SF Lab

Factory installation wizard

Manufacturing paradigm has been changed from mass production, to mass customization, and to personalization. To meet this paradigm shift, we are developing 'Factory Installation Wizard' for rapid factory configuration and implementation. The Factory Installation Wizard consists of the following main six steps: layout design, controller configuration, 3D factory modeling and control logic design, factory-in-the-loop simulation, factory OS installation, test and calibration.

Rapid workstation programming
The main advantage of OLP over manual on-line programming is rapid program development in planning the robot paths necessary for completing the tasks involved in new manufacturing processes, and consequently the avoidance of extended down-time when reconfiguring the production operations. However, OLP is, by its nature, only conceivable when a virtual robot exists in a pre-defined model library. Commercial OLP software usually includes virtual models only for popular robots used in many industry applications. Therefore, if new manufacturing tasks require the use of a newly designed workstation, then it is necessary to develop the entire underlying virtual model of that particular robot's movement mechanism. We synchronized workstation design, its virtual model definition, and control algorithm development for rapid installation of a new workstation. We call this synchronization procedure Rapid Factory Control Prototyping (RFCP), highlighting the time-consuming process of reprogramming.

Factory OS Studio
We are developing 'Factory OS Studio' for rapid factory configuration and implementation. In order to expedite the control logic design and verification process, we are developing a user-friendly Integrated Development Environment (IDE), namely, rapid factory control programming studio that provides (i) user-friendly graphical programming interface supported by drag-and-drop and parameter specification wizard that will upgrade the conventional ladder diagram and function block diagram and (ii) hardware-in-loop (real/virtual factory-equipment controller-control program) debugging system.

Self-layout recognition
In order to facilitate the reconfiguration process, we developed an infrared communication module to automatically acquire physical status information for workstation-to-workstation connections. This communication module enables each workstation to recognize new connections and update relevant information such as new process and layout information, process plans, and corresponding part flows

Transformable jig & fixture
Jigs and fixtures are the fundamental manufacturing elements for ensuring assembly quality but their design and installation are the most costly tasks when producing new products in manufacturing systems. In order to rapidly respond to frequent changes of the reconfigurable manufacturing system, we are developing a transformable pin-jig system, which finds optimal position of a product and automatically generates pin heights control code.

Development of connected smart factory testbeds to invigorate Korean manufacturing equipment industry (2015-2018) Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning: The goal of the project is to develop three CSF testbeds in South Korea in order to support and accelerate state-of-the-art researches for factory-as-a-service and cyber physical production system. Core CSF technologies including (i) reconfigurable shop floor, (ii) fault-tolerable control & preventive maintenance, (iii) VR/AR-based live manual, and (iv) optimal shop floor energy management, will be implemented and validated at the testbeds.

Development of a smart food manufacturing testbed and research infrastructure (2015) WiKIM (PI): In the food industry, tight quality control is essential. In particular, today's fresh food manufacturing system requires real-time information access to processes, machines, and workers for smart quality and delivery management and worker's safety. By considering this requirement and to speed-up the required technology development, this project aims to develop a smart food manufacturing testbed and research infrastructure. We are currently developing (i) workstations and material handlers, (ii) communication device, and sensor network and (ii) food industry-focused MES.

Brochure (Korean)...

Interactive synchronization of assembly system configuration and its control logic development (2015): Diverse customer demands and rapid technology change led to a paradigm shift in manufacturing industry, from mass production to mass customization, to batch size 1 production. In order to meet this challenge, rapid configuration and reconfiguration of manufacturing systems are crucial. The main objectives of this project are thus (i) 3D CAD modeling of an assembly work cell using SolidWorkTM, and (ii) rapid development of control logics through NI LabView SoftmotionTM The main features of the developed assembly work cell are: (i) ability to produce 16 different sub-assemblies (four motors x four motor housings) without additional system change, (ii) reconfigurable work cell achieved by machine to machine synchronization through modular APIs and integrated motion simulation. In short, the project demonstrates rapid control logic design and verification in a virtual environment. The proposed simultaneous procedure of manufacturing system design and control logic development is the first step to implementing rapid control prototyping for smart factories.

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