FIELD INTELLIGENCE Smart Processes, Solutions & Strategies
Nuzha Yakoob
Senior Product Manager for Mechatronics
Festo Corporation
www.Festo.com
With the buyers in charge, reconfigurable systems beckon
T
he world has transitioned to a buyer’s market, so manufactur- ers have to fulfill an increasing
number of customer requirements. To remain competitive, manufactur- ers need the agility to cater to market changeability and uncertainty. On top of this, market globalization increases cost pressures. So production systems have to be highly economical—during the entire product cycle. Fixed assembly systems with
high degrees of automation are only economical during the short period of the product cycle and can’t easily be adapted to different products. These systems are bound to wilt under con- stantly fluctuating customer orders and increasingly diverse product portfolios that are expected with the advent of mass customization. To achieve assembly lines with an adaptable degree of automation, suitable for varying lot sizes and capable of assembling multi-variant products, we need assembly line concepts that are extremely flexible and changeable. Welcome the reconfigurable manu-
facturing system (RMS). In an RMS, scalable, low-cost, reus-
able, redeployable, standard flexible assembly cells, or modules, are em- ployed to make products at low cost and risk. An RMS uses dynamically configurable lines that many people compare to Lego blocks. Desired attributes in an RMS are modularity, scalability, convertibility, mobility and the ability to automate. With flexible assembly cells, small-
er is better. That allows for movability and rapid reconfiguration.
20 An RMS is typically built to assem-
ble products within a product cat- egory since comparable workpieces, processes and tools are essential for the adaptability to changed require- ments. Designing a reconfigurable line for assembling completely different categories, such as big automotive parts and light electronic compo- nents, will not be efficient. In a dynamic production environ- ment, an assembly line configuration and product sequence may need to be revised each time demand changes to keep the line efficient. Since fre- quent or radical reconfiguration could
Automating key processes provides uniformity in the final product. With in-process verification, problems are immediately caught and addressed. Three common times when modu-
lar assembly lines need reconfiguring: Product variant changes: Cell flex-
ibility provides the ability to recon- figure a given fixed system by rede- ploying at least 90% of capital from one product variant to a different product variant. The assembly opera- tions of the old and the new must be compared. If different operations are involved, modules will need to be switched or exchanged.
To achieve assembly lines with an adaptable degree of automation, suitable for varying lot sizes and capable of assembling multi-variant products, we need extremely flexible and changeable concepts.
be costly, efficient capacity manage- ment and production-planning strate- gies to optimize line configuration and product sequence are also required. In some scenarios, products are
produced in lot sizes that are big enough to last for at least one shift. In other scenarios, variant changes oc- cur more frequently. Then, the system needs more built-in adaptability so reconfiguration will not be necessary between product variant changes. Reconfiguration can be performed
by the switch, exchange and/or repro- gramming of process modules. The target is to do this within a few hours. With high-flexibility modular cells,
automation can be more effectively implemented in assembly systems producing high mix variations.
Rise or fall in demand: Reconfigu-
ration will be necessary to adapt the production line to volumetric changes in a product life cycle. Changing customer demand can only be met by changing the target cycle time. One approach is to redesign the line by exchanging modules, rebuilding old modules and/or assembly devices and adding new stations. New product type introduction:
All existing components of the former assembly line have to be examined to see if their technical conditions allow further usage in the manufacturing of the newly introduced product. There are commonly benefits and
drawbacks to both dedicated and reconfigurable assembly lines. So it is wise to plan for their co-existence.
March 2017
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