Digital eco-factory as an IT support tool for sustainable manufacturing

Abstract

A sustainable discrete manufacturing using a digital eco-factory as an IT tool has been proposed. In this paper, details of a digital eco-factory with construction methods are discussed. A digital eco-factory is a virtual factory and IT support platform on which a production scenario is examined from various viewpoints. When a digital eco-factory is used, environmental impact of the planned production scenario is examined in addition to productivity and manufacturability. A digital eco-factory is constructed on a digital factory. A digital factory is constructed on the virtual production line. Multi agent technologies can be applied to modelling an actual shop floor and its components. All components are configured as software agents. These agents are called “machine agents.” Furthermore, manufactured products are also configured as software agents. These agents are called “product agents.” In the digital eco-factory, there are three panels which have a user interface from each different viewpoint. The three panels are a plant panel, product panel and an environmental index panel. By using a digital eco-factory, a production system designer can do pre-assessment of the configuration of the production line and production scenario, and a factory equipment vender can show performance of his equipment.