Manufacturing is becoming a crucial part of now-a-days fast growing economies and increase of earth’s population. Recently manufacturing is changing rapidly, different manufacturing strategies are being implemented, the conceptual understanding for manufacturing is changed, and new ways of producing products are showing up. Automation has been the essential term regarding the modern manufacturing processes. The humanmachine sharing is playing a major role in the production systems, and the most elegant thing is to create and design the appropriate level for interaction between them depending on the desired outcome in the production area. Technological innovation is the implementation of new more efficient production method by achieving qualitative improvements of the goods and services in a specific area in this paper’s case is a production system. This paper is regarding the importance of the correct production system being chosen for an organization regarding the right level of automation (LoA) being used, which is a way of controlling the overall effectiveness of the system.  Different approaches and methods are going to be used for demonstrating the choice of  the exact and right level of automation and the possibility of changing it by introducing and implementing the ongoing DYNAMO research on a different conceptual solutions for a foundry application in Factory-in-a-Box. The main objective of the research is to develop a method and system for supporting sustainable flexible and reconfigurable production system providing competitive industrial characteristics in the fast developing world. / ProViking, Factory-in-a-box, Dynamo

The competitive climate of production and high labour cost, motivate western companies to use technologies like automation as a mean to increase manufacturing competitiveness. On the other hand companies are aware about cost reductive policies like lean production which has shown noticeable achievement; consequently some manufacturers tend to follow such system. In this situation, in order to have lean enterprise, it is vital to find a clear picture of challenges and potentials of implementing automation within a lean environment. If the process of developing automation is not efficient and companies’ strategy and mission is not considered in time of project development, the result may not be lean at the end. So finding an appropriate guideline that can be used in time of developing automated projects is very important.This thesis aims to develop a guideline that can be used in developing automation solutions to have lean result at the end of the projects. The guidelines can be used in both assembly and manufacturing development projects.VOLVO GTO has chosen as the case study for this thesis. In order to find the answer of research questions two main areas in manufacturing and assembly are marked.

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The internal logistics system includes all activities connected with managing the flow of materials within the physical limits of a facility. This system is an important part of operations in need of increased focus and continuous improvements. Automation is one possible tool with a previously confirmed great potential to improve internal logistics. Despite this great potential and a growing trend of using automation in the area, internal logistics activities are still not automated to the same extent as other parts of operations. The overall aim of this research is therefore to develop knowledge that supports the successful use of automation in internal logistics systems. The automation development process has been identified as critical for the success of the use of automation. With the overall aim of the research in mind, the objective of this thesis is to develop a framework facilitating the automation development process in internal logistics systems. To help fulfil the objective, empirical data have been collected through five case studies and a survey study. During the empirical studies, the process of improving the internal logistics system and the automation development process have been analysed and the focus has been on identifying challenges and facilitators for the successful use and development of automation in internal logistics systems. The findings indicate a poor awareness of both current and desired performance of the internal logistics system at the companies studied. In addition, automation development is often conducted in an unstructured and poorly supported manner and there is often insecurity regarding what steps and actions to take. Foremost, the findings indicate a poor base for proper evaluation and decisions during automation development in internal logistics systems. This is analysed and concluded as a cause of unclear goals and requirements and the lack of a strategic view with regard to both internal logistics operations and the use and development of automation. A framework, including proposed guidelines to overcome the observed challenges by including identified factors facilitating successful automation development in internal logistics systems has been developed. The core of the framework is a proposed process model for automation development in an internal logistics context. Due to the identified importance and the lack of a strategy linked to and supporting the automation development process, the framework also includes a proposed model for an internal logistics strategy as well as a proposed model for an automation strategy. / LEAD - Lean Automation Development

