketoimintamallit ja sovellukset mikro- ja desktoptehtaille

The terms microfactory and desktop factory originates from Japan in the 1990’s. Small machines were developed to produce small parts and save resources. In the late 1990’s, the research spread around the world, and multiple miniaturized concepts were introduced. However, the level of commercialization remains low. More empirical evidence and business aspect is needed. This thesis discusses how the systems can be used and how the providers benefit of it, now and in the future. The research includes 18 semi-structured interviews in Europe. The interviewees are both from academic and industry, including equipment and component providers, and users and potential users. According to the interviews, research and the industry have different viewpoints to the miniaturization. Within the academics, miniaturization links to a general philosophy to match the products in size. In the industry, the small size is only a secondary sales argument. The main factors preventing breakthrough are the lack of small subsystems, the lack of examples and production engineers’ attitudes. It appears that the technology is in the beginning of the S-curve, and it has systematic development as well as slow technology diffusion. More cooperation and a large scale demonstration are needed. In the literature, there are multiple applications. The MEMS industry is stated as one promising industry. The research aims usually for high level of automation. Based on interviews, the systems are used as a semi-automatic tool for component manufacturing and assembly. In the future, educational and laboratory use as well as prototyping are promising. Local cleanrooms interest but questions arise. In addition, retail level personalization, home fabrication and the MEMS industry include problems. For providers, the technology offers two promising customer segments (Lean manufacturers and fully loaded factories), few additional segments (e.g. educational, laboratories and offices) and it eases some alternative charging models (e.g. leasing, and capacity sales)

Micro and Desktop Factory Roadmap

Terms desktop and microfactory both refer to production equipment that is miniaturized down to the level where it can placed on desktop and manually moved without any lifting aids. In this context, micro does not necessarily refer to the size of parts produced or their features, or the actual size or resolution of the equipment. Instead, micro refers to a general objective of downscaling production equipment to the same scale with the products they are manufacturing. Academic research literature speculates with several advantages and benefits of using miniaturized production equipment. These range from reduced use of energy and other resources (such as raw material) to better operator ergonomics and from greater equipment flexibility and reconfigurability to ubiquitous manufacturing (manufacturing on-the-spot, i.e. manufacturing the end product where it is used). Academic research has also generated several pieces of equipment and application demonstrations, and many of those are described in this document. Despite of nearly two decades of academic research, wider industrial breakthrough has not yet taken place and, in fact, many of the speculated advantages have not been proven or are not (yet) practical. However, there are successful industrial examples including miniaturized machining units; robotic, assembly and process cells; as well as other pieces of desktop scale equipment. These are also presented in this document. Looking at and analysing the current state of micro and desktop production related academic and commercial research and development, there are notable gaps that should be addressed. Many of these are general to several fields, such as understanding the actual needs of industry, whereas some are specific to miniaturised production field. One such example is the size of the equipment: research equipment is often “too small” to be commercially viable alternative. However, it is important to seek the limits of miniaturisation and even though research results might not be directly adaptable to industrial use, companies get ideas and solution models from research. The field of desktop production is new and the future development directions are not clear. In general, there seems to be two main development directions for micro and desktop factory equipment: 1) Small size equipment assisting human operators at the corner of desk 2) Small size equipment forming fully automatic production lines (including line components, modules, and cells) These, and other aspects including visions of potential application areas and business models for system providers, are discussed in detail in this roadmap. To meet the visions presented, some actions are needed. Therefore, this document gives guidelines for various industrial user groups (end users of miniaturized production equipment, system providers/integrators and component providers) as well as academia for forming their strategies in order to exploit the benefits of miniaturized production. To summarise, the basic guidelines for different actors are: • Everyone: Push the desktop ideology and awareness of the technology and its possibilities. Market and be present at events where potential new fields get together. Tell what is available and what is needed. • Equipment end users: Specify and determine what is needed. Be brave to try out new ways of doing things. Think what is really needed – do not over specify. • System providers / integrators: Organize own operations and product portfolios so that supplying equipment fulfilling the end user specifications can be done profitably. • Component providers: Design and supply components which are cost-efficient and easy to integrate to and to take into use in desktop scale equipment. • Academia: Look further into future, support industrial sector in their shorter term development work and act as a facilitator for cooperation between different actors

