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Today, the growing demand for personalised products is highly challenging for enterprises in terms of productivity and efficiency. At this point, the integration of Industry 4.0 into lean production practices is a very significant development in order to increase companies' productivity and reduce their wastage. Following the emergence of Industry 4.0, the availability of new technologies draws the attention of companies in order to sustain the applicability of lean production practices in business processes. While the lean production approach aims to bring insight into simplicity and plainness by eliminating operational complexity, Industry 4.0 is to incorporate technologies that seek to facilitate the lives of enterprises and people. While Industry 4.0 and its lean applications attract more and more interest in the developing technology, we have found that number of the studies in this field is limited and there is a considerable shortage in the literature. Therefore, this article is one of the few studies that address the lean philosophy, digital factory, and Industry 4.0 application together and systematically review the literature. In the present study, we tried to provide an overview of the integration of lean and Industry 4.0 and the establishment of digital factories, the challenges and barriers experienced therein, and what the future holds for these practices, which we have noticed to lack in the literature. Accordingly, academic studies were reviewed starting from 1990, when lean thinking came to life, and as a result, 29 articles were identified by conducting a systematic literature review between 2018 and 2022 when the popularity of Industry 4.0 and lean practices has increased, and an inference was reached by determining the topics and contents of the articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of the article is to understand how research and practices related to the use of VR in production processes are developing. As well as providing information on the diversity of VR applications in industry. Design/methodology/approach: The bibliometric analysis is based on data from the Scopus database and Web of Science, focused on research and scientific publications related to the use of VR in the context of manufacturing processes. The subject scope of the article includes identifying, among other things, the dominant authors and organizations in the analyzed topic. Analysis of keywords and visualization of their connections using VOSviewer software, and identification of the resulting topic clusters. In addition, identification of research trends and areas for further work. Findings: The bibliometric analysis conducted reveals several research trends and research areas related to the use of virtual reality technology in the manufacturing industry. The research includes, but is not limited to, the exploration of innovative teaching and training delivery methods and the impact of VR on manufacturing processes. In addition, they include the development of digital manufacturing, the creation of smart factories in line with the concept of Industry 4.0. The trends reflect the drive to use VR as a tool for optimization, achieving industrial sustainability goals and shaping the future of manufacturing. Research limitations/implications: Limitations are due to the very nature of bibliometric research and the use of two databases for publication selection (Scopus, Web of Science). Originality/value: The value of the article lies in providing information that can be useful to practitioners and researchers interested in this topic. The work identifies and discusses specific research areas and trends related to the use of VR in the manufacturing industry. Includes analysis of new approaches and innovative methods that are emerging in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's industry, the fourth industrial revolution is underway, characterized by the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data. One of the key pillars of this revolution is the technology of digital twin, which is rapidly gaining importance in various industries. However, the concept of digital twins is often misunderstood or misused as a buzzword, leading to confusion in its definition and applications. This observation inspired the authors of this paper to create their own demonstration applications that allow the control of both the real and virtual systems through automatic two-way communication and mutual influence in context of digital twins. The paper aims to demonstrate the use of digital twin technology aimed at discrete manufacturing events in two case studies. In order to create the digital twins for these case studies, the authors used technologies as Unity, Game4Automation, Siemens TIA portal, and Fishertechnik models. The first case study involves the creation of a digital twin for a production line model, while the second case study involves the virtual extension of a warehouse stacker using a digital twin. These case studies will form the basis for the creation of pilot courses for Industry 4.0 education and can be further modified for the development of Industry 4.0 educational materials and technical practice. In conclusion, selected technologies are affordable, which makes the presented methodologies and educational studies accessible to a wide range of researchers and solution developers tackling the issue of digital twins, with a focus on discrete manufacturing events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current trend in industry is the digitalisation of production processes using modern information and communication technologies, a trend that falls under the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. Applications