Due to the competitive nature of the global economy, organisations are continuously seeking ways of cutting costs and increasing efficiency to gain a competitive advantage. Field service organisations that offer after sales support seek to gain a competitive advantage through downtime minimisation. Downtime is the time between service requests made by a customer or triggered by equipment failure and the completion of the service to rectify the problem by the field service team. Researchers have identified downtime as one of the key performance indicators for field service organisations. The lack of real-time access to information and inaccuracy of information are factors which contribute to the poor management of downtime. Various technology advancements have been adopted to address some of the challenges faced by field service organisations through automation. The emergence of an Internet of Things (IoT), has brought new enhancement possibilities to various industries, for instance, the manufacturing industry. The main research question that this study aims to address is “How can an Internet of Things be used to optimise field service automation?” The main research objective was to develop and evaluate a model for the optimisation of field services using an IoT’s features and technologies. The model aims at addressing challenges associated with the inaccuracy or/and lack of real-time access to information during downtime. The model developed is the theoretical artefact of the research methodology used in this study which is the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). The DSRM activities were adopted to fulfil the research objectives of this research. A literature review in the field services domain was conducted to establish the problems faced by field service organisations. Several interviews were held to verify the problems of FSM identified in literature and some potential solutions. During the design and development activity of the DSRM methodology, an IoT model for FSA was designed. The model consists of:The Four Layered Architecture; The Three Phase Data Flow Process; and Definition and descriptions of IoT-based elements and functions. The model was then used to drive the design, development, and evaluation of “proof of concept” prototype, the KapCha prototype. KapCha enables the optimisation of FSA using IoT techniques and features. The implementation of a sub-component of the KapCha system, in fulfilment of the research. The implementation of KapCha was applied to the context of a smart lighting environment in the case study. A two-phase evaluation was conducted to review both the theoretical model and the KapCha prototype. The model and KapCha prototype were evaluated using the Technical and Risk efficacy evaluation strategy from the Framework for Evaluation of Design Science (FEDS). The Technical Risk and Efficacy strategy made use of formative, artificial-summative and summative-naturalistic methods of evaluation. An artificial-summative evaluation was used to evaluate the design of the model. Iterative formative evaluations were conducted during the development of the KapCha. KapCha was then placed in a real-environment conditions and a summative-naturalistic evaluation was conducted. The summative-naturalistic evaluation was used to determine the performance of KapCha under real-world conditions to evaluate the extent it addresses FSA problems identified such as real-time communication and automated fault detection.

In the global automotive industry there is a drive toward integration of autonomous and human operated equipment. Monfared and Yang (2006:546) suggest that this dynamic requirement could be met with elements to be investigated in a research paper. Current investigations show a gap in management not having a guideline which can be used to help decide between automation versus human capital in the planning of new production facilities in the automotive assembly plant. (Skjerve and Skraaning, 2004:3). The purpose of this research is to determine what factors affect this decision-making process. In order to carry out this research, an in-depth literature review was conducted using various sources. The sources included, but were not limited to, interviews at assembly plants, the Nelson Mandela Metro University library, various e-journals and the internet. The literature review led to the finding of the factors which affect Levels of Automation (LOA) and to the development of the research instrument which was used to measure the impact of those factors. The results of fifty-two (52) respondents were then analysed and used as evidence to support the three hypotheses proposed. As a result of completing the above procedure the following hypotheses were supported. The greater the level of technology and the lower the skills of employees the greater the level of automation in an automotive assembly plant to be used. The greater the complexity of the assembly processes the lower the level of automation in an automotive assembly plant to be used. The higher the flexibility the greater the level of automation in an automotive assembly plant to be used. This means that managers and supervisors of assembly plants should consider the level of technology and skills of employees, flexibility and complexity during the design stages of an automotive assembly line as these factors will affect profitability by reducing waste, improve quality as well as allow for flexibility in customer demand in terms of volumes and product variance.