Knowledge based requirements specification for reconfigurable assembly systems

Automated assembly technology may be the key to sustaining manufacturing industry in more developed countries. Currently this comprises dedicated systems that can assemble single products at high volumes and flexible systems to assemble a wide variety of products in low volumes. However, competitive forces demand a compromise between the two and Reconfigurable Assembly Systems are an avenue for achieving high volume and high variety production. Although this technology is coming to the fore, there is a distinct lack of tools and methods that make the prospect attractive to key decision makers in organisations. Reconfigurable solutions, which may be profitable in the long term, are rejected in favour of short term solutions, which prove to be more expensive over time. The benefits of requirements engineering have been exploited in software engineering and this work demonstrates how these can be adapted to an assembly environment to form a new basis for communication between the system vendors, who supply assembly system solutions, and system users, who use them. Knowledge Engineering has become a key aspect in industry due to the challenges of retaining personnel and their knowledge within organisations. This is because employees take their knowledge of the organisation with them when they leave. The retention of this knowledge would help to maintain the continuity within organisations. This thesis reports on research that aims to provide a means to integrate these three aspects to form a basis for sustaining competitive manufacture in more developed countries. Moreover, Knowledge Based Requirements Specification for Reconfigurable Assembly Systems will provide a vital medium for promoting Reconfigurable Assembly Systems and encourage their implementation by providing a knowledge-based platform for the specification of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems

Formal Digital Description of Production Equipment Modules for supporting System Design and Deployment

The requirements for production systems are moving towards higher flexibility, adaptability and reactivity. Increasing volatility in global and local economies, shorter product life cycles and the ever-increasing number of product variants arising from product customization have led to a demand for production systems which can respond more rapidly to these changing requirements. Therefore, whenever a new product, or product variant, enters production, the production system designer must be able to create an easily-reconfigurable production system which not only meets the User Requirements (UR) but is quick and cost-efficient to set up. Modern production systems must be able to integrate new product variants with minimum effort. In the event of a product changeover or an unforeseen incident, such as the mechanical failure of a production resource, it must be possible to reconfigure the production system smoothly and seamlessly by adding, removing or altering the resources. Ideally, auto-configuration should obviate the need to manually re-programme the system once it has been reconfigured.The cornerstone of any solution to the above-mentioned challenges is the concept of being able to create formalised, comprehensive descriptions of all production resources. Providing universally-recognised digital representations of all the multifarious resources used in a production system would enable a standardised exchange of information between the different actors involved in building a new production system. Such freely available and machine-readable information could also be utilised by the wide variety of software tools that come into play during the different life cycle phases of a production system, thus considerably extending its useful life. These digital descriptions would also offer a multi-faceted foundation for the reconfiguration of production systems. The production paradigms presented here would support state-of-the-art production systems, such as Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems (RMSs), Holonic Manufacturing Systems (HMSs) and Evolvable Production Systems (EPSs).The methodological framework for this research is Design Research Methodology (DRM) supported with Systems Engineering, Action Research, and case-based research. The first two were used to develop the concept and data models for the resource descriptions, through a process of iterative development. The case-based research was used for verification, through the modelling and analysis of two separate production systems used in this research. The concept, on which this thesis is based, is itself based on the triplicity of production system design, i.e. Product, Process and Resource. The processes, are implemented through the capabilities of the resources, which are thus directly linked to the product requirements. The driving force behind this new approach to production system design is its strong emphasis on making production systems that can be reconfigured easily. Successful system reconfiguration can only be achieved, however, if all the required production resources can be quickly and easily compared to all the available production resources in one unified, and universally accepted form. These descriptions must not only be able to capture all of a production system’s capabilities, but must also include information about its interfaces, kinematics, technical properties and its control and communication abilities.The answer to this lies in the Emplacement Concept, which is described and developed in this thesis. The Emplacement Concept proposes the creation of a multi-layered Generic Model containing information about production resources in three different layers. These are the Abstract Module Description (AMD), the Module Description (MD), and the Module Instance Description (MID). Each of these layers has unique characteristics which can be utilised in the different phases of designing, commissioning and reconfiguring a production system. The AMD is the most abstract (general) descriptive layer and can be used for initial system design iterations. It ensures that the proposed resources for the production system are exchangeable and interchangeable, and thus guides the selection of production resources and the implementation (or reconfiguration) of a production system. The MD is the next level down, and provides a more detailed description of the type of production resource, providing ’finer granularity’ for the descriptions. The MID provides the finest level of granularity and contains invaluable information about the individual instances of a particular production resource. This research involves two practical implementations of the Generic Model. These are used to model and digitally represent all the production resources used in the two use-case environments. All the modules in the production systems (25 in all) were modelled and described with the data models developed here. In fact, we were able to freeze the data models after the first case study, as they didn’t need any major changes in order to model the production resources of the second use-case environment. This demonstrates the general applicability of the proposed approach for modelling modular production resources.The advantages of being able to describe production resources in a unified digital form are many and varied. For example, production systems which are described in this way are much more agile. They can react faster to changes in demand and can be reconfigured easily and quickly. The resource descriptions also improve the sustainability of production systems because they provide detailed information about the exact capabilities and characteristics of all the available resources. This means that production system designers are better placed to utilise ready-made modules, (design by re-use). Being able to use readily available production modules means that the Time to Market and Time to Volume are improved, as new production systems can be built or reconfigured using tested and fully operational modules, which can easily be integrated into an already operational production system. Finally, the resource descriptions are an essential source of information for auto-configuration tools, allowing automated, or semi-automated production system design. However, harvesting the full benefits of all these outcomes requires that the tools used to create new production systems can understand and utilise the modular descriptions proposed by this concept. This, in turn, presupposes that the all the formalised descriptions of the production modules provided here will be made publicly available, and will form the basis for an ever-expanding library of such descriptions