that link the world of information technologies (IT) and operational technologies (OT) are in particular demand. On the basis of information from practice, it can be stated that there is a shortage of specialists in the labour market for the interconnection of PLCs with information and communication technologies (cloud, web, mobile applications, etc.) in Slovakia and neighbouring countries. However, this problem is beginning to affect other countries in Europe as well. The main objective of the work was to prepare case studies suitable for educational purposes, which would address the modelling and control of a virtual discrete-event system using a PLC program and its subsequent interfacing to a cloud application. Within the scope of the work, three case studies were prepared to demonstrate the control of discrete-event system using different programming systems and their communication with the developed cloud applications. These applications are to be used for data monitoring and emergency intervention of the discrete-event system. The characteristics of the prepared case studies, which combine operational and informational technologies, predestines them for use in the sphere of education of engineers for digitalisation of production processes. They can also be helpful in research on the creation of digital twins, which represent a type of symmetry between real and virtual systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s industry, the fourth industrial revolution is underway, characterized by the integration of advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data. One of the key pillars of this revolution is the technology of digital twin, which is rapidly gaining importance in various industries. However, the concept of digital twins is often misunderstood or misused as a buzzword, leading to confusion in its definition and applications. This observation inspired the authors of this paper to create their own demonstration applications that allow the control of both the real and virtual systems through automatic two-way communication and mutual influence in context of digital twins. The paper aims to demonstrate the use of digital twin technology aimed at discrete manufacturing events in two case studies. In order to create the digital twins for these case studies, the authors used technologies as Unity, Game4Automation, Siemens TIA portal, and Fishertechnik models. The first case study involves the creation of a digital twin for a production line model, while the second case study involves the virtual extension of a warehouse stacker using a digital twin. These case studies will form the basis for the creation of pilot courses for Industry 4.0 education and can be further modified for the development of Industry 4.0 educational materials and technical practice. In conclusion, selected technologies are affordable, which makes the presented methodologies and educational studies accessible to a wide range of researchers and solution developers tackling the issue of digital twins, with a focus on discrete manufacturing events.

This article presents the results of research with the main goal of identifying possible applications of edge computing (EC) in industry. This study used the methodology of systematic literature review and text mining analysis. The main findings showed that the primary goal of EC is to reduce the time required to transfer large amounts of data. With the ability to analyze data at the edge, it is possible to obtain immediate feedback and use it in the decision-making process. However, the implementation of EC requires investments not only in infrastructure, but also in the development of employee knowledge related to modern computing methods based on artificial intelligence. As the results of the analyses showed, great importance is also attached to energy consumption, both in ongoing production processes and for the purposes of data transmission and analysis. This paper also highlights problems related to quality management. Based on the analyses, we indicate further research directions for the application of edge computing and associated technologies that are required in the area of intelligent resource scheduling (for flexible production systems and autonomous systems), anomaly detection and resulting decision making, data analysis and transfer, knowledge management (for smart designing), and simulations (for autonomous systems). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is a necessity in today’s business since long-term development cannot be achieved without embracing it. The fourth industrial revolution (i.e., Industry 4.0) that introduced the digital transformation of companies is pushing the industry towards sustainable development. Human resource management (HRM), as part of the Industry 4.0 concept, plays an essential role in the process of digital transformation, since employees represent the most flexible part of the production system. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between the implementation of HRM practices and the introduction of digital technologies in manufacturing firms. Additionally, the authors intend to determine whether the introduction of digital technologies enables the flexibility of the production system. For this purpose, data gathered through the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) are used. The analyses are based on descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between the use of HRM practices and the implementation of digital technologies in manufacturing firms. Furthermore, firms that implemented digital technologies have a tendency to organize their production processes in a way that corresponds to trends in production imposed by the Industry 4.0 concept.

