Model factory
A model factory is the replication of the production technology of a manufacturing company or another technical process on a laboratory scale or a factory with a model character . Model factories are used both in research and in training in the fields of mechatronics , mechanical engineering , process engineering or automation technology. The system components (hardware and software) used in a model factory, such as control systems , operating devices, controls , sensors , actuators , robots , industrial communication systems , are often standard products from different manufacturers.
If you look at a model factory in terms of the types of production processes to be implemented (flow processes, subsequent processes and piece processes), the model factory can be structured differently:
- Realization of different types of production processes in different subsystems,
- Realization of a hybrid production process with all types of production processes in one integrated system.
Type 2 model factories play a role in particular when trends in hybrid automation are to be mapped as the amalgamation of production automation and process automation . The food, luxury food and pharmaceutical industries are striking examples of this. The testing and demonstration of the increasing computerization of production technology, referred to as Industry 4.0 in the high-tech strategy of the federal government , is an important field of activity for model factories.
A model factory is sometimes referred to as a “concept factory” or, in connection with Industry 4.0, also a smart factory , especially when the most innovative components are used and new processes and methods are to be investigated, tested and demonstrated with the model factory in the research company.
An essential criterion for the use of a model factory for research and teaching is its construction with industry-standard components. Only then can the real production world be completely mapped by a model factory. It also differs from other model systems in which non-industrial technology (e.g. Lego , Fischertechnik ) is often used for reasons of cost .
The use of a model factory can pursue very different objectives:
- Training in automation technology on standard industrial components and a sufficiently complex exemplary process
- Efficient work organization , for example through suitable arrangement of assembly systems (manual and automated stations).
- Testing and demonstration of new automation system concepts and real-time capable system technologies in the form of a living lab.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Industry 4.0 as part of the high-tech strategy of the federal government ( memento of the original from October 31, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Accessed November 18, 2012)
