Architecture for SMT production line in the context of industry 4.0

The technological advances available have always helped to increase the performance and complexity of manufacturing processes, always seeking to meet the growing demands of an increasingly globalized market. In this sense, conventional printed circuit board (PCB) assembly systems generally have a coupled and linear work structure. This structure is characterized by low flexibility and scalability, which directly impact the final value of the product. Faced with this challenge, this article presents a new methodological perspective, to propose an architecture to characterize the Surface Mount Technology (SMT) line system in the context of Industry 4.0, based on a distributed control system and using a Unified Namespace (UNS). This feature allows the control system to perform different activities collaboratively and with greater flexibility, optimizing the use of workstations involved in the process. The Coloured Petri Net is used as a modeling language for specification, simulating, and validating the proposed architecture. This architecture tends to generate a result of greater effectiveness and final efficiency of the production line, enabling better control over the resources used and helping in the development of cyber-physical systems, which are essential in the evolution of the concept of production from the classic Industry 3.0 to the Industry 4.0 (I4.0).