The technological advancements promote the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, where key terms are efficiency, innovation, and enterprises' digitalization. Market globalization, product mass customization, and more complex products need to reflect on changing the actual design methods and developing business processes and methodologies that have to be data-driven, AI-assisted, smart, and service-oriented. Therefore, there is a great interest in experimenting with emerging technologies and evaluating how they impact the actual business processes. This paper reports a comparison among the major trends in the digitalization of a Factory of the Future, in conjunction with the two major strategic programs of Industry 4.0 and China 2025. We have focused on these two programs because we have had experience with them in the context of the FIRST H2020 project. European industrialists identify the radical change in the traditional manufacturing production process as the rise of Industry 4.0. Conversely, China mainland launched its strategic plan in China 2025 to promote smart manufacturing to digitalize traditional manufacturing processes. The main contribution of this review paper is to report about a study, conducted and part of the aforementioned FIRST project, which aimed to investigate major trends in applying for both programs in terms of technologies and their applications for the factory's digitalization. In particular, our analysis consists of the comparison between Digital Factory, Virtual Factory, Smart Manufacturing, and Cloud Manufacturing. We analyzed their essential characteristics, the operational boundaries, the employed technologies, and the interoperability offered at each factory level for each paradigm. Based on this analysis, we report the building blocks in terms of essential technologies required to develop the next generation of a factory of the future, as well as some of the interoperability challenges at a different scale, for enabling inter-factories communications between heterogeneous entities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global trend in manufacturing has shifted from a manufacturing-centric process toward a user-centric process. This has resulted in a shorter lifespan and a high product replacement rate of any consumer product. Germany has introduced the concept of Industry Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0) to convert manufacturing processes and mechanisms into cyber-physical systems (CPS). Digital factory, being the first step into CPS and IR4.0, is being targeted as the most important evolution of the manufacturing industry. This paper defines digital factories and their differences between other similar domains such as smart factories, CPS, and virtual factories. The requirements and goals of a digital factory are explained in detail to facilitate future digital factory tool developments. Furthermore, the current challenges faced in the implementation of the digital factory are proposed to be approached by adapting an interoperable virtual reality technology. This paper emphasizes the usage of virtual reality (VR) in simulating a digital factory that aids in the decision-making and efficient operation of a manufacturing facility. Furthermore, recommendations gathered from previous studies for developing VR-based digital factory tools are also explained in detail in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian companies are actively involved in the digital transformation. The key technologies and potential effects are defined, a lot of pilots and prototypes are successfully launched. The next logical step is to scale the concept from the level of individual processes to the level of assets, functions, holding companies and the whole enterprise. In the article, two main approaches to the formation of a strategic digital transformation programs are analyzed: an approach based on scaling of digital tools and an approach based on complex processes transformation. Both these approaches are aimed at increasing the level of digital maturity.

The current trend in industry is the digitalisation of production processes using modern information and communication technologies, a trend that falls under the fourth industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. Applications that link the world of information technologies (IT) and operational technologies (OT) are in particular demand. On the basis of information from practice, it can be stated that there is a shortage of specialists in the labour market for the interconnection of PLCs with information and communication technologies (cloud, web, mobile applications, etc.) in Slovakia and neighbouring countries. However, this problem is beginning to affect other countries in Europe as well. The main objective of the work was to prepare case studies suitable for educational purposes, which would address the modelling and control of a virtual discrete-event system using a PLC program and its subsequent interfacing to a cloud application. Within the scope of the work, three case studies were prepared to demonstrate the control of discrete-event system using different programming systems and their communication with the developed cloud applications. These applications are to be used for data monitoring and emergency intervention of the discrete-event system. The characteristics of the prepared case studies, which combine operational and informational technologies, predestines them for use in the sphere of education of engineers for digitalisation of production processes. They can also be helpful in research on the creation of digital twins, which represent a type of symmetry between real and virtual systems.

