Applying Skill-based Engineering using OPC-UA in Production System with a Digital Twin

The increasing demand for flexibility in the production industry has brought the need for plug and produce systems, in which components from various vendors and suppliers can be easily integrated into the production plant and without a lot of effort on the ground-level these components can be controlled. This paper proposes a novel engineering approach, combining the IEC 61499 component-based organisation of software with high-level command interface, known as skills, communicated between the components via OPC-UA. The approach is illustrated on a laboratory-scale flexible assembly system, composed of pneumatic jacks, mechatronic conveyors, robots and AGV's. The proposed platform demonstrates the ease of improving flexibility in the production scenarios.