Industry – Digital Production

"Of course it's not like that in all companies," says Dr. Bernhard Nottbeck, head of the Production Processes Department at Siemens Corporate Technology (CT) in Munich, Germany. "Nevertheless, nearly all companies must continue to optimize their production to remain competitive." Ever-shorter innovation cycles will require companies to substantially increase their flexibility, he says. In the auto industry, for example, it used to take five to seven years before a new model was ready for market. Today that cycle has been shortened to two or three years. To further accelerate this pace, experts—and not just those from automakers (see interview with Emmerich Schiller) and their suppliers, who have generally taken a pioneering role—are now counting on the digital factory.

Visualization of Virtual Data. "The digital factory gives planners and designers tools they can use to optimize production facilities or to subject a planned change to virtual trial runs," explains Professor Engelbert Westkämper, Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation in Stuttgart, Germany (see interview with E. Westkämper). Today this is still wishful thinking, but Nottbeck is convinced that by 2010 all the elements and processes of a factory could be represented in computer models. "We can already see the trend toward using computers to plan not just the products, but the entire production process," says Uwe Bracht, Professor of Plant Engineering and Material Flow Logistics at the Technical University of Clausthal in Germany, and a specialist in factory planning. In a few years, a plant manager will be able to access all the data at the click of a mouse and display the information as images. In other words, it will be possible to visualize everything from machine utilization and the manufacturing status of production parts to the logistics environment and materials flow patterns.

The key is virtual reality. A number of researchers at Siemens CT are working on the visualization of virtual factories, processes and prototypes. Take Pablo Gußmann, for instance. All it takes is a mouse click for him to switch from Siemens' Virtual Reality Lab in Munich to a production shop in Nuremberg, Germany where Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) is planning a new production facility for electric motors. Gußmann's computer contains the planned building's coordinates as well as the locations of machines, aisles and storage areas. When Gußmann puts on a special pair of goggles, he sees a 3D image of the facility projected onto a curved screen by three projectors. Another mouse click enables him to fly down the virtual aisles or to get a bird's-eye view of the facility's entire layout. All in all, he and other specialists at CT have created a virtual model of the facility that enables A&D to optimize facility planning.

"Acquiring and adapting the data manually is a lot of work," says Heinz-Simon Keil, head of the Center for Visual Engineering at CT. "But it's worthwhile if the virtual model can be used over and over." All of the real objects and their functions are now replicated in a 3D library. In the case of the Nuremberg facility, for instance, this data may be very useful to A&D in China, where a similar plant is slated for construction in Tianjing near Beijing. "Thanks to the digital model, we anticipate that planning costs will be slashed," Keil predicts. The virtual model would be useful in planning both the production facility and the individual workstations.

In the future, additional data covering acoustics, air and heat flows will be used—for instance, to compute how a tunnel should be shaped to minimize the pressure waves caused by trains. But digital models can also be used to visualize smaller components such as the electric window controls in an automobile. Since all physical values are entered into the simulation, Grobholz can test whether another, less expensive motor could do the same job, and whether it would fit into the car door. Researchers at Corporate Technology merely need to change the respective data, and the system automatically produces a motion picture showing the motor's fit and function. This approach enables customers to gain early insights into the production approach used by a supplier, which in turn benefits from increased planning certainty. Digital models are also an important requirement for mechatronics—the application and optimization of mechanical systems, electronics and software during the development phase of a product or manufacturing plant. With this in mind, Siemens A&D recently introduced a software tool called eM-PLC that can be used to model and virtually start up entire manufacturing cells, such as those for welding bodyshells in auto plants.