Hyperautomation of the auto industry is considered, including multitask machine learning, batch software, and automation tools. Hyperautomation is associated with all stages of the automation process (observation, analysis, design, automation, measurement, monitoring, and reassessment). The focus is on understanding the whole range of automation mechanisms, as well as their interrelationships and correct coordination. The proposed approach significantly lower production costs. By additive technology, customized products may be manufactured with minimum consumption of time and materials at the development and prototyping stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of research with the main goal of identifying possible applications of edge computing (EC) in industry. This study used the methodology of systematic literature review and text mining analysis. The main findings showed that the primary goal of EC is to reduce the time required to transfer large amounts of data. With the ability to analyze data at the edge, it is possible to obtain immediate feedback and use it in the decision-making process. However, the implementation of EC requires investments not only in infrastructure, but also in the development of employee knowledge related to modern computing methods based on artificial intelligence. As the results of the analyses showed, great importance is also attached to energy consumption, both in ongoing production processes and for the purposes of data transmission and analysis. This paper also highlights problems related to quality management. Based on the analyses, we indicate further research directions for the application of edge computing and associated technologies that are required in the area of intelligent resource scheduling (for flexible production systems and autonomous systems), anomaly detection and resulting decision making, data analysis and transfer, knowledge management (for smart designing), and simulations (for autonomous systems).

The key stage of the company's transition to Industry 4.0. It is the Digital factory development stage. The first part of the article discusses in detail the components of digital factories, the expected effects of digitalization of production and related functions, as well as the transition from strategic initiatives to the operational level – the level of business processes that are transformed under the influence of new technologies. The second part of the article describes the methodology of case studies of Russian and foreign companies that are at the forefront of changes. The third part presents the cases of manufacturing companies that have achieved significant results in the field of digital transformation, in particular, Siemens, SIBUR and Novolipetsk metallurgical combine.

The first attempts to create devices that allow interacting with the imitated reality, as well as augmenting reality with superimposed information, were made at the beginning of the 20th century, the very concept of mixed reality (the “reality-virtuality continuum”), which elements are virtual (VR) and augmented (AR) reality, is quite young (24 years), as well as the market of these technologies. The concept of virtual and augmented reality hasn’t changed radically in the past 30 years, but VR and AR devices and software, and content have gone through a significant evolutionary path, and have already experienced several growth spikes.VR and AR technologies can be applied not only in entertainment and games. Many experts believe that virtual and augmented reality, along with Big Data, cloud technologies, artificial intelligence and some others, will become the key technologies of the 4th industrial revolution. VR and AR also have the potential to become the next big computing platform. Today VR and AR technologies help not only to create conceptually new markets, but also to disrupt existing ones.This article discusses the evolution of the VR and AR concepts and technologies and current market trends. The results of the survey show the key obstacles for the mass distribution of AR and VR technologies: high implementation and operational costs of AR/VR solutions; lack of high-quality content and imperfect devices, implicit effectiveness of their use.Based on the empirical study, a rather extensive list of benefits from using virtual and augmented reality technologies has been drawn up: faster and cheaper learning, training and guiding processes, increase in their efficiency, the reduction of the costs of elements and supplies needed, training support personnel; reducing potential risks to life and health of employees and other people while special training (medical operations and invasive procedures, evacuation, security, rescue in various emergencies) and the related optimization of the compensations; reducing the number of errors and accelerating the processes of assembling, repairing and operating special equipment, searching for information, necessary details, product location in the warehouse; significant reduction of accidents rate, as well as the exploration costs, due to the early identification of malfunctions; accelerating the pace of the designing and prototyping objects, significantly reducing the cost and duration of physical modeling process; improving customer experience, product and trading platforms design, that leads to corresponding increase in volume of sales; improving (simplifying) of communication and increasing its effectiveness.