Towards an ontology framework for the integrated design of modular assembly systems

Next generation manufacturing companies have to become highly responsive in order to succeed in an ever more rapidly changing global market. The ability to effectively develop and adapt their assembly facilities (systems) to changing requirements on demand plays a crucial role in achieving high responsiveness since the assembly process has to deal with the full inherent complexity of increasingly mass-customised products. This work was motivated by the current lack of a holistic assembly system design theory that would enable design environments to address the need for rapid system development and adaptation. The challenge is to create a common environment where domain experts can effectively collaborate while taking advantage of the best practices of their diverse domains. This thesis investigates how a domain ontology can help to overcome those challenges. The approach is taking advantage of the higher levels of standardisation inherent in the modular assembly system paradigm which is considered to be one of the fundamental enabling factors to achieve a high level of adaptation. A new ontology framework has been developed to support the design and adaptation of modular assembly systems (ONTOMAS). The ONTOMAS framework is based on engineering ontology principles structuring the domain using formalisms for aggregation, topology, taxonomies, and system theory principles. A number of design patterns have been identified and formalised to support key design decision-making tasks during the design of modular assembly systems. Furthermore, the function-behaviour-structure paradigm has been applied to capture the characteristics of modular assembly equipment at different levels of abstraction that reflect the specific needs of the engineering design process. The proposed ONTOMAS framework provides a sound foundation for computer based support tools to reduce the assembly system design effort and time while maintaining a high level of quality. An integrated design framework for the requirements driven specification of assembly processes and configuration of modular assembly system has been developed. The design approach applies the new formalisms of ONTOMAS to support the design decision-making activities. The developed ONTOMAS framework has been applied in several industrial and synthetic use cases to verify its applicability and appropriateness. Furthermore, the new ontology and design framework have been used as foundation for the development of a prototype collaborative design environment which allows different domain experts to participate in the design of modular assembly systems

Towards an ontology framework for the integrated design of modular assembly systems

Next generation manufacturing companies have to become highly responsive in order to succeed in an ever more rapidly changing global market. The ability to effectively develop and adapt their assembly facilities (systems) to changing requirements on demand plays a crucial role in achieving high responsiveness since the assembly process has to deal with the full inherent complexity of increasingly mass-customised products. This work was motivated by the current lack of a holistic assembly system design theory that would enable design environments to address the need for rapid system development and adaptation. The challenge is to create a common environment where domain experts can effectively collaborate while taking advantage of the best practices of their diverse domains. This thesis investigates how a domain ontology can help to overcome those challenges. The approach is taking advantage of the higher levels of standardisation inherent in the modular assembly system paradigm which is considered to be one of the fundamental enabling factors to achieve a high level of adaptation. A new ontology framework has been developed to support the design and adaptation of modular assembly systems (ONTOMAS). The ONTOMAS framework is based on engineering ontology principles structuring the domain using formalisms for aggregation, topology, taxonomies, and system theory principles. A number of design patterns have been identified and formalised to support key design decision-making tasks during the design of modular assembly systems. Furthermore, the function-behaviour-structure paradigm has been applied to capture the characteristics of modular assembly equipment at different levels of abstraction that reflect the specific needs of the engineering design process. The proposed ONTOMAS framework provides a sound foundation for computer based support tools to reduce the assembly system design effort and time while maintaining a high level of quality. An integrated design framework for the requirements driven specification of assembly processes and configuration of modular assembly system has been developed. The design approach applies the new formalisms of ONTOMAS to support the design decision-making activities. The developed ONTOMAS framework has been applied in several industrial and synthetic use cases to verify its applicability and appropriateness. Furthermore, the new ontology and design framework have been used as foundation for the development of a prototype collaborative design environment which allows different domain experts to participate in the design of modular assembly systems

