Ontology-Based Analysis of Manufacturing Processes: Lessons Learned from the Case Study of Wire Harness Production

Effective information management is critical for the development of manufacturing processes. This paper aims to provide an overview of ontologies that can be utilized in building Industry 4.0 applications. The main contributions of the work are that it highlights ontologies that are suitable for manufacturing management and recommends the multilayer-network-based interpretation and analysis of ontology-based databases. This article not only serves as a reference for engineers and researchers on ontologies but also presents a reproducible industrial case study that describes the ontology-based model of a wire harness assembly manufacturing process.

Assessment of musculoskeletal disorders among employees working office workplaces in the manufacturing sector

BACKGROUND: The number of studies investigating the relationship between office employees and the development of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) is limited. Only a few focused on assessing workplace ergonomics of office employees. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate the risk of MSDs and associated factors in the office workplaces of a large-size manufacturing company. METHODS: Data were gathered from 208 office employees from a manufacturing company via Rapid Office Strain Assessment (ROSA) and Cornell questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed to examine the relationship between ergonomic risk levels and MSDs reported by the office staff. RESULTS: The mean ROSA final score is 3.52 (std. dev. = 0.71), chair section is 3.30, monitor and telephone section is 2.18, and mouse and keyboard section is 2.69. Thirty-nine of 208 (18.8%) office workplaces are at risk. The most important factor to raise the risk level is found to be the height and depth of the chair. The Cornell questionnaire results highlight that the highest discomfort severity is related to the neck (32.26%), lower back (23.23%) and upper back (22.26%). The discomforts in the neck (r = 0.362), upper back (r = 0.404) and lower back (r = 0.368) are moderately and positively correlated according to the final ROSA score. The results indicate that the highest risked departments are Accounting, Sub Industry, Production Planning, and Manufacturing Management. CONCLUSION: The parameters associated with the chair section should be considered a priority for reducing and eliminating MSDs among office employees.

Automated Design and Integration of Asset Administration Shells in Components of Industry 4.0

One of the central concepts in the principles of Industry 4.0 relates to the methodology for designing and implementing the digital shell of the manufacturing process components. This concept, the Asset Administration Shell (AAS), embodies a systematically formed, standardized data envelope of a concrete component within Industry 4.0. The paper discusses the AAS in terms of its structure, its components, the sub-models that form a substantial part of the shell’s content, and its communication protocols (Open Platform Communication—Unified Architecture (OPC UA) and MQTT) or SW interfaces enabling vertical and horizontal communication to involve other components and levels of management systems. Using a case study of a virtual assembly line that integrates AASs into the technological process, the authors present a comprehensive analysis centered on forming AASs for individual components. In the given context, the manual AAS creation mode exploiting framework-based automated generation, which forms the AAS via a configuration wizard, is assessed. Another outcome consists of the activation of a virtual assembly line connected to real AASs, a step that allows us verify the properties of the distributed manufacturing management. Moreover, a discrete event system was modeled for the case study, enabling the effective application of the Industry 4.0 solution.

Seru Production System

Seru production system is a flexible, cost-effective, workforce competence-oriented manufacturing management system that provides the opportunity to respond quickly to customer demand. As in parallel to technology and physical improvements, customer demands are also effective for development of production systems. The impact of change in demand has been seen on changeover from job shop to mass production, flexible, and lean manufacturing systems. Seru production system is more appropriate for targeting work both cost-effectively like mass production and maximum diversification like job shop production. This chapter clarifies the Seru production system and explain its use and benefits in the clothing industry. In the application, a shirt production is illustrated according to the principles of mass production, lean production, and Seru production. Thus, different types of production systems have been benchmarked. There will be potential study areas for proving the efficiency of Seru soon.