Control for Intelligent Manufacturing: A Multiscale Challenge

The Made in China 2025 initiative will require full automation in all sectors, from customers to production. This will result in great challenges to manufacturing systems in all sectors. In the future of manufacturing, all devices and systems should have sensing and basic intelligence capabilities for control and adaptation. In this study, after discussing multiscale dynamics of the modern manufacturing system, a five-layer functional structure is proposed for uncertainties processing. Multiscale dynamics include: multi-time scale, space-time scale, and multi-level dynamics. Control action will differ at different scales, with more design being required at both fast and slow time scales. More quantitative action is required in low-level operations, while more qualitative action is needed regarding high-level supervision. Intelligent manufacturing systems should have the capabilities of flexibility, adaptability, and intelligence. These capabilities will require the control action to be distributed and integrated with different approaches, including smart sensing, optimal design, and intelligent learning. Finally, a typical jet dispensing system is taken as a real-world example for multiscale modeling and control.