Towards an integrated framework for the configuration of modular micro assembly systems

The future of manufacturing in high-cost economies is to maximise responsiveness to change whilst simultaneously minimising the financial implications. The concept of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS) has been proposed as a potential route to achieving this ideal. RASs offer the potential to rapidly change the configuration of a system in response to predicted or unforeseen events through standardised mechanical, electrical and software interfaces within a modular environment. This greatly reduces the design and integration effort for a single configuration, which, in combination with the concept of equipment leasing, enables the potential for reduction in system cost, reconfiguration cost, lead time and down time. This work was motivated by the slow implementation of the RAS concept in industry due, in part, to the limited research into the planning of multiple system reconfigurations. The challenge is to enable consideration of, and planning for, the production of numerous different products within a single modular, reconfigurable assembly environment. The developed methodology is to be structured and traceable, but also adaptable to specific and varying circumstances. This thesis presents an approach that aims towards providing a framework for the configuration of modular assembly systems. The approach consists of a capability model, a reconfiguration methodology and auxiliary functions. As a result, the approach facilitates the complete process of requirement elicitation, capability identification, definition and comparison, configuration analysis and optimisation and the generation of a system configuration lifecycle. The developed framework is demonstrated through a number of test case applications, which were used during the research, as well as the development of some specific technological applications needed to support the approach and application

Towards an integrated framework for the configuration of modular micro assembly systems

The future of manufacturing in high-cost economies is to maximise responsiveness to change whilst simultaneously minimising the financial implications. The concept of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS) has been proposed as a potential route to achieving this ideal. RASs offer the potential to rapidly change the configuration of a system in response to predicted or unforeseen events through standardised mechanical, electrical and software interfaces within a modular environment. This greatly reduces the design and integration effort for a single configuration, which, in combination with the concept of equipment leasing, enables the potential for reduction in system cost, reconfiguration cost, lead time and down time. This work was motivated by the slow implementation of the RAS concept in industry due, in part, to the limited research into the planning of multiple system reconfigurations. The challenge is to enable consideration of, and planning for, the production of numerous different products within a single modular, reconfigurable assembly environment. The developed methodology is to be structured and traceable, but also adaptable to specific and varying circumstances. This thesis presents an approach that aims towards providing a framework for the configuration of modular assembly systems. The approach consists of a capability model, a reconfiguration methodology and auxiliary functions. As a result, the approach facilitates the complete process of requirement elicitation, capability identification, definition and comparison, configuration analysis and optimisation and the generation of a system configuration lifecycle. The developed framework is demonstrated through a number of test case applications, which were used during the research, as well as the development of some specific technological applications needed to support the approach and application

Contribució als algoritmes de construcció de models del món per a la implementació en Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació

