Extending the BASE architecture for complex and reconfigurable cyber-physical systems using Holonic principles.

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: ndustry 4.0 (I4.0) represents the newest technological revolution aimed at optimising industries using drivers such as Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs), the Internet of Things (IoT) and many more. In the past two decades, the holonic paradigm has become a major driver of intelligent manufacturing systems, making it ideal to advance I4.0. The objective of this thesis is to extend an existing holonic reference architecture, the Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) architecture, for complex and reconfigurable CPSs. In the context of this thesis, complex and reconfigurable systems are considered to be systems that are comprised of many diverse, autonomous and interacting entities, and of which the functionality, organization or size is expected to change over time. The thesis applies the principles of holonic systems to manage complexity and enhance reconfigurability of CPS applications. The BASE architecture is extended for two reasons: to enable it to integrate many diverse entities, and to enhance its reconfigurability. With regards to research on holonic systems, this thesis aims to address two important functions for systems implemented using holonic principles, namely cooperation and cyber-physical interfacing The most important extensions made to the architecture were to enable scalability, refine the cooperation between holons, and integrate cyber-physical interfacing services as Interface Holons. These extensions include platform management components (e.g. a service directory) and standardised plugins (e.g. cyber-physical interfacing plugins). The extended architecture was implemented on an educational sheep farm, because of the many heterogeneous resources (sheep, camps, sensors, humans, etc.) on the farm that need to be integrated into a BASE architecture implemented CPS. This case study implementation had to integrate data from different sensors, provide live analysis of observed data and, when required, notify the physical world of any problems in the CPS. At the end of the implementation, an evaluation was done using the requirements of a complex, reconfigurable CPS as evaluation criteria. This evaluation involved setting up quantitative and qualitative evaluation metrics for the evaluation criteria, doing the evaluations, and discussing what the results from the different evaluations indicate about the effectiveness and efficiency of the extensions made to the BASE architecture. The extensions made to the BASE architecture were found to improve robustness and resilience. The use of Erlang was found to play a very important role in the resulting reliability. The extensions also helped to fully address the original BASE architecture’s scalability shortcomings and to increase development productivity. Lastly, the extensions show the benefits of using service orientation to enable cooperation between holons and how extracting all cyber-physical interfacing of a system into dedicated Interface Holons reduces development time, improves reusability and enhances diagnosability of interfacing problems.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: ndustrie 4.0 (I4.0) is die nuutste tegnologiese revolusie en dit is daarop gemik om industrieë te optimiseer deur middel van drywers soos Kuber-Fisiese Stelsels (KFSs), die Internet of Things (IoT) en vele meer. In die afgelope twee dekades het die holoniese paradigma ʼn belangrike drywer van intelligente vervaardigingstelsels geword, wat dit ideaal maak om I4.0 te bevorder. Die doel van hierdie tesis is om ‘n bestaande holoniese verwysings argitektuur, die Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE-) argitektuur, uit te brei vir komplekse, herkonfigureerbare KFSs. In die konteks van hierdie tesis, word komplekse en herkonfigureerbare stelsels gesien as stelsels wat bestaan uit menige diverse, outonome entiteite wat met mekaar interaksie het en waarvan die funksionaliteit, organisasie en grootte verwag is om te verander met verloop van tyd. Hierdie tesis pas die beginsels van holoniese stelsels toe om die kompleksiteit van KFSs te bestuur en om herkonfigureerbaarheid van KFSs te verbeter. Die BASE-argitektuur word uitgebrei om twee redes, naamlik om die integrasie van menige diverse entiteite te ondersteun en om die argitektuur se herkonfigureerbaarheid te verbeter. Die studie sal ‘n navorsingsbydrae lewer oor holoniese stelsels deur twee belangrike funksionaliteite van stelsels wat geïmplementeer is deur middel van holoniese stelsels aan te spreek – samewerking tussen holons en kuber-fisiese koppeling. Die belangrikste uitbreidings wat gemaak is aan die argitektuur was om skaleerbaarheid moontlik te maak, samewerking tussen holons te verfyn en om kuber-fisiese koppelingsdienste te integreer as holons. Hierdie uitbreidings sluit nuwe platformbestuurkomponente en gestandaardiseerde plugins in. Die uitgebreide argitektuur is geïmplementeer op ʼn opvoedkundige skaapplaas, omdat die skaapplaas baie heterogene hulpbronne (skape, kampe, sensors, mense, ens.) insluit wat in die BASE-argitektuur geïmplementeerde KFS geïntegreer kon word. v Hierdie gevallestudie-implementering moes data van verskillende sensors integreer, intydse analises doen van die waargeneemde data en wanneer nodig, ‘n entiteit in die fisiese wêreld inlig van enige probleme in die KFS. Aan die einde van die implementering is ʼn evaluering gedoen deur die vereistes van ʼn komplekse, herkonfigureerbare KFS as evalueringskriteria te gebruik. Die evaluering het bestaan uit die opstel van kwantitatiewe en kwalitatiewe evalueringsmaatreëls, die uitvoer van die evaluerings en ʼn bespreking van wat die evalueringsresultate aandui oor die effektiwiteit en doeltreffendheid van die uitbreidings wat aan die BASE- argitektuur gemaak is. Dit is bevind dat die uitbreidings wat gemaak is aan die BASE-argitektuur robuustheid en veerkragtigheid verbeter het. Die gebruik van Erlang het ʼn groot rol gespeel in die gevolglike betroubaarheid. Die uitbreidings aan die BASE- argitektuur het ook gehelp om die argitektuur volledig skaleerbaar te maak en om ontwikkelingsproduktiwiteit te verbeter. Laastens, bewys die uitbreidings die voordele van diensoriëntasie in die samewerking tussen holons en hoe die gebruik van Koppelings Holons (Interface Holons) ontwikkelingstyd verminder, die herbruikbaarheid van programbronkode verbeter en diagnoseerbaarheid van koppelingsprobleme versterk.Master

