Data analytics and production efficiency evaluation on a flexible manufacturing cell

Industry 4.0 is changing the manufacturing landscape towards smart and digital manufacturing. As a result, manufacturing companies will be capable to improve productivity while reducing lead time and costs. Nevertheless, manufacturers' skepticism about the benefits provided by Industry 4.0 still represents a barrier to its diffusion. The aim of this work is to demonstrate how Internet of Things and Analytics technologies can bring benefits regarding remote performance monitoring. The intended aim is achieved through the development of a monitoring system concept and its concrete implementation on a Festo Flexible Mechatronics System (MPS 202), a small-scale automated production line. The integration and connection of various sensors allow data collection and communication to a cloud infrastructure, where data are processed and analyzed. Data analytics can highlight key performance metrics that are visualized and streamed on a dashboard, facilitating the understanding of process conditions. The system generates alarms on mobile devices in case of anomalies in the Festo system, allowing users to immediately realize whether an undesired event is occurring in the system. The monitoring system enhances process performance awareness, as key performance metrics such as productivity, cycle time and parts produced are displayed, the cloud infrastructure enables remote visualization and monitoring. This work aims to demonstrate how the implementation of simple and inexpensive IoT devices represents an efficient way to provide new monitoring capabilities for legacy machines.