A study on manufacturing automation and reconfigurability and its application to the Maltese industry

Abstract

Reconfigurable manufacturing is a new approach that has emerged recently to help companies address the current stringent market challenges. Companies operating within a geographically isolated economy could however be facing additional challenges, mainly due to lack of resources. This hypothesis led to the setting up of the project AUTOMATE, considering Malta as a case study. This thesis addresses mainly those targets of this project to reconfigurability in manufacturing. This thesis first reviews extensively literature related to the hardware aspects of reconfigurable manufacturing. Modularity is seen as key in such systems, and a new methodology for the development of Modular Reconfigurable (Automation) Systems (MR(A)Ss) is introduced, followed by its application to three local test cases. Additional concerns to that of conventional reconfigurable manufacturing are discussed, leading to the drawing up of developmental guidelines for a reconfigurable manufacturing automation testbed that can be used as a shared resource by local companies operating in diverse sectors, for the development of prototype automation solutions. The testbed is implemented physically, and is subsequently applied to the development of a solution for a local company. The thesis concludes by discussing the generation of a set of general guidelines for the development of automated and reconfigurable manufacturing solutions.