The intense pressures in the industrial environment and the academic field to adopt technological tools and concepts like product lifecycle management, digital factories, automation, the internet of things, process innovation, and bridges between real and virtual worlds have resulted in necessary new process innovations. All these are encompassed in the term "Industry 4.0." The evolution of teaching methods toward flipped classrooms, software advancements to support engineering topics, online studies, new skill requirements in Industry, and easy, affordable access to education have pushed universities to find novel ways to meet current conditions and prepare for future challenges. The need to link academic knowledge with Industry led us in our research project to create a methodology for the development and implementation of virtual and hybrid scenarios by using highly integrated, digital manufacturing tools as a teaching platform to explain topics like the automation of programmable logic controllers, robotics, manufacturing, and 3D virtual commissioning. The methodology was implemented successfully in a manufacturing system integration laboratory at Tecnologico de Monterrey by using virtual and hybrid commissioning scenarios as a strategy to develop smart factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability is a necessity in today's business since long-term development cannot be achieved without embracing it. The fourth industrial revolution (i.e., Industry 4.0) that introduced the digital transformation of companies is pushing the industry towards sustainable development. Human resource management (HRM), as part of the Industry 4.0 concept, plays an essential role in the process of digital transformation, since employees represent the most flexible part of the production system. This paper aims to analyze the relationship between the implementation of HRM practices and the introduction of digital technologies in manufacturing firms. Additionally, the authors intend to determine whether the introduction of digital technologies enables the flexibility of the production system. For this purpose, data gathered through the European Manufacturing Survey (EMS) are used. The analyses are based on descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The results reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between the use of HRM practices and the implementation of digital technologies in manufacturing firms. Furthermore, firms that implemented digital technologies have a tendency to organize their production processes in a way that corresponds to trends in production imposed by the Industry 4.0 concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the emission scandals and politics the automotive industry is forced to focus more on electromobility. Along with electromobility comes the risk of a volatile consumer market, which the motor industry tries to minimize by implementing scalable production systems. This paper aims to provide a solution to support the planning of scalable production systems by using the virtual method virtual reality (VR). To achieve this goal, a model for the holistic integration of VR into the production planning process of scalable production systems is developed and different possibilities of implementation are compared and evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Individualization is a common trend in many fields of production across the industries. Also in the food sector, significant changes can be observed. For many products, individual offerings towards the customer are meanwhile either mandatory or at least help to increase the sales and revenue. Somehow, individual product design and production contradicts scaling effects, which are especially important for food production. On the other hand, as digitalization is implemented in a fairly limited way in the food sector, currently great chances can be observed to build a unique selling proposition and consequently gain market share by implementing appropriate measures to enable a digital food factory. This is where the proposed idea comes into the game. The starting point is the idea to produce individually developed beer and ship it to the individual customer. The beer can be designed on a web page based on typical parameters, like beer type, bitterness, colour, or alcohol concentration. In an expert mode, individual beer creations may be thoughtful, allowing the creation of completely individual recipes (for sure, not guaranteeing the customer a perfect drinking experience). In any way, the data from the web page is directly fed to the brewing equipment in the brewing facility. There, using newly to be developed specialized machines, the individually ordered beer will be produced automatically. In this paper we discuss the individual challenges at each point in the production cycles and propose solutions to those. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological advancements promote the rise of the fourth industrial revolution, where key terms are efficiency, innovation, and enterprises’ digitalization. Market globalization, product mass customization, and more complex products need to reflect on changing the actual design methods and developing business processes and methodologies that have to be data-driven, AI-assisted, smart, and service-oriented. Therefore, there is a great interest in experimenting with emerging technologies and evaluating how they impact the actual business processes. This paper reports a comparison among the major trends in the digitalization of a Factory of the Future, in conjunction with the two major strategic programs of Industry 4.0 and China 2025. We have focused on these two programs because we have had experience with them in the context of the FIRST H2020 project. European industrialists identify the radical change in the traditional manufacturing production process as the rise of Industry 4.0. Conversely, China mainland launched its strategic plan in China 2025 to promote smart manufacturing to digitalize traditional manufacturing processes. The main contribution of this review paper is to report about a study, conducted and part of the aforementioned FIRST project, which aimed to investigate major trends in applying for both programs in terms of technologies and their applications for the factory’s digitalization. In particular, our analysis consists of the comparison between Digital Factory, Virtual Factory, Smart Manufacturing, and Cloud Manufacturing. We analyzed their essential characteristics, the operational boundaries, the employed technologies, and the interoperability offered at each factory level for each paradigm. Based on this analysis, we report the building blocks in terms of essential technologies required to develop the next generation of a factory of the future, as well as some of the interoperability challenges at a different scale, for enabling inter-factories communications between heterogeneous entities.

