Methode zum Engineering von Produktionsanlagen durch Wiederverwendung von Modulen

Industrial machine manufacturers and operating companies are subject to an increasing competition nowadays. This results in the pursuit of greater efficiency and effectiveness in all areas of the company. The reuse of modules and the related knowledge allows increasing the efficiency and managing the complexity in engineering and in the production of complex products with many variants. The approach of reusing modules from modular systems, which are described in all details, can be transmitted only partially on production systems such as assembly lines so far. These systems are specifically adapted to the requirements and processes of the operator of the production system. This is mainly due to the standardization effort for example for the definition of module interfaces for these systems. The challenge of reuse of modules in such a production system is to identify modules which are small enough that they can be reused in different systems, and which are large enough that they offer the developer an added value, compared to the reuse of components.
In this thesis, a method will be presented in order to meet this challenge. This method supports the engineer in the identification of modules, and it facilitates the reuse in the early stages of engineering or, more specifically, in the conception of a system. For this, a methodology is developed and implemented as software. The method allows the developer to identify reusable modules into existing production systems. For this purpose, a matrix-based approach is used in combination with sorting algorithms and evaluation criteria. In addition, these modules are systematized by features and functions and stored in a knowledge base. Thus, it is possible to create combinations of modules through a process description with functions in the engineering of new production and to limit the selection to relevant combinations by specifying properties. In a further step, the modules are assessed and thus the module combinations are prioritized. For this purpose, an aggregate utility value of cost, productivity, energy consumption and utilization is formed for the module combination. It is possible through statistical methods or simulation to adapt these assessments to the requirements of a new production system. The method is implemented in a software tool to assist the developer in the application of the method and tested in the industrial practice.
The method is particularly suitable for manufacturers and operators of process-specific production system, who want to reuse the knowledge of these systems in the engineering of new systems or the adaption of existing systems. The method supports the user not only in the identification of modules and in the systematization of knowledge, but also in the provision of knowledge during the conceptual design phase. In addition to choosing a suitable combination of modules an assessment is carried out in engineering, which can be used in further steps, such as the quotation. The benefits of reuse of knowledge are increased by the provision of data of the modules. Due to this this knowledge can be reused not only for the modules, the interfaces and the assessment, but also on first drafts, documentation, simulation models etc..