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The Digital Factory Gets A Bit Closer Sign Up to receive Daily News Alerts in your E-mail Inbox
Posted on Saturday, April 01, 2006 1:00:00 AM |
Manufacturers have invested a lot of money in automating production lines. Sometimes it pays off, sometimes not. The companies that have assessed how assembly-line design and manufacturing processes correspond to the time needed to build quality products are likely the ones beating the competition now. But for all of you late bloomers, have no fear: We are entering the era of digital manufacturing -- otherwise known as the digital factory -- which promises to reduce the time it takes to get product to market and, of course, save money.
The movement, spearheaded largely by product lifecycle management (PLM) vendors, relies on 3D CAD/CAE applications and simulation tools to merge product engineering with processes and execution at work cells. Dassault Systemes, UGS, and Siemens AG unveiled products and partnerships around the digital factory concept at ARC Advisory Group's Next Generation Manufacturing Forum in February. Rooted in the concept of concurrent engineering, which defines cross-functional cooperation in the product design process, the digital factory goes one step further by adding automated exchange so that product design can be integrated with production.
Ralf-Michael Franke, president of the Siemens Industrial Automation Systems Division, says Siemens is currently working with Dassault and UGS in an effort to harmonize their products with Siemens PLCs, providing a way to generate control logic that corresponds with manufacturing requirements. A digital mockup that simulates product assembly, including mechanical movement, constraints, and interference points, helps avoid design mistakes upfront.
Dassault's product, called the DELMIA V5 Automation Platform, includes the Smart Device Builder, a module that uses 3D CAD models to represent actuators, sensors, motors, and drives. LCM Studio, an independent PLC programming environment, is coupled with LCM Control Setup, which maps the logic to the PLC hardware. Controlled System Simulator validates the set up using virtual equipment prior to deploying the real thing.
The DELMIA product, which also works with Omron and Schneider Electric PLCs, is being extended by integrating graphical electrical designs from companies like EPLAN Software & Services LLC to allow a deeper dive into equipment. Currently, DELMIA can import and export EPLAN data, but a partnership to provide a more seamless exchange is desired, said Patrick Michel, vice president of DELMIA Solutions.
Not to be outdone, UGS, which already has a strong presence in plant design and optimization with its Tecnomatix eM-Plant simulation software and its FactoryCAD and FactoryFLOW tools, recently announced that it is publishing its JT Open data format, in an ongoing effort to make the CAD-neutral 3D visualization technology a de facto standard. Eventually, the JT technology could be incorporated into products like Tecnomatix FactoryLink HMI/ SCADA products to provide 3D visualization of a plant that can be dynamically updated. The big difference here is that it would be real-time, not simulated off-line, according to company officials.
This article originally appeared in the April 2006 issue of Managing Automation magazine.
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