A Plug and Produce-inspired Approach in Distributed Control Architecture: A Flexible Assembly Line and Product Centric Control Example

There is an increasing trend of manufacturing new products in small lot sizes even though their specifications may not be known before the order actually arrives. This requires a high level of agility and in particular support on the software side. Thus, dynamic reconfiguration of controllers and appropriate communication paradigms that can adapt to the changing infrastructure on the factory floor are desirable. This paper presents work towards introducing a plug and produce-style approach, a paradigm where devices can be dynamically added, removed, or reconfigured on the factory floor. Our example is based on OPC UA on an assembly line with an IEC 61499-based environment to introduce flexibility, interoperability, and fault tolerance.