Manufacturers are facing increasing pressure to reduce the development costs and deployment times for automated assembly systems. This is especially true for a variety of precision mechatronic products. To meet new and changing market needs, the difficulties of integrating their systems must be significantly reduced. Since 1994, the Microdynamic Systems Laboratory at Carnegie Mellon University has been developing an automation framework, called Agile Assembly Architecture (AAA). Additionally to the concept, a prototype instantiation, in the form of a modular tabletop precision assembly system termed Minifactory, has been developed. The platform, provided by the Minifactory and AAA, is able to support and integrate various precision manufacturing processes. These are needed to assemble a large variety of small mechatronic products. In this thesis various enhancements for a second generation agent-based micro assembly system are designed, implemented, tested and improved. The project includes devising methods for tray feeding of precision high-value parts, micro fastening techniques and additional work on visual- and force-servoing. To help achieving these functions, modular and reconfigurable robot end-effectors for handling millimeter sized parts have been designed and built for the existing robotic agents. New concepts for robot end effectors to grasp and release tiny parts, including image processing and intelligent control software, were required and needed to be implemented in the prototype setup. These concepts need to distinguish themselves largely from traditional handling paradigms, in order to solve problems introduced by electrostatic and surface tension forces, that are dominant in manipulating parts that are millimeter and less in size. In order to have a modular system, the factory the main part of this project was the initialization and auto calibration of the different agents. The main focus, of this research, is on improving the design, deployment and reconfiguration capabilities of automated assembly systems for precision mechatronic products. This helps to shorten the development process as well as the assembly of factory systems.  A strategic application for this approach is the automated assembly of small sensors, actuators, medical devices and chip-scale atomic systems such as atomic clocks, magnetometers and gyroscopes.

Wissen über Digitalisierung, Automatisierung und über „smarte“ Technologien sind Schlüssel für einen stabilen und nachhaltigen Erfolg von Klein- und Mittelunternehmen in der Region Salzburg. Die Fachhochschule Salzburg beantragte aus diesem Grund die Initiative Salzburg Smart Factory Bootcamp. Moderne und mobile Industrierobotik, kommunikative Software-Architekturen und OT-Sicherheit bilden die Basis für die Umsetzung aktueller Smart-Factory-Technologien und deren Potentiale in Unternehmen. Ziel des Bootcamps ist die gezielte Weiterqualifizierung mit modernsten Smart-Factory-Technologien von Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern der beteiligten Unternehmen. Zusätzlich kann langfristig, auch über die beantragte Projektlaufzeit hinaus, die Zusammenarbeit zwischen Hochschule und Salzburger Unternehmen etabliert und weitergeführt werden.

This master thesis maps contemporary situation linked to the Industry 4.0 topic and sets it into connections and define its relations. The first part is dedicated to describing the beginning and nature of Industry 4.0. Next part shows main national initiatives of several countries. In the other part of thesis there is specific description of terms connected to this concept. Next part is about evaluating benefits, risks and restrictions. After that there is description of present use on market. The last part sums some predictions about Industry 4.0.

Die Zunahme an Komplexität und Vernetzung von modernen Technologien in Fabriken stellt die zukünftigen Ingenieure und Ingenieurinnen vor größer werdende Herausforderungen. Es ist die Aufgabe, insbesondere der Fachhochschulen, entsprechend praxisorientierte Lehransätze zu realisieren und so die Fachkräfte von morgen auszubilden. Zur Erreichung dieses Ziels stellt dieser Beitrag ein Konzept vor, bei welchem Studierende im Verlauf eines Bachelorstudiums eigenständig wichtige technologische Aspekte einer Smart Factory anwenden und ihre eigene digitale Fabrik erstellen.

Die Industrie 5.0 fordert neue Lernansätze und zeitgleich auch passende Lernumgebungen. Parallel müssen diese neben den didaktischen Herausforderungen auch den Transfer- und Übertragungsgedanken auf die industriellen Anwendungen gerecht werden. Durch die täglich steigende Anzahl vielfältiger KI-Tools insbesondere textgenerierenden Tools, braucht es Systeme mit einem breiten Anwendungsbereich. Im Rahmen des vorliegenden Beitrags geben die Autoren einen Einblick in die Wildauer Smart Production, welche den transdisziplinären Gedanken von Lern- und Transferumgebungen Rechnung trägt, Möglichkeiten der Gestaltung komplexer Produktionssysteme widerspiegelt, die Integration menschzentrierter Ansätze ermöglicht und als Forschungsumgebung eingesetzt wird.

This study sets out to investigate the connection between digitally achieved traceability and the production personnel's view of traceability. The results presents a number of factors to consider when designing traceability solutions in a manufacturing setting. The study was conducted in a qualitative manner, with the main data collection done through interviews. The results show that the production worker's stand point towards traceability is based on three factors: performance measurement, surveillance, and increased workload. Each of these factors should be taken in to consideration when designing traceability solutions. These factors, and suggestions for how to work with them, is put into the context of a steel manufacturer that is in the process of implementing traceability in their production process.

