Design and control of flexible and distributed production systems using digital twins

Abstract: The ongoing fluctuation in customer demand within the manufacturing industry has led companies to reconsider production lines. Flexibility is an essential aspect to face when dealing with this problem. Flexibility allows companies to create different production lines on demand, using the same workstations with the same processes but different manufacturing flows. Just as crucial as adapting to demand is avoiding costs and worthless production time. Virtual Commissioning (VC) is used to cope with this problem by testing in a virtual environment before implementing it in real systems. This project presents a solution to address these problems by implementing VC using Digital Twins with distributed control and MES software that controls production processes. Different workstations for this study have been provided by Linköping University and by the use of Simumatik emulation platform stations have been virtually replicated. For production process control Odoo MES software has been integrated. Odoo has been connected to each station via OPC-UA to send and receive production data and orders. Bringing it all together, different production lines have been created and the flexibility of the system has been proven.