Holarchy for line-less mobile assembly systems operation in the context of the internet of production
Armin F. Buckhorst, Benjamin Montavon, Dominik Wolfschläger, Melanie Buchsbaum, Amir Shahidi, Henning Petruck, Ike Kunze, Jan Pennekamp, Christian Brecher, Mathias Hüsing, Burkhard Corves, Verena Nitsch, Klaus Wehrle, Robert Schmitt
Abstract
Assembly systems must provide maximum flexibility qualified by organization and technology to offer cost-compliant performance features to differentiate themselves from competitors in buyers’ markets. By mobilization of multipurpose resources and dynamic planning, Line-less Mobile Assembly Systems (LMASs) offer organizational reconfigurability. By proposing a holarchy to combine LMASs with the concept of an Internet of Production (IoP), we enable LMASs to source valuable information from cross-level production networks, physical resources, software nodes, and data stores that are interconnected in an IoP. The presented holarchy provides a concept of how to address future challenges, meet the requirements of shorter lead times, and unique lifecycle support. The paper suggests an application of decision making, distributed sensor services, recommender-based data reduction, and in-network computing while considering safety and human usability alike.