The study of the Digital Factory consists of the design of an automated manufacturing system with elements of autonomy within the concept of Industry 4.0. This study origin was inspired with the production of drumsticks. For the intended purposes, manufacturing system designs for Factories of Future are created. The system consists of elements that are part of the digital production with automated functions that serve to communicate and interconnect the equipment located inside the factory as well as its external parts - buildings. Together, they should create a comprehensive set of automated elements and autonomous production in Smart Future Factories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitalization of manufacturing is once again on the industry application research agenda and Digital Manufacturing plays a fundamental role in this process. However, there is a lack of commonality in the literature about the purpose of Digital Manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept and application domain of Digital Manufacturing considering the increasingly established Industry 4.0 paradigm. Based on a content analysis concepts are framed, and new technological characteristics identified. The paper contributes to a better understanding of the future challenges that companies face by positioning Digital Manufacturing conceptually and delimiting its application domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking smart manufacturing as a strategy for industrial development, China has put forward a people-oriented policy and launched a series of plans for smart manufacturing talent education (SMTE). The demand for smart manufacturing talents in ten priority areas and the industrial applications in China is very huge. Therefore, in this paper, a reference system of SMTE in China is presented, which includes discipline system, training system, practice system, and assessment system. In order to further refine the architecture of smart manufacturing system, a reference course system was proposed; the system contains seven layers, which are basic layer, technique layer, implementation layer, management layer, platform layer, application layer, and industrialization layer. Finally, nine stakeholders of the common operation body were investigated, and a reference implementation of SMTE in China was put forward. In this paper, the smart manufacturing talent education reference system, reference model, and related reference subsystems can be a very useful guideline for Chinese industry and education to design, set, and carry out the smart manufacturing talent education system. At the same time, the system has its reference value for the improvement of China's smart manufacturing system architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the new challenges of the 21st century is the Industry 4.0. Manufacturing companies moving away from mass production and getting closer to customized production and manufacturing of customized products through digitization. The expectations are high, meeting the requirements is a real challenge to industrial partners. In order to help meet the challenges the University of Pannonia Nagykanizsa Campus started to establish a fully automatized industrial laboratory. In this paper the architecture of the Industry 4.0 laboratory and the purpose of the Factory Subsystem is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fourth industrial revolution is characterised by the increased use of digital tools, allowing for the virtual representation of a real production environment at different levels, from the entire production plant to a single machine or a specific process or operation. In this framework, Digital Factory technologies, based on the employment of digital modelling and simulation tools, can be used for short-term analysis and validation of production control strategies or for medium term production planning or production system design/redesign. In this research work, a Digital Factory methodology is proposed to support the enhancement of an existing manufacturing cell for the fabrication of aircraft engine turbine vanes via robotic automation of its deburring station. To configure and verify the correct layout of the upgraded manufacturing cell with the aim to increase its performance in terms of resource utilization and throughput time, 3D Motion Simulation and Discrete Event Simulation are jointly employed for the modeling and simulation of different cell settings for proper layout configuration, safe motion planning and resource utilization improvement. Validation of the simulation model is carried out by collecting actual data from the physical reconfigured manufacturing cell and comparing these data to the model forecast with the aim to adapt the digital model accordingly to closely represent the physical manufacturing system.