ARTI-based holonic control implementation for a manufacturing system using the base architecture

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2022.ENGLISH SUMMARY: With industry’s drive to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies, and their enabling technologies, in manufacturing processes, intelligent automated manufacturing has become largely sought after. With defining features such as robustness, reconfigurability and scalability, the Holonic Manufacturing Execution System (HMES) approach shows great potential to satisfy Industry 4.0 requirements. Implementations of these systems have been historically known to require great development effort and time. These implementations are however being aided by the development of holonic reference architectures, such as the Product-Resource-Order-Staff-Architecture (PROSA) and its recent revision the Activity-Resource- Type-Instance (ARTI) architecture. This thesis presents an ARTI-based HMES implementation. The implementation of this system is aided through the use of the Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) architecture for digital administration shells. The BASE architecture was initially developed as a framework for the development of a digital administration shell for a human worker, in order to elevate the human worker to the level of a Cyber-Physical System. It was however proposed that the BASE architecture also had the potential to be used in a manufacturing context. The possibility of implementing the ARTI-based HMES using the BASE architecture for the respective ARTI holons is confirmed through a mapping of the ARTI architecture to the BASE architecture. The HMES is implemented on a Fischertechnik Industry 4.0 Training Factory, a small-scale manufacturing system, as a case study system. The complexity of the case study, which comprises several interacting subsystems, provides a good basis for evaluating the ARTI and BASE architectures for HMES development. The thesis concludes that the ARTI architecture provides a well-defined structure for the conceptual design of HMESs, while the BASE architecture effectively supports the implementation of ARTI-based HMESs with little additional development required.AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Met die industrie se strewe om Industrie 4.0-tegnologieë, en hul bemagtigende tegnologieë, in vervaardigingsprosesse aan te neem, het intelligente geoutomatiseerde vervaardiging grootliks gesog geword. Met kenmerke soos robuustheid, herkonfigureerbaarheid en skaleerbaarheid, toon die Holonic Manufacturing Execution System (HMES) benadering groot potensiaal om aan Industrie 4.0 vereistes te voldoen. Dit is histories bekend dat die implementering van hierdie stelsels groot ontwikkelingspogings en tyd verg. Hierdie implementerings word egter aangehelp deur die ontwikkeling van holoniese verwysingsargitekture, soos die Product-Resource-Order-Staff-Architecture (PROSA) en die onlangse hersiening daarvan die Activity-Resource-Type-Instance (ARTI) argitektuur. Hierdie tesis bied 'n ARTI-gebaseerde HMES-implementering aan. Die implementering van hierdie stelsel is aangehelp deur die gebruik van die Biography-Attributes-Schedule-Execution (BASE) argitektuur vir digitale administrasiedoppe. Die BASE argitektuur is aanvanklik ontwikkel as 'n raamwerk vir die ontwikkeling van 'n digitale administrasiedop vir 'n menslike werker, om die menslike werker tot die vlak van 'n Cyber-Physical System te verhef. Daar is egter voorgestel dat die BASE argitektuur ook die potensiaal het om in 'n vervaardigingskonteks gebruik te word. Die moontlikheid om die ARTI-gebaseerde HMES te implementeer deur gebruik te maak van die BASE argitektuur vir die onderskeie ARTI-holone, is bevestig deur 'n kartering van die ARTI argitektuur na die BASE argitektuur. Die HMES is geïmplementeer op 'n Fischertechnik Industry 4.0 Training Factory, 'n kleinskaalse vervaardigingstelsel, as 'n gevallestudiestelsel. Die kompleksiteit van die gevallestudie, wat verskeie interaktiewe substelsels bevat, bied 'n goeie basis vir die evaluering van die ARTI en BASE argitekture vir HMES-ontwikkeling. Die tesis bevind dat die ARTI argitektuur 'n goed-gedefinieerde struktuur vir die konseptuele ontwerp van ‘n HMES verskaf, terwyl die BASE argitektuur die implementering van ‘n ARTI-gebaseerde HMES effektief ondersteun, met min bykomende ontwikkeling wat nodig is.Master

