Optimization of Industry 4.0 Implementation Selection Process towards Enhancement of a Manual Assembly Line

Abstract

Last year’s developments are characterized by a dramatic drop in customer demand leading to stiff competition and more challenges that each enterprise needs to cope with in a globalized market. Production in low-mix/high-volume batches is replaced with low-volume/high-variety production, which demands excessive information flow throughout production facilities. To cope with the excessive information flow, this production paradigm requires the integration of new advanced technology within production that enables the transformation of production towards smart production, i.e., towards Industry 4.0. The procedure that helps the decision-makers to select the most appropriate I4.0 technology to integrate within the current assembly line considering the expected outcomes of KPIs are not significantly been the subject of the research in the literature. Therefore, this research proposes a conceptual procedure that focus on the current state of the individual assembly line and proposes the technology to implement. The proposed solution is aligned with the expected strategic goals of the company since procedure takes into consideration value from the end-user perspective, current production plans, scheduling, throughput, and other relevant manufacturing metrics. The validation of the method was conducted on a real assembly line. The results of the validation study emphasize the importance of the individual approach for each assembly line since the preferences of the user as well as his diversified needs and possibilities affect the optimal technology selection.

Automation of assembly processes

“…components in assembly systems. With all the established advances, assembly is a particular field of automation [2,3].…”

Increasing the Sustainability of Manufacturing Processes in Plastic Injection: Recovering Out-Of-Service Robots to Eliminate Manual Assembly Operations

“…Moreira et al [15] and Martins et al [16] developed systems that allowed for the aggregation of different processes in a single piece of equipment, thus reducing the management of semi-products between different stages of the Bowden cables' manufacturing process, with perfectly quantified benefits. Several other studies [17][18][19] have been developed defending that, in certain situations, the concept to solve certain problems can only go through solutions based on conventional automation to the detriment of robotics, making the investment more easily amortized and allowing for some flexibility [20,21].…”