This study focuses on the energy optimization of industrial robotic cells, which is essential for sustainable production in the long term. A holistic approach that considers a robotic cell as a whole toward minimizing energy consumption is proposed. The mathematical model, which takes into account various robot speeds, positions, power-saving modes, and alternative orders of operations, can be transformed into a mixed-integer linear programming formulation that is, however, suitable only for small instances. To optimize complex robotic cells, a hybrid heuristic accelerated by using multicore processors and the Gurobi simplex method for piecewise linear convex functions is implemented. The experimental results showed that the heuristic solved 93% of instances with a solution quality close to a proven lower bound. Moreover, compared with the existing works, which typically address problems with three to four robots, this study solved real-size problem instances with up to 12 robots and considered more optimization aspects. The proposed algorithms were also applied on an existing robotic cell in Škoda Auto. The outcomes, based on simulations and measurements, indicate that, compared with the previous state (at maximal robot speeds and without deeper power-saving modes), the energy consumption can be reduced by about 20% merely by optimizing the robot speeds and applying power-saving modes. All the software and generated datasets used in this research are publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Verwaltungsschalen bilden zusammen mit den Assets der digitalen Fabrik I4.0-Komponenten. Interaktionen zwischen den Verwaltungsschalen sind wichtige Bestandteile der Wertschöpfungsketten in den I4.0-Systemen. Dafür benötigen die Verwaltungsschalen eine gemeinsame Sprache. Auf der Basis der Festlegungen der DIN SPEC 91345, d. h. des RAMIs und der Struktur der Verwaltungsschale, wird hier das Interaktionskonzept beschrieben. Asset Administration Shells (AAS) and assets form I4.0 components in a digital factory. Interactions between Asset Administration Shells are important elements of process chains. The Asset Administration Shells need a common language to understand each other. This paper proposes an interaction model based on DIN SPEC 91345 (RAMI4.0). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to make thefactory of the futurevision a reality, various requirements need to be met. There is a need to continuously qualify the human worker about new and changing technology trends since the human is the most flexible entity in the production system. This demands introducing novel approaches for knowledge-delivery and skill transfer. This paper introduces the design, implementation and evaluation of an advanced virtual training system, which has been developed in the EU-FP7 project VISTRA. The domain of interest is automotive manufacturing since it is one of the leading industries in adopting future factory concepts and technologies such ascyber-physical systemsandinternet of things. First of all, the authors motivate the topic based on the state-of-the-art concerning training systems for manual assembly and relevant technologies. Then, the main challenges and research questions are presented followed by the design and implementation of the VISTRA project including its methodologies. Furthermore, the results of experimental and technical evaluation of the system are described and discussed. In the conclusion, the authors give an outlook at the implementation and evaluation of the example application in related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Today, manufacturing is being shaped by the paradigm shift from mass production to on demand dictated, personalized, customer-driven and knowledge-based proactive production. Thus, shorter product life cycles, an increased number of product varieties, high performance processes, flexible machines and production systems result in an increased complexity in all factory level domains from product design, process development, factory and production planning to factory operation. To handle this complexity, new knowledge-based methods, technologies and tools to model, simulate, optimize and monitor planned and existing manufacturing systems are required. This paper presents the challenges, the approach and an overview of the results of the EU-FP7 funded project Apps4aME (GA N° 314156) and provides a concise overview over the Engineering Apps (eApps) approach that the project is based on. The project aims at the comprehensive consideration of ICT-based support of Manufacturing Engineering in all the above mentioned domains, called advanced Manufacturing Engineering (aME). The different life cycles are aligned by the development of a Reference Data Model that provides a detailed overview of all relevant domain-specific and inter-domain interdependencies. This life cycle-oriented model enables an integrated product design, process development, factory planning as well as production planning and factory operation. All stakeholders in these activities are supported by eApps that are conceived, developed and validated with the help of four industrial use cases spanning very diverse industrial branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Industry 4.0 vision anticipates that internet technologies will find their way into future factories replacing traditional components by dynamic and intelligent cyber-physical systems (CPS) that combine the physical objects with their digital representation. Reducing the gap between the real and digital world makes the factory environment more flexible, more adaptive, but also demand broader skill of human workers. Interdisciplinary competencies from engineering, information technology, and computer science are required in order to understand and manage the diverse interrelations between physical objects and their digital counterpart. This paper proposes a system architecture for a mixed-reality based learning environment, which combines physical objects and visualization of its digital content via Augmented Reality. It allows to make the dynamic interrelations between real and digital factory visible and tangible. The proposed learning environment is not meant to work as a stand-alone solution, but should enrich existing academic and advanced training curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]