The new industry revolution creates a vast transformation in the manufacturing methods. Embedded Intelligence and communication technologies facilitate the execution of the smart factory. It can provide lots of features for strong customization of products. Assembly system is a critical segment of the smart factory. However, the complexity of production planning and the variety of products being manufactured, persuade the factories to use different methods to guide the workers for unfamiliar tasks in the assembly section. Motion tracking is the process of capturing the movement of human body or objects which has been used in different industrial systems. It can be integrated to a wide range of applications such as interacting with computers, games and entertainment, industry, etc. Motion tracking can be integrated to assembly systems and it has the potential to create an improvement in this industry as well. But the integration of motion tracking in industrial processes is still not widespread. This thesis work provides a fully automatic tracking solution for future systems in manufacturing industry and other fields. In general a configurable, flexible, and scalable motion tracking system is created in this thesis work to amend the tracking process. According to our environment, we have done a research between different motion tracking methods and technologies including Kinect and Leap Motion sensor, and finally the leap motion sensor is selected as the most appropriate method, because it fulfils our demands in this project. Multiple Leap motion sensors are used in this work to cover areas with different size. Data fusion between multiple leap motion sensors can be considered as another novel contribution of this thesis work. To achieve this goal data from multiple sensors are combined. This system can improve the lack of accuracy in order to creating a practical industrial application. By fusion of several sensors in order to achieve accuracies that allow implementation in practice, a motion tracking system with higher accuracy is created.

Industry 4.0 and the smart factory concept are both relevant for academia and companies. Many are talking about it but few understand the challenges that exist before, during, and after an implementation. The thesis aim is to map out the largest challenges with an implementation and also dive deeper into the question of which competence that will be required in a smarter production. To address these questions a qualitative study with thirteen interviews has been conducted, ten of which with practitioners and three with experts in the area. From the interviews the following findings and conclusions could be drawn. Firstly, the largest challenges with implementing industry 4.0 and smart factories will be, large CAPEX (Capital Expenditure) investments, organisational change management, and cyber threats. Secondly, Industry 4.0 is not going to be a revolution it is more going to be an evolution. Thirdly, implementing the smart factory concept is linked to a lot of uncertainty and especially uncertainty related to which competences that will be required. No one can with certainty define exactly what competences that are required but an education in IT and statistics with an analytical mindset will be key elements. There is also a model for how companies are recommended to think when filling vacancies created in the transition to a smarter production in the analysis chapter.

Leading industrial nations invest to try to increase advanced manufacturing and innovation to catch up in a free-market world. One common vision for these investments has been Industry 4.0. In short can this topic be described as the internet moving into the industry. The concept is relatively new and has become one of the most discussed topics during the last couple of years in many manufacturing conferences. However, the industry is so far lacking a clear definition of the concept, and much of the focus is on laboratory experiments rather than industrial applications. The research that has been conducted so far has not involved the process industry, where this thesis will operate. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the understanding of how Industry 4.0 can be related to the pulp and paper industry by contextualizing the concept, and function as a “door-opener” for further research. Potentials, sustainability aspects and a concrete example has been used to comprehend this. The study has been designed with a qualitative approach through semi-structured interviews at the specific case company Stora Enso, Skoghall. As the concept of Industry 4.0 not yet has an explicit definition the start of the thesis was therefore to create a theoretical framework of the theory to relate to during the rest of the study. The findings of the research show that Industry 4.0 in the pulp and paper industry focuses on Availability through possibilities of prediction and response improvement. The concept should emphasis on keeping the production ongoing with fever break-downs and increased Quality of the products. Communication improvements will be essential in reaching the new industry level, with connecting the whole plant as a crucial part. The thesis contributes with a first insight to what Industry 4.0 will mean to the pulp and paper industry and how it contextualizes in the sector. / Framträdande industriella nationer investerar idag för att öka den avancerade tillverkningen och antalet innovationer för att hänga med i den fria marknaden. En gemensam vision för de här investeringarna är Industri 4.0. I korta drag kan det beskrivas som att internet flyttar in i industrin. Konceptet är relativt nytt och har kommit att bli ett av de mest diskuterade områdena under de senaste åren på tillverkningskonferenser. Industrin saknar dock en tydlig definition av konceptet, och mycket av fokus gällande ämnet hamnar på laborationsexperiment istället för praktiska applikationer. Vidare finns det ett behov av att titta på hur detta ser ut i processindustrin eftersom detta ännu inte granskats, vilket kommer vara området för uppsatsen. Syftet med denna studie är att bidra till förståelsen för hur Industri 4.0 kan relateras till pappersindustrin genom att kontextualisera konceptet och verkasom en ”dörr-öppnare” för vidare forskning. Möjligheter, hållbarhetsaspekter och ett konkret exempel har använts för att skapa förståelse för detta. Studien har designats med ett kvalitativt angreppssätt med semi-strukturerade intervjuer på det specifika fallet, Stora Enso Skoghall. Eftersom konceptet Industri 4.0 ännu saknar en tydlig definition började studien med att skapa ett teoretiskt ramverk för att kunna relatera till detta genom arbetet. Resultaten visar att Industri 4.0 i pappersindustrin fokuserar på Tillgänglighet genom ökade prediktions- och åtgärdsmöjligheter. Konceptet borde lägga vikt vid att hålla igång produktionen med färre avbrott och ökad Kvalitet på produkterna. Kommunikationsförbättringar kommer bli essentiella för att nå den nya nivån av industri, där integrationen av hela fabriken kommer spela en stor roll. Examensarbetet bidrar med en första inblick i vad Industri 4.0 kommer betyda för pappersindustrin och hur det kontextualiseras i branschen.

The diploma thesis called Analysis of trends in companies with emphasis of Industry 4.0 meets with sphere of trend of Industry 4.0. This work provides the basic theoretical know-ledge about conpcet of Industry 4.0. The theoretical part of this work also includes techno-logical and social aspects of fourth industry revolution. In the practical part of the work is performed analysis of readiness czech companies for trend of Industry 4.0. On the base of results of analysis concluding recommendations are determined.