Methodology for planning assembly systems with scalable degree of automation

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Production plants are confronted with an increasingly uncertain environment. Shorter product life cycles lead to more product ramp-ups and uncertain quantity expectations. Customer requirements with regard to throughput times and quality requirements are continuously increasing. Classical approaches to assembly planning are aimed at planning the capacity and degree of automation of an assembly system for static requirements. In current approaches, adaptation to these volatilities can only be achieved by reconfiguring the assembly system. To this end, the degree of automation and the productivity of an assembly system are gradually increased. Minor short-term fluctuations are absorbed by employee deployment and adjustments to the shift model. These approaches reach their limits when assembly requirements change during the life cycle of an assembly system. A rigid degree of automation is never optimal in this volatile environment. An excessively high degree of automation leads to increased unit costs in the event of underutilization. If the degree of automation is too low, this can mean that the increased demand cannot be met. The project therefore pursues the approach of a scalable degree of automation. An assembly system with a scalable degree of automation allows both an increase and a reduction of automation according to volatile influences. Solutions are needed that enable cost-effective and dynamic scalability. With the introduction of truly modular systems and flexible automation solutions such as lightweight robots, human-robot collaboration and modular actuators, a constantly growing solution space is being created for the technical implementation of scalable automation of assembly systems. The provision of scalable systems, however, requires an increased investment compared to classical automation technology. This results in a tension between the requirements of scalability and the lowest possible investment in assembly systems. The question must therefore be answered as to which degree of scalable automation is optimal for a specific case. In addition to the focus on scaling the degree of automation, other technical and organizational scaling mechanisms are also considered that support and supplement scalable automation. Therefore, the project aims at the development of a generalized approach for planning scalable assembly systems that is based on a wide variety of serial production variants. The methodology should address the challenges of extreme and high-frequency changes, up to changes on shift level. The overriding goal of the project is to investigate the optimal degree of scalable automation of assembly systems. In order to achieve this goal, a generalized methodology for planning scalable assembly systems will be developed.