Developed jointly with Tecnomatix, an Israeli company, eM-PLC uses data from mechanical functions to generate a program that allows a SIMATIC S7 controller to manage welding robots, a conveyor belt and a component feeder. The program then virtually controls the 3D manufacturing cell and enables engineers to simulate the interplay of mechanical processes and electronics—something previously possible only in a real-life system. The program can also simulate unforeseen events, like a worker approaching the welding robot. The networking of all parameters has crucial advantages. For instance, an observer can see immediately how minor changes influence the system as a whole. Furthermore, design flaws are also detected much earlier. The time to production is thus much shorter—a feature that can cut costs by more than 20 % in the planning phase. The system can also create virtual machine tools and their components, though Nottbeck stresses that "safety-related machines or components will always have a real-life prototype."

Setting Standards.The reason why components, machines and production lines aren't entirely simulated digitally is the lack of networking. "Dissimilar software tools are in use, and their interfaces are incompatible," says Nottbeck. The result is costly programming that's both time-consuming and labor-intensive. "We need to find a common language," he adds. That's still years away, but once standards have been established the entire industry will benefit.

The advantages of networking technologies that are already available are demonstrated by Siemens' Totally Integrated Automation concept. All products from A&D that can communicate—such as speed counters, circuit breakers and motors—function seamlessly with SIMATIC controllers. Totally Integrated Power (TIP) occupies the next level up in the network: In the Simaris software program, the Siemens A&D, Power Transmission & Distribution and Building Technologies Groups provide a tool that companies can use to plan the distribution of electrical power, both in buildings and processes, including climate control systems and information technology. The system determines the optimum ratings of required switches, conductors and power generating units. TIP's potential benefits are huge, as the networked approach can cut energy distribution costs by up to 25 %.

Networking enables the digital factory concept to provide even more extensive capabilities and services. As a case in point, Siemens Industrial Solutions and Services (I&S) has teamed up with neural networks experts from Corporate Technology to develop a process optimization solution for paper mills (see box Fuzzy Logic). Another I&S project is aimed at medium-sized companies. In this case experts assume responsibility for interactions between suppliers and their customers. This service includes production planning, the acquisition of operational and equipment data, plus the handling of financial and controlling functions. Siemens can also provide IT services to mid-sized companies so they don't have to invest in expensive computer systems and additional IT personnel. In conjunction with other partners, Siemens is conducting a pilot project in a foundry. This approach enables the client company to achieve greater transparency and not only determine which of its products is profitable—but also how profitable. Specific customer questions regarding the feasibility and cost of manufacturing a component can be answered within an hour.

Machine Tracking.Transparency can also be enhanced by e-business. Thus, in addition to handling commodity flows, e-business can be used to remotely monitor and control machines. Siemens already provides a service to optimize machines via the Internet. Here, online dialog enables technicians to correct faults swiftly and simply.

Electronic monitoring can also be used to track the operational characteristics of machines over time so that signs of wear can be detected early. This approach allows maintenance to be performed on an "as-needed" basis. For instance, using a visualization system and data goggles, a non-specialized technician can perform various maintenance tasks (see article Hello, I'm Pump 235), thus obviating many expensive visits by experts.

The Internet can also be used to enable virtual collaboration among product planners. One example is the development of the desktop charger for the Siemens SL45 cell phone. Engineers in Aachen and Munich, Germany worked together on 3D models with production engineers in Taiwan on the project. Participants were able to view, rotate, cross-section and modify each model on their monitors. As a result, the coordination process was speeded up substantially, and the charger was completed in two-and-a-half months. The process normally takes four.

New Challenges. Virtual collaboration across cultural and language boundaries, virtual plant fly-throughs, machines and products visualized in 3D, remotely maintained and modular factories—these are just some of the revolutionary changes we can expect to see. Although humans will transfer more responsibility to intelligently controlled machines, they will also assume new responsibilities. When a multinational project team is studying a virtual model, for example, participants must be capable of reaching decisions swiftly and independently. This kind of teamwork calls for new skills. In addition to their own expertise, team members also need to understand interdisciplinary processes. "There's no way industry can get around digitizing and virtualizing its factories," says Nottbeck. "But we still don't really know how much these changes will impact our lives and the way we work."

Norbert Aschenbrenner