An Architecture for the Integration of Human Workers into an Industry 4.0 Manufacturing Environment.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.ENGLISH SUMMARY: With the rise of Industry 4.0 and the development in technologies that contribute to this revolution in manufacturing, research has focused mainly on the machines and automated digital systems contributing to the manufacturing environment. Humans are still critical to manufacturing; offering unmatched ingenuity, robustness, and flexibility despite their apparent disadvantages in strength or precision. Many successful manufacturing firms still include humans in their manufacturing processes for these reasons, and it is critical that the integration of humans in an I4.0 manufacturing environment is given research attention. This dissertation first explores the requirements for the integration of human workers into an I4.0 environment. It was determined that the largest problem with human integration exists with data related to the human being digitised, managed, and communicated with other entities in processes that are identified as Administrative Logistics. It is identified that an administration shell similar to the RAMI4.0 administration shell concept is required to manage these Administrative Logistics on behalf of the human, and that a holonic systems approach is beneficial. The dissertation then proposes the concept of a Human Resource Holon Administration shell (HRH-AS). An architecture to implement such an administration shell is then developed, here named the BASE architecture. This administration shell facilitates the interfacing, data processing, and connectivity to other I4.0 components on behalf of the human, to aid in their integration to the digital factory environment around them. The BASE architecture addresses three identified responsibilities of such an administration shell, namely interfacing, digital data management, and delegation to other I4.0 components. BASE stands for Biography, Attributes, Schedule, and Execution, and is a time-based separation of concerns for key augmentations provided to the human worker. The BASE architecture separates value-adding and decision-making plugin components, which are specific to an application, from the core components, which are generic to any application. The BASE architecture led to the development of the 3SAL activity structure to facilitate the communication and management of industrial activities in a digital environment. With the help of an industry partner, two case studies were developed to evaluate an implementation of the BASE architecture. The company is an aerospace composites manufacturer and was chosen for the labour-intensive requirements of the composites industry. The case studies aimed to evaluate the architecture against the three identified administration shell responsibilities and determine if the human workers are elevated to resource holon status. The first case study aimed to show how BASE facilitates interfacing with humans in an I4.0 environment and also acted as a technology demonstrator for the second case study. The second case study evaluated the effect BASE had on the Administrative Logistics involved in the business processes workers were involved in. Together these case studies fully evaluate BASE’s ability to facilitate the integration of humans into an I4.0 manufacturing environment through identified responsibilities of the administration shell. The evaluation found that the BASE HRH-AS improves the effectiveness of Administrative Logistics of business processes the human workers were involved with, as well as opened new opportunities for decision making on the shop floor previously not possible. Value-adding, by means of the plug-in components of a BASE administration shell, has also been proven by the ability to do automated schedule management, automatic calculation of standard work and improved traceability using the 3SAL activity structure.AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: Met die opkoms van Industrie 4.0 (I4.0) en die ontwikkeling in tegnologieë wat bydra tot hierdie revolusie in vervaardiging, het navorsing grotendeels gefokus op die masjiene en digitale stelsels wat tot die vervaardigingsomgewing bydra. Menslike werkers is steeds van kritieke belang vir vervaardiging, en bied ongeëwenaarde vindingrykheid, robuustheid en buigsaamheid, ondanks hul oënskynlike nadele in sterkte of noukeurigheid. Baie suksesvolle vervaardigingsondernemings sluit nogsteeds mense in hul vervaardigingsprosesse in om hierdie redes. Dit is dus noodsaaklik dat die integrasie van mense met 'n I4.0 vervaardigingsomgewing navorsingsaandag geniet. Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek eerstens die vereistes vir die integrasie van menslike werkers in 'n I4.0 omgewing. Daar word eerstens geïdentifiseer dat die grootste probleem met die integrasie van mense bestaan uit oneffektiewe prosesse wat data en informasie tussen mense en ander komponente in die vervaardigingsprosesse komminikeer, stoor en bestuur. Hierdie prosesse word na verwys as Administratiewe Logistieke. Daar word ook geïdentifiseer dat 'n administrasie-dop soortgelyk aan die RAMI4.0 administrasie-dop konsep benodig word om Administratiewe Logistieke te bestuur namens die mens, en dat 'n holoniese stelselbenadering voordelig is. Die verhandeling stel dan die konsep van 'n Human Resource Holon Administration Shell (HRH-AS) voor. Daarna word 'n argitektuur ontwikkel om so 'n administrasie-dop te implementeer, hier genoem die BASE argitektuur. Hierdie administrasie-dop vergemaklik die inskakeling, dataverwerking en konnektiwiteit met ander I4.0 komponente namens die mens. Die integrasie van die mens in die digitale fabrieksomgewing is dus bevoordeel. Die BASE argitektuur spreek drie geïdentifiseerde verantwoordelikhede van so 'n administrasie-dop aan, naamlik: koppelling met die mens, digitale databestuur, en delegering na ander I4.0 komponente namens die mens. BASE staan vir Biography, Attributes, Schedule en Execution, en is 'n tydgebaseerde skeiding van belange vir aanvullings wat aan die menslike werker verskaf word. Die BASE argitektuur skei waardetoevoeging- en besluitneming-inpropkomponente, wat spesifiek vir 'n toepassing is, van die kernkomponente, wat generies is vir enige toepassing. Die BASE argitektuur het gelei tot die ontwikkeling van die 3SAL aktiwiteitstruktuur om die kommunikasie en bestuur van industriële aktiwiteite in 'n digitale omgewing te vergemaklik. Met die hulp van 'n bedryfsvennoot is twee gevallestudies ontwikkel om 'n implementering van die BASE argitektuur te evalueer. Die maatskappy is 'n lugvaart saamgestelde-mater komponent vervaardiger en is gekies vir die arbeidsintensiewe vereistes van die saamgestelde-mater bedryf. Die gevallestudies was daarop gemik om die argitektuur teen die drie geïdentifiseerde verantwoordelikhede van die administrasiedop te evalueer en te bepaal of die menslike werkers verhoog word tot holon status. Die eerste gevallestudie se doel was om te wys hoe BASE n koppelvlak tussen mense en digitale stelsels toelaat. Die eerste gevallestudie was ook 'n demonstrasie dat 'n toepassing in die bedryfsvenoot se fabriek toegepas kon word vir die tweede gevallestudie. Die tweede gevallestudie het die effek geëvalueer wat BASE het op die Administratiewe Logistiek betrokke by die besigheidsprosesse waarby werkers betrokke was. Saam evalueer hierdie gevallestudies BASE se vermoë om die integrasie van mense in 'n I4.0 vervaardigingsomgewing te fasiliteer deur geïdentifiseerde verantwoordelikhede van die administrasiedop. Die evaluering het bevind dat die BASE HRH-AS die doeltreffendheid van Administratiewe Logistiek van besigheidsprosesse wat menslike werkers benut, asook nuwe geleenthede vir besluitneming op die winkelvloer, verbeter tot n mate wat voorheen nie moontlik was nie. Waarde-toevoeging, deur middel van die inpropkomponente van 'n BASE administrasie dop, is ook bewys deur die vermoë om outomatiese skedule-bestuur, outomatiese berekening van standaardwerk en verbeterde naspeurbaarheid met behulp van die 3SAL-aktiwiteitsstruktuur te doen.Doctora

