A Formal Skill Model Facilitating the Design and Operation of Flexible Assembly Workstations

In the Industry 4.0 area, there is an increasing demand for highly customized products in small batch sizes. Final assembly operations are frequently targeted to embed flexibility and compensate for the growing manufacturing uncertainties. Therefore, an adequately designed and operated flexible assembly workstation is crucial. Converting the flexibility needs into design and operational decisions requires versatile formal models delivering generic descriptions of needs and capacities. Skills form the central connector between products, processes and resources. Here, a skill-centered model for describing resource activities, the related production needs and flexibility impacts is introduced. The model fits both plug and produce and design optimization settings and goes beyond current skill-based modelling by offering a framework which, by design, does not limit the applications and easily adapts to the desired level of detail. One key strength is its ability to combine abstract and executable skills. Next to the product-action skills, also assistive skills related to operator support, parts storing, ergonomics etc. can be easily modelled. The use of the model is illustrated by an example based on an industrial use case from Flemish industry.