Christian Weidig

Manufacturing system design with virtual factory tools

During the analysis and design of manufacturing systems, companies are challenged by existing restrictions and the running production. To deal with these key issues, different virtual factory approaches and tools have been widely implemented in recent years. By employing modern approaches and tools, a manufacturing system can be adapted effectively. Virtual reality (VR), one of the most important approaches, has recently been applied to the scientific and the industrial fields. Recent studies of VR applications are mainly focusing on the design of products, but not manufacturing systems. This paper presents VR as an innovative and collaborative design platform for manufacturing systems, which enables a holistic use of virtual factory tools. Based on this platform, three applications were implemented, which are addressed at different levels of a manufacturing system. Furthermore, a noise simulation and a virtual machining tool were visualised in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE).

Process Planning and Decentralised Process Control for Cybertronic Production Systems

Cybertronic systems which augment mechatronic basis systems by means of communication, collaboration and intelligence are proposed to be utilised to develop next generation production systems. A model-based development process is proposed to enable integrated design and development of the product and the production system. This paper will highlight the importance of process planning as collaborative activity within the integrated design and development process. A concept will be introduced how process planning can be conducted for cybertronic production systems, considering decentralised production planning and control already during the design phase.

Virtual Learning Factory on VR-Supported Factory Planning

Learning Factories are becoming popular as tangible measures to teach engineering methods while making use of them in an industrial-like environment. Their core component is usually a factory demonstrator, users are physically working with. For factory planning such approaches can hardly be adapted, due to long lasting realization phases.

IN2CO: a visualization framework for intuitive collaboration

Today, the need for interaction and visualization techniques to fulfill user requirements for collaborative work is ever increasing. Current approaches do not suffice since they do not consider the simultaneous work of participating users, different views of the data being analyzed, or the exchange of information between different data emphases. We introduce Intuitive Collaboration (IN2CO), a scalable visualization framework that supports decision-making processes concerning multilevels and multi-roles. IN2CO improves the state of the art by integrating ubiquitous technologies and existing techniques to explore and manipulate data and dependencies collaboratively. A prototype has been tested by mechanical engineers with expertise in factory planning. Preliminary results imply that IN2CO supports communication and decision-making in a team-oriented manner.

Systematic Development of Mobile AR-Applications Supporting Production Planning

Tablet-PCs and Smartphones are starting to be established in the field of production engineering as planning and communication devices. Today’s available mobile Augmented Reality (AR) tools are often results of technology driven development processes or adaptions of traditional desktop based systems. In contrary, the approach presented in this paper is introducing a systematic development process for mobile AR-applications. By using mobile AR-applications, established workflows should not be substituted, but systematically extend by new functionalities and interactive means. The approach focuses on two main areas: the user’s needs and the capabilities offered by tablet-PCs.

Virtuelle Lernfabrik Kaiserslautern

Kurzfassung Lernfabriken stellen eine innovative, praxisbezogene Art der Methodenvermittlung im Ingenieurswesen dar. Zur Unterstützung der Fabrikplanung scheitern physische Lernfabriken jedoch bisher auf Grund fehlender Umsetzungs- und Evaluationsmöglichkeiten. Der hier beschriebene Ansatz kompensiert diese Defizite durch die Entwicklung einer rein virtuellen Lernfabrik. Es wird der komplette Fabrikplanungsprozess in einer Lernfabrik digital abgebildet und didaktisch unterstützt.

VR Enhanced Scenario Technique Supporting the Early Phases of Factory Planning

Industrial companies have to face fast changing markets and increasing customer demands regarding individual configuration of products. Within this turbulent environment initially defined planning circumstances and assumptions are no longer reliable over the whole factory life-cycle. As one approach to react on such uncertainties, flexible production planning is considered. Factories should be able to adapt according to changing demands and suit to even unforeseen constraints. To allow such flexibility, the factory planning process must be executed with special attention on the early phases. While setting up the key objectives and establishing the project basis, a focus on flexibility has to be mandatory. The constraints on which planning bear on need to be defined, but also their adaptation over the factory life-cycle must be considered. To overcome this dilemma of required level of detail but concurrent uncertain future estimations, scenario technique is proposed as a method in strategic company management. This paper deals with the extension of the scenario technique to be applicable during factory planning as one operative method in the early phases of ‘preparation’ and ‘structure planning’. By using immersive Virtual Reality (VR) tools, a visualization component will be added. This will make future scenarios more graspable for multi-domain planning teams and serve as a mean of communication on which decision making can be set up.