<p><strong>Executive Summary</strong></p><p>This final thesis has examined the effects of an increased centralization and better coord­in­ation of the distribution logistics at ABB in Västerås. The company is today strongly decent­ralized and there is a minimum of collaboration between the 20 business units. This is why the questions were raised; how could the business units coordinate outbound logistic activities and what effects would that provide. The obj­ect­ive of this final thesis is to provide basic data for a future decision-making which desc­r­ibe these effects.</p><p>The report has mapped out the factors that are important to ABB in an evaluation of their logistic activities and how the outbound logistics work today. The four factors are cost efficiency, delivery service, environmental impact and logistics capability. It was noticed that the degree of collaboration was very low and the business units send their goods in three main directions: Gothenburg, Arlanda and Europe (except for deliveries within the Nordic countries). Today it is only the goods towards Arlanda which are joint­ly transported. In the other directions there are only a few business units who collaborate.</p><p>Beside the primal task to negotiate general transport­ation agreements, the central logistic function (GFSM) at ABB has only a supporting roll in the work concerning logistics. The reason is not just that the business units have the real mandate over the logistics but also that the logistic focus in general is low. Furthermore is it hard for the freight managers (FM) at each business unit to change and improve the logistics, because they have other tasks to manage but also since their logistics skills in many cases are poor. The demands on the freight man­agers are also not expressed clearly enough and therefore they don’t know what is expected of them in their rolls as freight managers.</p><p>Three development directions were identified and expressed as scenarios, see table 1. <em>Scenario 1</em> represents an increased focus on the logistics and more distinct rolls for the GFSM and the FMs. <em>Scenario 2</em> addresses an increased coordination of the physical flow of goods (exemplified as a consolidation of all truck transportations toward Gothenburg) where the freight managers are in charge of this coordination. <em>Scen­ario 3</em> is a combi­nation of the first and second scenario and represents a centralization of the outbound logistics (exemplified as train with containers to Gothenburg).</p><p>The conclusion was that:</p><p>-   <em>Scenario 1</em> entails an increased transparency, communication and central management with positive effects on costs, delivery service and on the environment in the long run. The scenario becomes a prerequisite for the execution of the two others. Therefore is it the first step for ABB if they wish to increase their coordination of physical goods or centralize their logistics operations.</p><p>-   <em>Scenario 2</em> envolves cost savings by a good 50 % because the collecting of the goods takes place at each business unit (unchanged amount of handling). These changes are something to attain since it, in addition to the cost savings, can imply an improved delivery service and doesn’t increase the emissions of CO₂ compared with today!</p><p>-   <em>Scenario 3</em> results in a cost impairment since the cost reductions are too small for the distance Västerås-Gothenburg and are eliminated by the increased costs for handling of goods, warehousing and internal transportation. Nevertheless is train transportation within Sw­eden preferable out of an environmental perspective. All aspects considered, this scen­ario must consolidate more flows of goods and secure already existing knowledge before it becomes interesting to realize.</p>

<p>The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the absolute accuracy of an industrial robot can be increased by monitoring the position of the robot. The motive is to automate high precision, low volume production such as aircraft industry. A laser tracker that can measure both position and orientation with very high accuracy isused to monitor the robot tool position. The robot and laser tracker are integrated via a standard computer. </p><p>The abilities and performance of the robot, with and without feedback from the laser tracker, are investigated. Robotic drilling is performed with supervision and control from the laser tracker. </p><p>The system is implemented and tested on parts of a demonstrator for new aircraft assembly techniques. The ability to position components with internal friction to (+/-)0.05 mm absolute accuracy is shown.</p>

ABB is a global leader in Power and Automation Technologies. This Theses Work has been carried out at ABB FACTS R&amp;D Department in Västerås. ABB FACTS intend to develop new Product Platforms that is partly accomplished with new methods and processes. This Master Thesis concerns the development of a generic Review and Approval Process for these R&amp;D Projects. The development of the generic Review and Approval process is mostly founded on several interviews of employees at ABB FACTS. The respondents are employees from several departments with different amount of experiences and background. In addition to the interviews a Literature Study focused on Roles and Responsibilities, Document Management and R&amp;D Processes was performed. Information in connection to the problem statements concerning Responsibility- and Project Roles in R&amp;D projects and Review and Approval Execution was collected and analyzed during the project. Information regarding how to demonstrate Roles and Responsibilities in relation to the project participants was also considered. The result of this project consists of a Responsibility Chart where all R&amp;D Project related Document Types are listed in relation to the defined Project Roles. This Responsibility Chart also display what responsibility every Project Role has regarding review and approval related to the Document Types. Besides the Responsibility Chart also other objects were developed, such as a Review Record, a Process Description and a User Guide. The above mentioned results are developed in close cooperation with several R&amp;D Project Managers. Furthermore the expectations are that the developed result will be taken in usage and thereby continuously be revised and improved in order to suit the organization to maximum extent.

