Production automation

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Manufacturing Systems Integration Program, NIST 2008

Production automation is an applied technical science and a branch of production technology . It deals with the automation of processes in product development , production planning and production . In particular, we have developed our own models for work preparation , logistics and production control . In general, the aim is to accelerate the individual processes in order to gain an advantage in market competition. For this purpose, technical devices are switched between man and machine that complement and / or replace human capabilities and thus enable a more autonomous production process. The discipline is still relatively young, but is rapidly differentiating and developing due to the intense competition between companies. One area is rapid product development .

With production automation, the following goals are pursued, which should bring about a competitive advantage:

  • Shortening of the production times
  • cost cutting
  • Facilitation of human labor
  • Increase in quality
  • Increase in productivity
  • More flexible production

The buzzword " Industry 4.0 " (after steam engine (1), electrification (2) and robotics (3)) refers to this, and aims in particular at the complete virtualization of entire production lines , but is implemented only hesitantly in Germany because the technologies are still partially are immature and high investment sums are necessary as risk capital . In Japan and the United States of America , production automation is already the main objective of manufacturing companies. With a higher degree of complexity and integration, subsystems such as computer-aided manufacturing for product creation, production planning, production monitoring, resource and project management are combined. This corresponds to the all-encompassing feeding of economic processes in a company into a virtual environment to increase efficiency.

Product development

The parallel execution of several development stages in the product cycle , so-called simultaneous engineering , accelerates the development process. In addition, the timeframes for individual development phases are set out shorter and so-called "time-to-market" measures are taken. This enables an earlier market launch and thus a competitive advantage. A good example of this is the increasingly shorter development cycle of the VW Golf over the past 40 years.

Production planning

The prototype construction through the faster process of rapid prototyping enables an early functional analysis and a high level of clarity. For this purpose , special prototype tools are produced during rapid tooling .

In addition, processes are parallelized in production planning in order to achieve greater simultaneity and to shorten the entire period up to market readiness. This is clear when you consider the ever shorter development cycles of vehicles or computer chips, and secures competitive advantages for the company.

Production planning software is used. Depending on the degree of complexity, this is linked to the production software of the machine park and the development software in order to transfer data in real time, synchronize processes and minimize failures due to errors.

Production with automated processes

If the desired production times are particularly short or if the complexity of the components is otherwise unproducible, the more expensive, but much faster to implement rapid manufacturing processes can be used. This accelerates production using automation methods analogous to product planning. According to the respective "rapid prototyping" process, however, the material properties and manufacturing tolerances can only be reproduced to a limited extent. In these special, limited applications, one speaks of prototype series production.

Likewise, with more complex components, NC programming systems are used instead of a simpler workshop control, as the effort for programming the production program is then worthwhile. Here, CLDATA formats are generated in the NC processor from construction models in the preprocessor by a compiler; then these are converted back into NC codes in the postprocessor. The advantage here is that although there are several thousand manufacturer-specific machine languages ​​in circulation, these conversion steps allow commands to be processed and used in a universally compatible manner, which any machine can implement. CAD / CAM and IGES and STEP-ISO10303 interfaces are used here.

As a rule, the development process or product planning is followed by production planning and finally production control . With ongoing controlled production, the products reach the market launch status and the product life cycle begins.

Types of "rapid prototyping" processes

See also

Rapid processes
Production planning
Production control

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Automation of production in the context of Industry 4.0. Retrieved October 31, 2018 .