Assisted engineering for mechatronic manufacturing systems based on a modularization concept

The concept of the manufacturing system is defined in the basic engineering phase. Thus, the productivity and cost of the system are also determined. The approach of the Assisted Engineering aims to integrate experience and knowledge of existing manufacturing systems in the engineering process. For this purpose, these systems are modularized and systematically integrated into a knowledge base. This knowledge base allows a more efficient engineering process by reusing mechatronic modules. Thereby, the performance of a manufacturing system can be substantiated at an early stage of engineering. The approach described in this paper aims at increasing the reusability of such modules. For this, the modularization of existing systems is optimized so that the modules are not too specific for reuse in the development of a new manufacturing system.