Manufacturing-Uber: Intelligent Operator Assignment in a Connected Factory

摘要

This paper introduces the Manufacturing-Uber concept for dynamic assignment of operators in the Connected Factory. In traditional non-IoT machining environments it is common to assign an operator to a (small) number of machines, clustered in close proximity within a cell. In contrast to “fixed” assignment within a cell, the Manufacturing-Uber approach leverages the connectivity of the IoT environment to allow on-demand “floating” operator assignment across cells. An intelligent assignment engine determines and assigns the operator to achieve best system performance. Results show that Manufacturing-Uber outperforms fixed assignment with respect to reduction in required operators, increased machine up-time and more parts completed.