Automated PLC software generation based on standardized digital process information

In order to meet the various challenges in the automotive industry, new and integrated methodologies for production planning and ramp-up processes are required. Thus, a concept for automated PLC software generation based on standardized digital process information is introduced with the special focus on the needs of the body shop in the automotive industry. The foundation for PLC software generation is a digital process plan that describes the production steps in a graphical way. For the special needs of PLC software generation new process elements and attributes are introduced. So the process plan contains the stepwise specialization of all necessary information for a PLC program. This paper additionally presents a specification extending the digital process information with resource-specific PLC function blocks.