The future of manufacturing: Robots communicating with each other

Siemens makes assemble as many as four different vehicle models on a single production line

Industrial robots are no longer a rare sight in modern manufacturing plants. In the automotive industry, for example, they handle painting and welding jobs. But robots will have even more to offer manufacturing in the future.

In my last post, I provided some insight into the ways in which design, engineering and production can already be efficiently and productively organized today. But much more will be possible in the future of manufacturing.

Competition is pushing companies to take action

In areas such as increasing flexibility and productivity, optimizing processes, and getting products to market faster, companies are under enormous pressure and must take action to stay competitive. Industrial robots play a key role here: They maintain a uniformly high standard of quality, for example, and facilitate efficient production and the ability to change products quickly as well as to produce a greater variety of types.

Pioneering concepts for the automotive industry

Auto manufacturers in particular face intense global competition, so time-saving process innovations in production are always welcome. And this kind of saving time is precisely what Siemens is demonstrating in a pilot plant. Doors are assembled automatically in this plant, a process step that usually is still performed manually today. A conveyor solution developed by Siemens makes it possible to assemble as many as four different vehicle models on a single production line. The machinery is controlled by a Simatic system, while the network is based on Profinet. The TIA Portal plans and programs the entire engineering environment.

Digitalization of production

But there’s a great deal still to come, as the future of manufacturing will have much more to offer. Not only the robots but all manufacturing elements will be able to communicate with each other, so that production will be able to control itself.