Executive Summary This final thesis has examined the effects of an increased centralization and better coord­in­ation of the distribution logistics at ABB in Västerås. The company is today strongly decent­ralized and there is a minimum of collaboration between the 20 business units. This is why the questions were raised; how could the business units coordinate outbound logistic activities and what effects would that provide. The obj­ect­ive of this final thesis is to provide basic data for a future decision-making which desc­r­ibe these effects. The report has mapped out the factors that are important to ABB in an evaluation of their logistic activities and how the outbound logistics work today. The four factors are cost efficiency, delivery service, environmental impact and logistics capability. It was noticed that the degree of collaboration was very low and the business units send their goods in three main directions: Gothenburg, Arlanda and Europe (except for deliveries within the Nordic countries). Today it is only the goods towards Arlanda which are joint­ly transported. In the other directions there are only a few business units who collaborate. Beside the primal task to negotiate general transport­ation agreements, the central logistic function (GFSM) at ABB has only a supporting roll in the work concerning logistics. The reason is not just that the business units have the real mandate over the logistics but also that the logistic focus in general is low. Furthermore is it hard for the freight managers (FM) at each business unit to change and improve the logistics, because they have other tasks to manage but also since their logistics skills in many cases are poor. The demands on the freight man­agers are also not expressed clearly enough and therefore they don’t know what is expected of them in their rolls as freight managers. Three development directions were identified and expressed as scenarios, see table 1. Scenario 1 represents an increased focus on the logistics and more distinct rolls for the GFSM and the FMs. Scenario 2 addresses an increased coordination of the physical flow of goods (exemplified as a consolidation of all truck transportations toward Gothenburg) where the freight managers are in charge of this coordination. Scen­ario 3 is a combi­nation of the first and second scenario and represents a centralization of the outbound logistics (exemplified as train with containers to Gothenburg). The conclusion was that: -   Scenario 1 entails an increased transparency, communication and central management with positive effects on costs, delivery service and on the environment in the long run. The scenario becomes a prerequisite for the execution of the two others. Therefore is it the first step for ABB if they wish to increase their coordination of physical goods or centralize their logistics operations. -   Scenario 2 envolves cost savings by a good 50 % because the collecting of the goods takes place at each business unit (unchanged amount of handling). These changes are something to attain since it, in addition to the cost savings, can imply an improved delivery service and doesn’t increase the emissions of CO2 compared with today! -   Scenario 3 results in a cost impairment since the cost reductions are too small for the distance Västerås-Gothenburg and are eliminated by the increased costs for handling of goods, warehousing and internal transportation. Nevertheless is train transportation within Sw­eden preferable out of an environmental perspective. All aspects considered, this scen­ario must consolidate more flows of goods and secure already existing knowledge before it becomes interesting to realize.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate how the absolute accuracy of an industrial robot can be increased by monitoring the position of the robot. The motive is to automate high precision, low volume production such as aircraft industry. A laser tracker that can measure both position and orientation with very high accuracy isused to monitor the robot tool position. The robot and laser tracker are integrated via a standard computer. The abilities and performance of the robot, with and without feedback from the laser tracker, are investigated. Robotic drilling is performed with supervision and control from the laser tracker. The system is implemented and tested on parts of a demonstrator for new aircraft assembly techniques. The ability to position components with internal friction to (+/-)0.05 mm absolute accuracy is shown.

This thesis explores Virtual Reality (VR) as a digital medium for teaching in a professional context. In collaboration with ABB, a pioneering technology leader, the thesis questions whether VR could be the future medium for training ABB service personnel.  The research discusses how you can design for VR, by drawing parallels to traditional mediums; Moreover, the research covers insights into the ABB education and VR explorations.  Three experience prototypes were designed as the final concept. These experience prototypes aim to highlight educational use cases through VR, covering collaborative work, safety guidelines and various utilities. The goal of the final experience prototypes is to engage potential users and designers in a dialog concerning VR as an educational medium of the future.

Wireless is an important part of the future and utilizing the wireless technology in project management is a great tool. This project is a messaging system designed using WAP and Java Server pages, as both of them are the technologies of the future. The project puts together a tool to help in project management made with the use of Java Server Pages and MySQL as the backend database. It uses Wireless Markup Language as the basic language for the cellular phones and the hand held wireless devices. The prototype has been modeled on project planning for power plants done by Asea Brown Boveri, Ltd.

This diploma thesis deals with virtual commissioning of production system which is located in the laboratories of the Institute of Production Machines, Systems and Robotics at the BUT. The issue of virtual commissioning is described in the theoretical part of the thesis, followed by a description of each device located in this production system. The design of the 3D model, the design of the PLC control program and also the virtual commissioning itself are described in the practical part of the thesis. There is the creation of the robot‘s program described at the end of the thesis. Several Siemens software tools were used for virtual commissioning realization (TECNOMATIX Process Simulate, TIA Portal and PLCSIM Advanced 2.0).

The master thesis describes the design and digital commissioning of a robotic production system for 3D concrete printing. The theoretical part of the thesis includes an analysis of the current state of knowledge in the field of 3D printing in industrial automation. It also includes a detailed system analysis of the problem, in which the requirements and elements of the production system are specified. In the applied part of the thesis, a 3D model of the workplace was created and a simulation of the entire production process and digital commissioning of the system were performed using the ABB RobotStudio software. The output of the of the application part of the thesis is the design is the design of the workplace with a debugged control program ready for use in real operation.

This diploma thesis is focused on the design of a robotic workstation for laser marking of aluminium hinges for the automotive industry. Robots remove wheel hinges from palettes at the end of a preassembly line, mark them a sort them. At first, selected marking technologies used in the automotive industry are introduced. Afterwards, a few robot and process simulation software are described. Subsequently, several layout variants are created as viable options for process handling and the chosen variant is designed in detail. Using RobotStudio software, a simulation of the robotic marking cell is made for process verification. Finally, a technical - economic evaluation is performed.