Sustainable and Flexible Automation of Seasonal Production through Dynamic Resource Management

Project time: 2021 – 2024

Budget: 12 132 349 kronor

Robotic solutions with autonomous decision-making software supporting on-demand production using resource pools.

The mega trend of high mix and low volume production affects many industrial sectors. The ability to produce different products, on demand, in the same system, improves the utilization of resources, energy, space, etc., while allowing companiesto engage in more dynamic marketplaces. The food and beverages sector is characterized by seasonal variability and products have important variations in form factor. High volume production systems with fixed automation are deployed for catering for the throughput needs of certain products. However, the industry is seeing an important increase in custom orders. Due to variations in volume and nature of the custom orders it is not possible to incorporate them directly in the main lines. Simultaneously, conventional automation is not cost effective, leads to very low utilization of resources, inadequate use of space and lack of flexibility. The project will develop the technology for incorporating robots on demand, as a function of the customs orders. It develops in three important directions. A robotic solution that can operate without fences and can be very easily displaced within the same site or between sites, using forklifts. An intelligent optimization and execution middleware that ensures the robot and surrounding environment operate in a plug and produce way. The concept of dynamic resource pools that will enable companies to share physical resources within and between sites. The depalletization and repalletization processes investigated have the biggest economical and sustainability impacts and include the highest variation in product manipulation requirements. While addressing an immediate business need, they pave the way for generally reconsidering the design of automation systems.

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