A Holonic Human Cyber-Physical System in Healthcare.

Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineerin

Evaluation of C# for a station controller in a reconfigurable manufacturing system

Thesis (MEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2016.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) are aimed at dynamic situations, such as varying products, variations in production volume requirements and changes in available resources. RMSs distinguish themselves from other types of manufacturing systems in that they can quickly adapt to a new product being introduced without the need for long reconfiguration times, and can therefore cost effectively produce smaller batch sizes. RMSs in research environments in most cases used Agent Based Control (ABC), but the main automation vendors in the industry do not support ABC. This inhibits the acceptance of RMSs by the industry. For this research, C# was investigated as an alternative to ABC, since C# can provide for many of the functionalities of agents, yet is a more widely known language than ABC. Furthermore, C# is an object-oriented programming (OOP) language and thus possesses characteristics aligned with the core characteristics of reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The focus of this thesis is to determine the suitability of C# for the development of the control software for RMSs. This thesis describes the design, implementation, testing and evaluation of a reconfigurable stacking and buffering station. The controller was implemented in C# and made use of the ADACOR architecture. The physical test-setup was built to evaluate the reconfigurability of the controller in a series of reconfiguration experiments. The thesis showed that the controller could handle all the hardware interfaces without problems, since C# generally simplifies the task of hardware interfacing. OOP characteristics helped making developing and maintaining the code an intuitive task. The stacking station handled all communication with the cell controller correctly, which proved that it could easily be integrated into a distributed control architecture.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: "Reconfigurable manufacturing systems" (RMSs) is gemik op dinamiese situasies, soos veranderende produkte, veranderings in produksievolumes en veranderinge in beskikbare hulpbronne. RMSs onderskei hulself van ander tipes vervaardigingstelsels deurdat hulle vinnig kan aanpas by nuwe produkte wat bekendgestel word sonder dat dit nodig is om die stelsel eers lank te herkonfigureer, en kan sodoende kleiner lotgroottes koste-effektief produseer. RMSs maak in navorsingmilieus meestal gebruik van "Agent Based Control" (ABC), maar die hoof outomatisasie-verkopers in die industrie ondersteun nie ABC nie. Dit belemmer die aanvaarding van RMSs in die industrie. Vir hierdie navorsing is C# as 'n alternatief vir ABC ondersoek omdat C# baie van die funksionaliteite kan voorsien wat aangetref word in ABC, maar terselfdertyd 'n meer bekende taal is as ABC. Verder is C# 'n objek-georiënteerde programmerings- (OOP) taal en beskik dus oor karakteristieke wat in lyn is met die kernkarakteristieke van RMSs. Die fokus van hierdie tesis is die geskiktheid van C# vir die ontwikkeling van beheersagteware vir 'n RMS. Hierdie tesis beskryf die ontwerp, implementering, toetsing en evaluering van 'n herkonfigureerbare stapel- en bufferstasie. Die beheerder was in C# geïmplementeer en het van die ADACOR-argitektuur gebruik gemaak. Die fisiese toets-opstelling was gebou om die herkonfigureerbaarheid van die beheerder te kan evalueer aan hand van 'n reeks herkonfigureringseksperimente. Die tesis het gewys dat die beheerder sonder probleme alle hardeware-intervlakke kon hanteer, omdat C# dit oor die algemeen vergemaklik om met hardeware te kommunikeer. OOP karakteristieke was nuttig om die ontwikkeling en instandhouding van die program intuïtief te maak. Die stapelstasie het alle kommunikasie met die selbeheerder korrek hanteer, wat bewys het dat dit probleemloos in 'n verspreide beheerargitektuur opgeneem kon word

Design and Management of Manufacturing Systems

Although the design and management of manufacturing systems have been explored in the literature for many years now, they still remain topical problems in the current scientific research. The changing market trends, globalization, the constant pressure to reduce production costs, and technical and technological progress make it necessary to search for new manufacturing methods and ways of organizing them, and to modify manufacturing system design paradigms. This book presents current research in different areas connected with the design and management of manufacturing systems and covers such subject areas as: methods supporting the design of manufacturing systems, methods of improving maintenance processes in companies, the design and improvement of manufacturing processes, the control of production processes in modern manufacturing systems production methods and techniques used in modern manufacturing systems and environmental aspects of production and their impact on the design and management of manufacturing systems. The wide range of research findings reported in this book confirms that the design of manufacturing systems is a complex problem and that the achievement of goals set for modern manufacturing systems requires interdisciplinary knowledge and the simultaneous design of the product, process and system, as well as the knowledge of modern manufacturing and organizational methods and techniques

