Shop-Floor Architecture for Effective Human- Machine and Inter-Machine Interaction

Manufacturing equipment for small and medium scale production is often arranged in a setup of a Flexible Manufacturing Cell (FMC). Normally, such cell members are from various manufactures and they have all their specific capabilities when it comes to man-machine and inter-machine interaction. Existing man-machine interfacing is quite simple and is typically done via a screen/keyboard interface while inter-machine communication is carried out through designated I/O lines. Although such communication channels provide us a certain possibility to program and control the cell members, it is not enough to fully utilize the potential of the coordinated control of the complete unit. Especially in smaller production facilities, where often the FMC components are a mixture of older (poorly documented) and newer machines, there exists no ready-to-use solution for communication between the members of the cell. This article discusses and presents a new architecture for man-machine and inter-machine communication and control. This new architecture allows for the integration of both new and old equipment and is especially targeted for efficient man-machine interaction.

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