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To cope with quick variation in product demand, modern automation systems shall be able to conjugate increasing complexity of controlled processes with agile reconfiguration of flexible manufacturing systems. To such an aim, structured approaches for reconfigurable system design, based on formal reference models, have to be provided. Mandatory condition for the adoption of such approaches is the identification of methodological guidelines, capable to proof their foundation and validity on real industrial application cases. In such a context, present paper describes main steps of a structured control system development approach -starting from UML based specification, integrating IEC 61499 based control design and closed-loop simulation based verification techniques -focusing a real industrial plant.

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Absrrucr -In order to face the more and more frequent market changes, reliable and flexible factory automation systems have to be developed or reconfigured with reduced times and costs. Therefore, innovative development methodologies for the structured design and testing of industrial supervision and control systems are mandatory. In the present work a development methodology is presented, which uses the formal reference model proposed by the IEC 61499 international standard to design the modules of a factory automation system. Moreover, a closed-loop simulation based testing method is presented to verify the different hierarchic levels of the designed automation system in a modular way, following a bottom-up approach. Such a technique is implemented in the Matlab environment, using its toolboxes Simulink and Stateflow. Through the adoption of formal models that exploit the concepts of modularity, encapsulation and abstraction, the description of complex systems is simplified and model reuse is enhanced. Furthermore, by means of a simulation based testing method correctness is verified before final implementation and reliability is improved. In the paper an application example is also presented. where the design and testing of the automation system of a manufacturing cell for a furniture factory by means of the proposed framework is illustrated.

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Nowadays, a new generation of responsive factories is needed to face continuous changes in product demand and variety, and to manage complex and variant production processes. To such an aim, innovative selfadaptive automation solutions are required, capable to adapt their control strategies in real-time to cope with planned as well as unforeseen product and process variations. In such a context, the present paper describes an automation solution based on a modular distributed approach for agile factories integration and reconfiguration, integrating a knowledge based cooperation policy providing self-adaptation to endogenous as well as exogenous events. The proposed approach is discussed through its application to a plant for customized shoes manufacturing.

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