According to the facts presented by The United Nations in their 12th goal - ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns - of the 17 sustainability goals, an estimated third of all food produced each year ends up wasted, in the bins of consumers and retailers or spoiling, due to poor transportation and harvesting practices. Reducing food waste is therefore one of the indispensable tasks to accomplish this goal.   This degree project aims to develop, as proof of concept, an automatic control platform for food waste management and implement it in a form of a prototype. The platform is intended to handle the workflow automatically, taking in food waste, weighing it, getting it photographed for image recognition and transporting it to a specified bin according to the classification of food waste using image recognition. The classification part is, however, not included in this project.    The prototype of the control platform consists of a mechanical construction, a weighing scale, a stepper motor, a servomotor and a Raspberry Pi single-board computer. The mechanical construction was designed using CAD (computer aided design) and made with a 3D printer. On the top of the construction is an open flat platform, for placing food waste, which has two walls on the sides, one opening in the front and a robot arm in the back. The robot arm is moved forward, to offload food waste, and backward by a servomotor. The platform is mounted a base with a stand which supports the mechanical construction. It is rotated using a stepper motor installed in the base and stops at three different postions at 90, 180 and 270 degrees, respectively, which are to represent the three different categories of food waste that is to be classified using image recognition. The Raspberry Pi is the controller that is programmed to coordinate the whole workflow.   The prototype is finished and tested. The test results have shown that it works well as a control platform that can handle the workflow, starting at the position to take in food waste, then weighing it and transporting it to three different specified positions, respectively.

Denna rapport behandlar automationsmöjligheter inom Saab. Arbetet bedrevs på den civila sidan av Saab i Linköping, mer känd som Saab Aerostructures, som ett examensarbete på kandidatnivå. Flygplansindustrin har i dagsläget en relativt låg grad av automatiserad tillverkning. Detta till följd av de många olika komplicerade moment som utförs samt av den relativt låga produktionstakten. Syftet med det här examensarbetet var att undersöka möjligheterna till att utöka graden av automatiserad tillverkning inom Saab Aerostructures produktion. För att undersöka detta spenderades tid i produktionen för att studera hur arbetet utförs. Med hjälp av undersökningen och samtal med personer inom produktionen togs ett antal tillämpningar fram på uppgifter som kan tänkas automatiseras med en robot. Eftersom Saab har begränsad erfarenhet inom det här området är den här rapporten mer av en förstudie för att sätta bollen i rullning och få företaget att börja integrera nya lösningar för att få en mer effektiv och automatiserad tillverkning av flygplansstrukturer.   Arbetet resulterade i att två stycken olika förslag på automationslösningar ges. De två förslagen skiljer sig en hel del åt vad gäller både uppgift och lösning. Det ena föreslås använda sig av en robot som går att arbeta med sida vid sida, utan fysiska avgränsningar i form av stängsel. Den andra lösningen använder en traditionell industrirobot i en vanlig miljö med en skyddsbur. Lösningen med den traditionella industriroboten ser mest lovande ut eftersom arbetet som roboten kommer utföra resulterar i att cirka 40 operatörstimmar per vecka frigörs. Payback-tiden för den investeringen är ungefär 4 år, vilket Saab anser vara överkomligt. Denna lösning kombinerar tre uppgifter: fräsning, tätning och målning som alla utförs på en lastdörr. / This report regards automation possibilities within Saab. The work was conducted at the Aerostructures division of Saab in Linköping, as a final thesis on a bachelor level. The aircraft industry today has a relatively low level of automated manufacturing. The reason for that is that it typically consists of several complicated operations and the production rate is relatively low. The purpose of this thesis was to examine the possibilities to increase the level of automated manufacture in production at Saab Aerostructures. To examine this, some time was spent studying how operations were conducted within production. The information collected combined with discussions within production resulted in a number of applications that might be possible to automate with a robot. Since Saab has limited experience in this field, this report should be considered as a pre-study to put the wheels in motion and initiate discussions regarding new solutions to achieve a more efficient and automated manufacturing process. The work resulted in two different suggested automation solutions. The suggestions differ in both scope and result. One of the suggestions uses a robot that an operator can collaborate with, without any safety fence. The other suggestion uses a traditional industrial robot in a more traditional robot cell. The suggestion of implementing a traditional industrial robot seems like the best alternative to proceed with. Its estimated payback time is approximately 4 years and it has the potential to reduce manual work by 40 hours a week. This solution combines three different operations that are conducted on the same cargo door: milling, sealing and painting.