The present work composes a contribution towards the Construction of World models for its implementation in 'Agile Manufacturing Architectures', aiming to take a step further the control programs for manufacturing systems, making it go from being mere tasks implementers to be entities with 'intelligence' that allow them to decide for themselves what is the best strategy to approach a certain given task. In other words, the input information to the production system should stop being a deterministic sequence of commands to become a specification of initial and final states. The work builds on previous results of Gomà and Vivancos to build logical models of simple systems and enunciates some corollaries relating to its operation. Then, it develops new algorithms based on the main stages of World Exploration and Tasks Implementation; initially only for Worlds populated by binary variables and later with the introduction of the treatment of continuous variables. These algorithms, innovative as they introduce the possibility of applying logical prejudices about the world, can apply different strategies to build world models. To evaluate the applicability of these algorithms it is programmed in C+ an experimentation platform for particularised systems and a specification according to the variables that should be utilised in the implementation of these algorithms in different types of manufacturing equipment (Machine tools for Subtractive methods and Additive Manufacturing systems) as well as in complex systems such as the 'Agile Manufacturing Architectures', that have been studied and materialized in works in the context of the present Thesis. In recent years, the paradigm of manufacturing has changed. China and Asia have become the factory of the world and all developed countries have had to began aggressive reindustrialization campaigns to relocate the industry lost. In some cases, particularly relevant sectors 'like the biomedical sector, the Toys case and the Consumer products-, have been presented as a golden opportunity to achieve promising results and have been the subject of an in-depth analysis in this work. Meanwhile, during these years, research and development of manufacturing systems have not been stopped; in fact, it has emerged a new community called 'Makers', built upon very well trained users, motivated by non-profit aspirations that are making to change the game rules. Soon, the personal digital fabrication and the virtual generation and sharing of content will end up to change the way of producing products (and therefore to conceive, to transport, to use and to trade with them), making possible a movement that is being considered as the 'Democratization of the production'. The algorithms presented are intended to maintain a high level of abstraction. 'Action' and 'detection' are internally treated as entirely independent processes, so the system must necessarily learn by an internal logical process. Moreover, beyond the scope of the contribution of this Thesis, the aim of this work is being able to provide a functional specification that can be made available to the community and may serve as a seed to allow the development of intelligent manufacturing paradigms (iCAM) in truly Agile Manufacturing Architectures.La present Tesi Doctoral realitza una contribució a la Construcció de Models del Món per a la implementació en Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació, amb la intenció de portar un pas més enllà els programes de control dels sistemes de fabricació, tot fent que passin de ser simples executors de tasques a ser elements amb 'intel·ligència' que els permeti decidir per ells mateixos quina és la millor estratègia per abordar una tasca encomanada. Dit d'altra manera, la informació d'entrada al sistema de fabricació ha de deixar de ser una seqüència determinista de comandes per convertir-se en una especificació d'Estats inicial i final. El treball parteix dels treballs previs de Gomà i Vivancos per construir models lògics de sistemes senzills i n'enuncia uns corol·laris relatius al seu funcionament. A continuació, desenvolupa nous algoritmes basats en les etapes principals d'Exploració del Món i d'Execució de Tasques; primer per móns només poblats per variables binàries i més tard amb la introducció del tractament de contínues. Aquests algoritmes, innovadors, ja que introdueixen la possibilitat d'aplicar prejudicis lògics sobre el món, permeten aplicar diferents estratègies de construcció de Models del Món. Per a avaluar la bona aplicabilitat d¿aquests algoritmes, es realitza la programació d'una plataforma d¿experimentació en llenguatge C+ i es particularitza una especificació de sistemes segons les seves variables per tal d'interpretar com hauria de ser la implementació d'aquests en diferents tipologies de Màquina (Fabricació per arrencament de ferritja i Fabricació Additiva), així com en sistemes complexos com les Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricació que han estat objecte d'estudi i de materialització en treballs a l'entorn de la present Tesi Doctoral. Durant els darrers anys, el paradigma de la fabricació ha canviat. Xina i l'Àsia s'han convertit en la fàbrica de tot el món i els països desenvolupats han hagut de començar campanyes de reindustrialització molt agressives per relocalitzar la industria perduda. En alguns casos, sectors especialment rellevants -com el cas biomèdic, el cas de la joguina i els productes de consum- s'han presentat com a oportunitats daurades per assolir resultats esperançadors i han estat objecte d'un anàlisi en profunditat en el present treball. Paral·lelament, durant aquests anys, la recerca i el desenvolupament de sistemes de fabricació no han estat aturats; de fet ha aflorat amb força una nova comunitat anomenada 'Makers', formada per usuaris molt ben capacitats moguts per interessos no lucratius que estan fent canviar les regles del joc. Aviat, amb la fabricació digital personal i la generació i compartició de continguts de manera virtual, canviaran la manera de produir productes (i per tant de concebre'ls, transportar-los, utilitzar-los i de comerciar amb ells), tot fent possible el moviment que ja es considera com la 'Democratització de la producció'. Els algoritmes presentats pretenen mantenir un nivell d'abstracció elevat. 'Acció' i 'detecció' es tracten com a processos desacoblats internament, de manera que el sistema hagi de fer necessàriament un procés d'aprenentatge lògic. Més enllà de l'abast de la contribució de la present Tesi Doctoral, la intenció d'aquest treball és haver pogut aportar unes especificacions funcionals que podran ser posades a l'abast de la comunitat i que podran servir de llavor per permetre el desenvolupament de nous paradigmes de fabricació intel·ligent (iCAM) en veritables Arquitectures Àgils de Fabricaci