In traditional manufacturing modes such as ISA95 two aspects — physical and logical — have been strictly separated and difficult to cross. Industrial devices were placed on a dedicated layer and dedicated hard and software functions incorporated to serve the needs of deterministic communication and availability. Although the bound of the software and hardware ensure reliable performance and cost efficiency, it limits freedom in the choice of systems and suppliers and of production line design.
New tools, brought along with industrial digitalization, allow devices and equipment to be connected freely across the layers. Loosen the hard and software merge and provide for the possibility of application and control application abstraction. This can ultimately change the approaches toward automation and design.
Following this concept, manufacturing production lines can be designed based on the software applications architecture. The hardware’s functionality will be defined via software, constrained only by the physical limitations of machines and devices. The aim is to achieve an agile, dynamic, and intelligent manufacturing environment that is hardware-independent and can be designed, tested, and adapted to the production needs purely through the software.
The idea of software defined manufacturing (SDM) has been driven by manufacturing needs for system openness, interoperability and vendor independence, and system flexibility because of:
Shortening production cycles and product lifecycles - The software-defined approach potentially allows the adjustment and rearrangement of the production lines just before production, in contrast to the fixed production line design.
Workforce changes - The new, digitally native generation of employees expects that knowledge will be embedded in the systems they will be required to work with.
Pressure for more production efficiency and cost savings, which is a common challenge for manufacturing –Independence from the hardware vendors, application portability, and ecosystem openness should provide cost savings and more efficient resource allocation. The same applies to centralized and remote management, updates and maintenance, and shortened design and testing times.
Anna Ahrens, Principal Analyst - Manufacturing Technology