Category: Concepts, Trends, and Challen ges

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Thorsten BleckerHamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Germany

Copyright © 2006, Idea Group Inc., distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI is prohibited.

INTRODUCTION

One of the most important changes in the technologicaland economic environment of industrial firms is the in-creasing diffusion and strongly increasing commercialuse of Internet technologies in manufacturing. Both for-mal and empirical studies verified the significant increasein productivity through intraorganizational applicationsof modern information and communication technologiesin manufacturing processes (Barua & Lee, 2001).

Early industrial applications of Internet technologieswere limited to single, unconnected solutions for distrib-uted Computer-Aided Design (CAD) systems ortelecooperation. Now Internet technologies may reachinto the automation and control levels of every assemblyline. Therefore, it is not surprising that applications ofInternet technologies in production processes on theshop floor increase, and automation-technology suppli-ers combine Internet technologies more and more intotheir products. While production concepts, such as leanproduction, world-class manufacturing, and agile manu-facturing, inevitably disregard this development, newproduction concepts arise that fundamentally considerthe application of Internet technologies on the shop floor.

BACKGROUND

Internet Technologies forManufacturing

Usually the term Internet technologies is understood inthe context of the well-known Internet as the technologi-cal basis of a global information and communicationnetwork. Often, there is no differentiation between com-pany internal and external applications. Indeed, the WWW(World Wide Web) is the most popular, and for almosteveryone an observable application of Internet technolo-gies. However, the term Internet technologies does notprejudge an external relevance. Yet, the internal applica-tion of these technologies focuses on intranets for officeinformation systems. In the future, the main industrialapplication area of Internet technologies is in field-areanetworks (FANs).

FANs are real-time, capable networks on the field level(shop floor) of industrial firms’ communication systemsfor the interconnection of automation devices, for ex-ample, assembly lines, production cells, or single ma-chines (e.g., Schnell, 2003). Requirements for the FAN are,in particular, real-time ability, a high transmission speed,high reliability, and electro-magnetic compatibility. De-pending on the nature of the business and the underlyingtechnological concept, different types of FANs are ap-plied. For our purposes, we can differentiate two majorgroups of FAN: (a) a FAN that is based on field buses, and(b) a FAN that is based on Internet technologies. Fieldbuses are a substitute for the individual wiring of sensorsand actuators within automation technologies. They offera continuous communication infrastructure on the fieldlevel. Those that are well known include, for example,systems such as Profibus, DeviceNet, CAN Open, andSERCOS. The second group represents the industrialapplication of Internet technologies and is mainly basedon (industrial) Ethernet.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OFINTERNET TECHNOLOGIES

Applicability of Internet Technologies

For the research of the network infrastructures in produc-tion environments, a hierarchical arrangement has to becarried out on the implemented network and/or bus sys-tems on the different layers of the enterprise. An automa-tion pyramid most adequately represents this hierarchicalarrangement. Although there are automation pyramidswith up to seven layers in engineer-scientific literature(e.g., Schnell, 2003), the three-layer pyramid in Figure 1provides a good overview of the different industrialapplications of Internet technologies.

The highest layer is the enterprise layer, in which theenterprise planning occurs, for example, within an enter-prise resource planning (ERP) system. In this environ-ment that is mainly dominated by office applications,local-area networks (LANs) are applied, for example, basedon Ethernet and the TCP/IP (transmission-control proto-col/Internet protocol) suite. This layer is cross-linkedwith the production and/or process layer. On this layer,

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Internet Technologies in Factory Automation

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manufacturing execution systems (MESs), for example,are applied to provide a logical connection between theplanning and production process layers. Furthermore,production-near dispositive tasks are processed by theproduction control. Control centres are implemented here.Industrial field-bus systems (process busses) are em-ployed as the network infrastructure. From a technicalviewpoint, Ethernet networks and/or the local-area net-works of the office environments are also purposeful onthe production or process level (Schnell, 2003). Recently,Internet technologies were implemented based on theindustrial Ethernet. The real-time equipment on the fieldlevel are cross-linked often with the aid of field buses, forexample, the different variants of ProfiBus.

Yet, field buses as a traditional network technologyare still dominating in production processes, for example,the ProfiBus concept of Siemens Automation & DrivesGroup. In the future, Internet-based FAN will complementor even replace field buses. Since 1985, industrial firmshave utilized Ethernet on the shop floor. Industrial Ethernetespecially reduces the technological limits that haveexisted up to now to the applicability of Internet-basedFAN or even the replacement of field buses. IndustrialEthernet is based on the relevant international standards(e.g., IEEE 802.3). It is adjusted to the specific environ-mental conditions, for example, regarding electromag-netic compatibility, shaking, moisture, and chemical resis-tance. In some sectors, Ethernet and industrial Ethernetare already the de facto standards, for example, in theautomotive industry, process industry, and plant engi-neering.

The technological improvement of industrial Ethernetand/or Internet technologies in general does not neces-sarily enable a total replacement of field buses. On the onehand, some applications or existing machinery still needFANs that are based on field buses. On the other hand,field buses such as ProfiBus evolve toward a convergent,interconnective infrastructure, for example, as in ProfiNet.Hence, even where Ethernet cannot replace field buses,Internet technologies connect the different assemblylines together and transfer detailed data from the shopfloor to the office and vice versa. Internet technologiesare especially useful for the networking of productionlines with each other, as well as for the data transfer fromthe technical systems in the production to the enterprisesystems in the administration and vice versa as it is shownby numerous initiatives in factory automation. Conse-quently, a comprehensive application of Internet-basedFAN enables the expansion of existing intranets in officeautomation to all production processes, especially manu-facturing. Enabling technologies, such as Web services,active technologies, and industrial frameworks (based on.NET or Sun ONE), will support intelligent manufacturingtechnologies and a homogeneous network from offices onthe enterprise level to manufacturing devices on the fieldlevel. These platforms have an enormous potential toreduce (transaction) costs within the production system(Blecker, 2005). Therefore, Internet technologies becomea ubiquitous network: an omnipresent information infra-structure in the complete industrial firm.

Figure 1. Automation pyramid (Blecker, 2005)

…

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M a c h in e c o n tro l

P ro c e s s c o n tro l

p la n n in g

LA N / Industria l E thern et / P rocess bu s

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F ie ld la ye r…

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M a c h in e c o n tro l

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