Increasing the adaptability of manufacturing systems by using data-centric communication

Future manufacturing systems have to be more adaptable to be able to compete in fast changing markets and address specific customer demands. To increase adaptability of production systems, the software and communication infrastructures have to be adaptable as well. Current communication paradigms tightly couple manufacturing systems to communication infrastructures. Changes in the manufacturing system require manual reconfiguration of software and communication infrastructure. In this paper we define the requirements for future adaptable manufacturing systems. They have to be loosely coupled, dynamic, adaptable, and capable of plug & play. We also propose a data-centric approach to make communication systems more adaptable. Using a simplified industrial setup, we show that the approach is feasible for manufacturing systems and increases the adaptability.