Migration towards digital manufacturing automation - An assessment approach

To fast react to changing market demands and customer requirements, Industry 4.0 envisions the digitalization of the manufacturing sector. By means of smart devices and intelligent technologies for a distributed automation control, one of the main goals of the Industry 4.0 is to enhance flexibility and reconfigurability of the production systems. In this regard, the EU H2020 FAR-EDGE project intends to support industries in their digital transformation by providing them with an open platform for factory automation based on edge computing and cyber-physical systems. Therefore, one of the key challenges is to identify adequate migration paths that take into account the digitalization process not only from a technical point of view but also considering the related operational and human impact aspects on existing production systems. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of the holistic approach developed in FAR-EDGE to define migration strategies towards digital manufacturing automation through the implementation of FAR-EDGE technology solutions.