Paradigm Shifts in Manufacturing: Towards a High-Tech and Efficient Future

1. Vak D266: Technologie en Economische Sectoren. Onderdeel: Productie19 maart 2001 World Trends in Manufacturing Prof. Hendrik Van Brussel Department of Mechanical Engineering K.U.Leuven, Belgium

2. Introduction • Manufacturing is an indispensable, wealth-creating activity in every economy • Manufacturing is under pressure in the developed parts of the world • Manufacturing needs new approach to survive in the post-industrial world • Post-modern definition of manufacturing plant: information transformer under controlled input of energy and (raw) material

3. Introduction • Information and knowledge are the main production factors, next to: capital, capital goods, labor • All stages in the manufacturing cycle are affected by the ICT (r)evolution: • design, PPC, fabrication, QC, distribution • Manufacturing is a high-tech business, dramatically influenced by the revolutions in ICT, computers, micro-electronics, AI, machine learning, etc. • Manufacturing deserves more attention than it presently receives in our society: too much taken for granted (e.g. HST, mobile phone, cars, ….)

4. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Towards a holistic view of design and product development • evolution towards simultaneous (concurrent) engineering (e.g. mechatronics) • including life cycle engineering • advantages of mechatronic design • better performance (accuracy, bandwidth, …) • robust behaviour (adaptivity)

5. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Virtual engineering replaces prototyping • realistic (real-time) simulations become possible • virtual/augmented reality/haptic interfaces allow manipulation of virtual products • training efficiency is dramatically enhanced by virtual engineering (augmented reality)

6. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Revolution in manufacturing methods • instant manufacturing (stereolithography, selective laser sintering, 3D-printing, 3D-fax) • emergence of new manufacturing processes (ELID, ductile grinding, high-speed machining, ion beam processing) • Revolution in machine technology • towards modular, reconfigurable machines • towards high-speed machines, requiring special configurations (light and stiff): parallel structures (hexapods), truss structures, high-speed spindles

7. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Holonic/multi-agent manufacturing systems • holonic systems consist of autonomous, co-operating agents (holons) • holons have only local expertise • staff holons provide expertise on how to co-operate in normal circumstances • co-operation happens through information exchange between holons (pheromones, local blackboards, market mechanisms, ..) • the holons use the environment to exchange information (pheromones, distributed blackboard)

8. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Efficient manufacturing systems work on the edge of chaos • complex adaptive systems provide the modelling framework • chaos theory provides accurate nonlinear descriptors (Lyapunov exponents, correlation dimension) of the glaobal system state • measurement of a local time series (e.g. buffers content variation) provides global system information

9. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Very high-level task-driven programming • HMI/ augmented reality • learning systems • skill acquisition • Internet provides powerful diagnostics and monitoring capabilities • evolution towards self-(re)organising (driven by the task) manufacturing systems, consisting of plug-and-play compatible, co-operating modules

10. Paradigm shifts in manufacturing anno 2001 • Emergence of MEMS technology • micro-mechatronics • mechanical miniaturisation follows micro-electronics • co-existence of hard- and software • dramatically increased performance through incorporation of more functionality in same space (e.g. notebook vs. PC)

11. These paradigm shifts lead to... • Personalised production at mass production rates (mass customisation) • kitchens, contact lenses, clothing, hip replacement • Distributed worldwide-spread product development and manufacture • point-of-sale manufacture (e.g. Herald Tribune) • flottillia approach • Internet and worldwide databases form the glue and give rise to a completely different mode of operation of future manufacturing plant (GEN, Materialise’s ‘Next-day’ service)) • Human-sparse manufacturing • cf. Agriculture (<5% of active population)

12. Some basic rules and enabling technologies • Low-and-late commitment • Nonlinear process plans • Holonic NC-controller (interpolator) • Modular, reconfigurable machines • consist of plug-and-play autonomous, co-operating modules, assembled and controlled in a task-driven way • Open control architectures (plug-and-play functionality) • OSACA (Eur), OMAC (USA), OSEC (Japan)

13. Summarising... • Design • concurrent and virtual engineering • Processes and machines • faster, one-step processes, material growth processes, light and stiff machines • Systems and control • plug-and-play compatible autonomous co-operating agents • distributed control through co-operating agents • low-and-late commitment • open control architectures