Management, Technology and Learning for Individuals, Organisations and Society in Turbulent Environments

This book presents the collection of fifty two papers which were presented on the First International Conference on BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY ’08 - Management, Technology and Learning for Individuals, Organisations and Society in Turbulent Environments, held in Ofir, Portugal, from 25th to 27th of June, 2008. The main motive of the meeting was the growing awareness of the importance of the sustainability issue. This importance had emerged from the growing uncertainty of the market behaviour that leads to the characterization of the market, i.e. environment, as turbulent. Actually, the characterization of the environment as uncertain and turbulent reflects the fact that the traditional technocratic and/or socio-technical approaches cannot effectively and efficiently lead with the present situation. In other words, the rise of the sustainability issue means the quest for new instruments to deal with uncertainty and/or turbulence. The sustainability issue has a complex nature and solutions are sought in a wide range of domains and instruments to achieve and manage it. The domains range from environmental sustainability (referring to natural environment) through organisational and business sustainability towards social sustainability. Concerning the instruments for sustainability, they range from traditional engineering and management methodologies towards “soft” instruments such as knowledge, learning, creativity. The papers in this book address virtually whole sustainability problems space in a greater or lesser extent. However, although the uncertainty and/or turbulence, or in other words the dynamic properties, come from coupling of management, technology, learning, individuals, organisations and society, meaning that everything is at the same time effect and cause, we wanted to put the emphasis on business with the intention to address primarily the companies and their businesses. From this reason, the main title of the book is “Business Sustainability” but with the approach of coupling Management, Technology and Learning for individuals, organisations and society in Turbulent Environments. Concerning the First International Conference on BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, its particularity was that it had served primarily as a learning environment in which the papers published in this book were the ground for further individual and collective growth in understanding and perception of sustainability and capacity for building new instruments for business sustainability. In that respect, the methodology of the conference work was basically dialogical, meaning promoting dialog on the papers, but also including formal paper presentations. In this way, the conference presented a rich space for satisfying different authors’ and participants’ needs. Additionally, promoting the widest and global learning environment and participativeness, the Conference Organisation provided the broadcasting over Internet of the Conference sessions, dialogical and formal presentations, for all authors’ and participants’ institutions, as an innovative Conference feature. In these terms, this book could also be understood as a complementary instrument to the Conference authors’ and participants’, but also to the wider readerships’ interested in the sustainability issues. The book brought together 97 authors from 10 countries, namely from Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Sweden and United Kingdom. The authors “ranged” from senior and renowned scientists to young researchers providing a rich and learning environment. At the end, the editors hope and would like that this book will be useful, meeting the expectation of the authors and wider readership and serving for enhancing the individual and collective learning, and to incentive further scientific development and creation of new papers. Also, the editors would use this opportunity to announce the intention to continue with new editions of the conference and subsequent editions of accompanying books on the subject of BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY, the second of which is planned for year 2011.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Industry 4.0 for SMEs

This open access book explores the concept of Industry 4.0, which presents a considerable challenge for the production and service sectors. While digitization initiatives are usually integrated into the central corporate strategy of larger companies, smaller firms often have problems putting Industry 4.0 paradigms into practice. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) possess neither the human nor financial resources to systematically investigate the potential and risks of introducing Industry 4.0. Addressing this obstacle, the international team of authors focuses on the development of smart manufacturing concepts, logistics solutions and managerial models specifically for SMEs. Aiming to provide methodological frameworks and pilot solutions for SMEs during their digital transformation, this innovative and timely book will be of great use to scholars researching technology management, digitization and small business, as well as practitioners within manufacturing companies

Industry 4.0 for SMEs

This open access book explores the concept of Industry 4.0, which presents a considerable challenge for the production and service sectors. While digitization initiatives are usually integrated into the central corporate strategy of larger companies, smaller firms often have problems putting Industry 4.0 paradigms into practice. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) possess neither the human nor financial resources to systematically investigate the potential and risks of introducing Industry 4.0. Addressing this obstacle, the international team of authors focuses on the development of smart manufacturing concepts, logistics solutions and managerial models specifically for SMEs. Aiming to provide methodological frameworks and pilot solutions for SMEs during their digital transformation, this innovative and timely book will be of great use to scholars researching technology management, digitization and small business, as well as practitioners within manufacturing companies