Realization of a Digital Process Chain Architecture: Rapid Reconfiguration of Production Machines for Product Changes

In today’s competitive and volatile global market, manufacturers are under increasing pressure to adapt their products rapidly to changing demands and unforeseen challenges. This paper presents a comprehensive, technology-independent, and vendor-neutral Digital Process Chain (DPC) designed to enable digital continuity throughout the entire product creation life cycle, with a specific focus on automotive manufacturing. The DPC enables a seamless, automated bidirectional transfer and utilization of production-relevant data and parameters from initial product specifications to actual manufacturing, while reducing the time and cost associated with manual reconfigurations on the shopfloor. Based on our previous work on the DPC reference architecture, we have now developed a systems architecture and instantiated the DPC using technologies such as OPC UA and the Asset Administration Shell. The implementation and evaluation were conducted through a case study, titled ”Real-world Production Lab,” as part of the research project ”Werk 4.0” at a representative OEM in the automotive industry. Our results show that the DPC enhances responsiveness and resilience on the shopfloor, reducing manual reprogramming and adjustments at the machines.