Standardized Coordinate System for Factory and Production Planning

The Institute of Industrial Manufacturing and Management IFF, which is affiliated with the University of Stuttgart in Germany, has developed a continuous factory coordinate system for adaptable production systems and implemented it in the learning factory “advanced Industrial Engineering” aIE. The factory coordinate system merges the digital image of the factory (digital shadow) with the real production process practically in realtime and independent of scale. To achieve this, diverse data acquisition systems are grouped into a classification system on the basis of the degree of accuracy required; depending on the degree of resolution, the data collected is then merged chronologically in a standardized coordinate system according to time. The resulting digital shadow of the complete production plant enables the complexity of tasks in the system to be reduced. Any decisions that need to be made in the near future can be aided by performing centralized or decentralized simulations with realtime data. This enables systems to be adapted to new restrictions faster and more cost-effectively. By projecting the digital shadow onto the real production system, any discrepancies are identified immediately, any problems rectified and downtimes reduced even before they arise. This strengthens and safeguards the competitiveness of networked factories in the future.