An approach for modular production from mechanics to decentralized control, realized in the SmartFactoryKL

In the leading industry countries a high automation degree is necessary to stay competitive. Cost-efficiency and quality are the main factors to achieve. In contrast to big lot sizes, it is difficult to build up a cheap and highly automated production line for small lot sizes. To overcome these drawbacks a more flexible design of production lines is essential. In this paper a modular architecture of production facilities is presented. To realize a modular architecture, interfaces in three domains have to be defined. In the first one the geometric dimensions and the mechanic hand-over points have to be fixed. In the second one information transfer and power supply have to be standardized. Finally, one of the most crucial points is the control architecture of the modular production lines.