The time: the not-too-distant future.
The place: a General Motors
Corp. body shop, which is using intelligent robotics and flexible
manufacturing systems to turn out the latest GM vehicles.

Suddenly, the system sends an alarm to its human overseers: Based on real-time parameters that the body shop diagnostic system is monitoring, the system predicts that Robot 123 will fail in 10 minutes!

A GM engineer at a remote site springs into action. Using a 3D computer simulation that displays a complete and totally accurate “virtual” reproduction of what’s happening on the real-world body shop floor, the engineer reallocates the work being done by Robot 123 to another robot on the floor. Using the 3D virtual environment, he validates the change by simulating the new workflow.

Once he is confident that the second robot can handle the reassigned tasks, and that the change won’t cause problems elsewhere on the floor, the engineer clicks a button, causing operations in the real-world body shop to pause, while the new robot routine and associated program changes are downloaded to robot controllers, programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and other equipment on the plant floor. When the downloads are complete, the body shop resumes operations using the new routines, and a maintenance technician is sent to tend to the problem with the now-idled Robot 123.

All of this is accomplished in fewer than 10 minutes, avoiding the body shop downtime that would otherwise have been caused by Robot 123’s failure.

Vision chasing

That scenario—painted by Bob Tilove, laboratory group manager for virtual manufacturing research and development at the GM Technical Center, in Warren, Mich.—is not yet possible today. But it’s a vision that Tilove and his colleagues are working hard to make reality. And it is one potential manifestation of the so-called “digital factory,” or “digital manufacturing” technology that is attracting a growing amount of attention and excitement these days.

Digital manufacturing means different things to different people. But one major component of the technology is the class of 3D modeling and simulation tools that are used broadly in automotive and aerospace industries today to develop and validate control systems, robot work cells and production processes. It’s a small but growing category within the class of software products known collectively as product lifecycle management, or PLM.

“We are now able to completely and accurately simulate manufacturing processes in 3D. Once you get the simulation in place, you integrate the product design itself, you plunk it right down in the middle of this, and then you can actually validate that these manufacturing processes, the control systems, the robotic systems, the work cells and everything else actually work the way that you designed them,” explains Dick Slansky, senior analyst, at ARC Advisory Group Inc., Dedham, Mass. “And that’s this whole notion of virtual commissioning that is really resonating with manufacturers right now.”

There are two leading suppliers of these factory simulation and modeling tools. One is the French-based PLM supplier Dassault Systèmes, with its Delmia product line. The other is the former UGS Corp., with its Tecnomatix line of tools. UGS was acquired in a $3.5 billion deal last May by German-based Siemens AG, and is now known as Siemens PLM Software—a division of Siemens’ Automation and Drives Group, the world’s largest factory automation supplier.

The Siemens deal is driving a new level of anticipation in the digital manufacturing space. “When someone like Siemens comes in and says, ‘Hey, I’m going to make this part of my automation group, and we’re going to make sure that this technology is integrated,’ that makes a huge statement about the importance of this technology,” observes Ed Miller, president of CIMdata Inc., an Ann Arbor, Mich.-based research firm that follows the PLM market. “With Siemens, we’re talking about an organization that’s got the ear of the manufacturing floor already, and when they start talking about it, the world hears.”

In agreement is Alain Iung, vice president, Tecnomatix marketing, at Siemens PLM Software. “Today, many customers still don’t recognize the value of digital manufacturing,” notes Iung. “So this acquisition by Siemens actually changes the market space. People are starting to talk about digital manufacturing now, and we’re seeing a lot of excitement.”

Adding fuel to the fire was a joint announcement last December by Dassault and Rockwell Automation Inc., the Milwaukee-based automation heavyweight. The two companies said they have formed a partnership aimed at forging links between Dassault’s Delmia tools and Rockwell’s plant floor controls software. Dassault has signed earlier, similar partnerships with other factory controls ...