Digitalisation is setting new standards in all fields of industry. Without automation and robot systems, for example, the assembly of components in a modern production plant is no longer conceivable. The combination of ever shorter development cycles, increasing product complexity and an unprecedented number of variants is a challenge for many companies. On top of this, and despite their desire to increase efficiency, they also have constant price and cost pressure to deal with.
Individual, flexible and fully integrated production solutions for these complex process requirements can be applied to counteract these effects; in other words production processes need to be automated and optimised using the latest robot-controlled technologies. The solutions available on the market are as many and varied as the installation requirements themselves. These differ enormously in terms of performance, degree of automation, space requirements and, of course, most particularly in terms of how much needs to be invested in them. In order to be able to handle all production tasks, many companies therefore rely on hybrid assembly systems, a combination of automated components and HRC robot technology. This is not like making classic use of industrial robots, since humans and robots work hand in hand here, without a safety fence. The focus remains, however, on safe and ergonomic workplace design.
The greater the complexity of a plant and therefore its automation, the greater the importance of plant simulation, which ultimately leads to virtual commissioning. It is, as it were, the fusion of the real and digital worlds. Working on the basis of a virtual, realistic image of the production plant - the digital twin - the aim is to test all functions and ensure the error-free interaction of all components before even starting to build the plant.
EDAG Production Solutions has many years of experience in the implementation of fully and partially automated assembly systems for a wide range of industries and the most individual customer-specific requirements. In order to realise both solutions, we use innovative technologies such as virtual or augmented reality, or image processing systems.
For the future-oriented research project "assembly system with virtual image" carried out in cooperation with the Department of Production Systems (LPS) at the Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), we were able to successfully apply precisely this know-how. In this way, we have in recent months succeeded in finding solutions for the following - admittedly sometimes rather tricky - tasks.
The aim of the research contract was
At the start of the project just under a year ago, this task presented EDAG Production Solutions with a number of major challenges that needed to be addressed.
First off, however: we successfully implemented all the tasks set by the Ruhr University. Before the project was even a year old, we were able to hand over a turn-key plant with CE certification and a coupled virtual image.
This project combined a number of focal points that are also important to our customers in all industrial sectors:
The Production Systems Department has been working on future-related topics in the field of mechanical engineering for many years. The assembly plant, which we devised, planned, designed and then also constructed, was actually set up at at EDAG Production Solutions in Fulda and successfully put into operation, first virtually and then in reality. The plant will be handed over in Bochum on completion of a successful performance test.
With this plant, we were able to create a platform for researching other topics related to the Smart Factory - the factory of the future - in order to further develop complex automation technologies. For both we and the Ruhr University share a goal: namely to support industry so that it is able to keep up with the high speed of digitalisation in the next few years and take the opportunities this provides, making the best possible use of them for the benefit of the company and ultimately its success.
If you would like to know more about this trendsetting project, please download our "PROJECT BOOK: Assembly Systems in the Smart Factory. The fusion of the real and the virtual worlds: an innovative research project with the Ruhr University Bochum" or contact our colleague Andreas Friedrich, who will be happy to provide you with many insights into the project.