Industry 4.0 enabling technologies for increasing operational flexibility in final assembly

The manufacturing industry is facing uncertainties caused by growing competition and increasing customer demands. Simultaneously, the fourth industrial revolution, commonly referred to as Industry 4.0, is helping in modernising the manufacturing industry. In the process of modernising, companies are now capable of building resilience into their systems. This resilience is in the form of higher operational flexibility, which helps cope with the growing uncertainties. The new technologies under the Industry 4.0 umbrella can be used to increase operational flexibility. This article summarises various Industry 4.0 enabling technologies that can increase operational flexibility in final assembl

Low-cost Automation – changing the traditional view on automation strategies using collaborative applications

The labor cost has been one of the main reasons for industry to move some of the production to so called low-cost countries. Research has shown that this issue is more complex than just calculate labor cost as main driver. Organization culture, research and development and technical competence is also important drivers for a successful automation strategy. Another important factor when it comes to automation strategies is what production parameters to consider choosing the right automation. Traditionally five parameters have been considered i.e. Volume, batch sizes, variants, investment cost and labor cost. With new and cheaper solutions for automation these two views on automation and lowcost production need to be considered and changed. This paper will describe three demonstrators using low-cost automation solutions to automate simple tasks in final assembly systems. The stations\u27 investment cost is all below 50,000 euro. The first demonstrators have been set up and tested in a lab environment. The results show a high precision, easiness in programming and high quality. The aim is to test this further in real industrial environment to stress the system and to put it into a tougher environment

Conceptualising Assembly 4.0 through the Drone Factory

This paper aims to discuss the complexity of designing an assembly system according to industry 4.0. This is done by introducing the drone factory as a learning facility at the digital innovation hub SIILab. The paper discusses the areas of Operator-Organisation, Operator-Technologies, Technologies-Product and Product-Organisation in a current state and information support subsystem, IIoT architecture and hardware in the assembly 4.0 context

Cyber-Physical Production Testbed: Literature Review and Concept Development

Many researchers use virtual and simulation-based testbed technology for research in production and maintenance optimization. Although, the virtual environment produces good results, it cannot imitate the unexpected changes that occur in actual production. There are very few physical testbeds emulating actual production environment. The aim of this paper is to present a concept of a cyber-physical production testbed based on review of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) testbeds in research. The testbed consists of a semi-automatic production line equipped with system monitoring tools, data analysis capabilities and commercial software. This testbed will be used for demonstration of data acquisition for production and maintenance prioritization. Additionally, the testbed will be used for research in IoT platforms for production optimization

Bridging the Hype Cycle of Collaborative Robot Applications

This paper investigates manufacturing companies’ current and planned usage of collaborative robots along with possible reasons for the observed slow growth in implementing Collaborative Robot Applications (CRAs) in the industry. The paper also discusses whether similarities can be seen in the Gartner Hype Cycle for technology adoption. Findings from an industrial survey suggest increasingly positive attitudes towards using CRAs in manufacturing and final assembly operations as tools and support mechanisms aiding human operators. Better methodologies and best practices are urgently needed for successful CRA implementation and efficient manufacturing human-robot collaboration design

Design concept towards a human-centered learning factory

Learning factories play an important role when studying multi-disciplinary problems. Such a problem is to support operators in multi-variant assembly. Multi-variants cause problems with product quality, production time as well as cognitive load and therefore it is important to find ways to support operators in this context. To assess the effects of multi variants, a design concept were developed in a learning factory environment (SIILab, CPPS-testbed). The concept was constructed at a conveyer belt with three assembly stations using Casat software for instruction presentations. The following aspects were included in the human-centered learning factory: studying the introduction of advanced automation, managing product variety, supporting operators in finding information and supporting existing human-automation interactions

Specifying task allocation in automotive wire harness assembly stations for Human-Robot Collaboration

Wire harness assembly is normally a manual assembly process that poses\ua0ergonomic\ua0challenges. As a consequence of the rapidly expanding electrification of vehicles and transportation systems, the demand for wire harnesses can be expected to grow radically, further increasing assembly operator challenges. Thus, automating this assembly process is highly prioritised by production engineers. The rapid development of industrial robot technology has enabled more human-robot collaboration possibilities, simplifying the automation of wire harness process tasks. However, successful automation applications involving humans require efficient and safe allocation of tasks between humans and technology. Unfortunately, present assembly system design methods may be obsolete and insufficient in light of the capabilities of emerging automation technologies such as collaborative robots. This paper presents a design and specification methodology for human-centred\ua0manufacturing systems\ua0and focuses on collaborative assembly operations in complex production systems. A case study on human-robot collaboration provides an application example from a wire-harness collaborative assembly process. The proposed design methodology combines\ua0hierarchical task analysis\ua0with assessments of cognitive and physical Levels of Automation (LoAc\ua0and LoAp). The assessments are then followed by evaluations of the Levels of human-robot Collaboration (LoC) and the Levels of operator Skill requirements (LoSr) respectively. A task allocation\ua0matrix supports\ua0the identification of possible combinations of automation and collaboration solutions for a human-centred and collaborative wire harness assembly process. System designers and integrators may utilise the design and specification methodology to identify the potential and extent of human-robot collaboration in collaborative manufacturing assembly operations

Effects of Information Content in Work Instructions for Operator Performance

Operators remain as important resources in complex final assembly. To sustain a multi-variant production, it is necessary for operators to manage high demands from a cognitive workload perspective. In such situations, work instructions can support operators cognitively. However, work instructions are often insufficient or unused in final assembly. In this paper, results from testbed experiments are presented where assembly work was supported by different types of work instructions with differing information content. Results indicate that operator performance in terms of perceived cognitive workload and information quality are affected by the presented content of information in work instructions

Assembly 4.0: Wheel Hub Nut Assembly Using a Cobot

To achieve a flexible and adaptable assembly system (assembly 4.0) a combination of enabling resources and technologies are required. Collaborative robots (Cobots) are one such technology that can offer higher flexibility and quick adaptability in assembly systems. Cobots are becoming more common in the manufacturing industry, the use and application of cobots are constantly growing. Combining cobots with IIoT gives the possibilities to also communicate with cobots and employees to achieve an effective assembly system. This paper presents a design research experiment conducted using cobots in a lab environment. The experiment studies the use of cobots in a final assembly environment with the focus on testing feasibility, improving quality and ergonomics of a real industrial operation. The experiment setup is presented in detail and the results are discussed along with future research directions