Virtual Asset Representation for enabling Adaptive Assembly at the Example of Electric Vehicle Production

Abstract

Manufacturing companies are confronted with the challenge of adapting to ever-changing requirements of markets in order to remain competitive. Besides the rising number of product variants, increasingly frequent product changes require a continuous adaptation of assembly processes including its work instructions. Adaptive and highly connected agile assembly systems are designed to meet these challenges by enabling the interaction of various assets in assembly. A successful implementation of such Industry 4.0 (I4.0) solutions requires the development of a semantic oriented adaptive framework, which connects the physical with the virtual world. It enables interactive and situation-aware solutions such as Augmented Reality applications to adapt to worker capabilities and to improve worker satisfaction by providing information, based on individual experience, skills and personal preferences. A central part of the adaptive framework is the semantic representation of tangible and intangible assets through a Virtual Asset Representation containing all relevant asset information for adaptive assembly. This paper shows a three levels structure for adaptive assembly implementation, consisting of the adaptive framework level, the Virtual Asset Representation (VAR) ontology level and the use case level. The implementation of an adaptive assembly system is shown in the use case of a rear light assembly process of an electric vehicle in the context of the EU funded project A4BLUE. Based on the gained experiences a critical reflection on target fulfilment and user-friendliness of the VAR is given.