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ScienceDirect Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1950 – 1957
27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing, FAIM2017, 27-30 June 2017, Modena, Italy
Applications’ Integration and Operation Platform to Support Smart Manufacturing by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Chanmo Juna, Ju Yeon Leea, Joo-Sung Yoonb, Bo Hyun Kima* a
IT Converged Process R&D Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 143 Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, 15588, South Korea Smart Manufacturing Technology Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 89, Yangdaegiro-gil, Giro-ri, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, 31056, South Korea
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Abstract Many developed countries are making various efforts to innovate their own manufacturing industries, through initiatives such as Manufacturing innovation 3.0, Industry 4.0, and Manufacturing 2025. Innovation in the manufacturing industry, represented by the so-called “smart factories,” is being developed through the latest technologies such as Internet of things (IoT), cloud, and big data. However, as the application of these technologies requires a lot of cost and time, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are often hampered in their efforts to take full advantage of them. For an enterprise that operates a manufacturing information system, the integrated management of information between systems is essential to the application of a new technology. If the enterprise lacks the relevant experts, it will have difficulty applying a new technology in the field. This study suggests the application of a cloud-based applications’ integration and operation platform (AIOP) in order to resolve those problems. The AIOP must accept a large volume of data at IoT-based manufacturing fields, interconnect between manufacturing fields and AIOP, and provide application contents in the form of service. The suggested study contents are applied to a company that produces electric components using plastic injection molds to verify their effects. It is expected that this study can be used as a reference model for applying smart factory technologies to other SMEs in the future. ©©2017 by Elsevier B.V. by ThisElsevier is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license 2017Published The Authors. Published B.V. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and IntelligentManufacturing Manufacturing. Intelligent
* Corresponding author. E-mail address:
[email protected]
2351-9789 © 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 27th International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing doi:10.1016/j.promfg.2017.07.341
Chanmo Jun et al. / Procedia Manufacturing 11 (2017) 1950 – 1957 Kewords: smart manufacturing; applications’ integration and operation platform; cloud; small and medium-sized enterprieses
1. Introduction As international competition becomes more and more heated, many advanced countries are making various efforts to develop their manufacturing industries. Initiatives such as Industry 4.0 in Germany [1] , Advanced Manufacturing Partnership in the United States [2] and Manufacturing Innovation 3.0 in the Republic of Korea [3] suggest that smart manufacturing is being developed into a means of improving the manufacturing environment and monitoring production lines using information technology (IT) such as application software (SW), Internet of things (IoT), cyber physical system (CPS), cloud computing, etc. In particular, IoT enables real-time data acquisition from the sensors on various manufacturing facilities and fields, and subsequent analyses [4]. These changes are often seen around major companies that are well-equipped with manufacturing information systems and automated manufacturing systems, but not so much around small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In other words, the environment and capabilities of SMEs related to manufacturing information are underdeveloped compared to those of large companies, due to practical limitations (cost, personnel, etc.) on their IT adoption [5]. For this reason, SMEs need new strategies to build appropriate smart factories. As each SME has a different level of manufacturing information and processes, the functions demanded of a manufacturing information system may also differ from one company to another. Also, it is very difficult to operate a manufacturing information system, and to procure and maintain qualified personnel to analyze the acquired data. Therefore, to facilitate a smart manufacturing environment for SMEs, a set of management strategies is needed in order to select, integrate, and operate the desired functions for each company. Cloud technology, which has been on the rise in recent years, can be a very good alternative for SMEs with no IT infrastructure [6]. One of the cloud services, software as a service (SaaS), systematically provides standardized applications online with no resource management of the program required [7]. This study discusses the use of the cloud-based applications’ integration and operation platform (AIOP) to facilitate a smart manufacturing environment for SMEs. The suggested platform is provided for SMEs to use desired functions in the form of Software-as-a-Service. Chapter 2 explains the concept of such platform as a subject of this study and the technologies of SaaS platform and interconnection middleware. Chapter 3 elaborates on the structure of the suggested platform. This is followed by Chapter 4, which discusses various issues that emerged while applying the developed platform to an injection molding company. 2. Concept of Research 2.1. Concept of applications’ integration and operation platform The AIOP proposed in this study consists of the SaaS platform and the interconnection middleware. The SaaS platform constructs and supports desired applications for each company, while the interconnection middleware processes interconnections among the constructed applications. Here, the SaaS platform consists of platform management that enables the purchase, use, and management of applications, and a DB module that manages company data. The applications provided from the platform are categorized by business to enable SMEs to easily reference the most-used applications. For SMEs who operate an internal information system, the company server must be connected to use the applications in SaaS platform. In other words, the SME’s information system server must be connected to the applications of SaaS Platform. For systematic connections, this study proposes interconnection middleware. 2.2. SaaS platform for applications’ integration and operation platform This study categorizes platform users into general users, company managers, platform managers, and developers. As the manufacturing personnel of the company, general users are the direct users of the applications. Company managers register company services in the platform, purchase desired applications, add or delete general users, and
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authorize them for each application. Platform managers comprehensively manage the SaaS platform, approve uses of the company platform, and assign the company DB. They also use the functions provided by the platform to produce applications for users. Developers modify the existing applications provided by the platform, and produce additional applications for the requirements of company managers. In order to enable companies to purchase and use applications, the SaaS Platform consists of four web pages: company management site (CMS), user service site (USS), developer guide site (DGS), and integration management site (IMS). CMS is a site mainly used by company managers to apply for services and select the applications to use next. The company registers CMS to use the SaaS platform. When a company manager makes a request for platform application services through CMS, the platform manager confirms and approves the service request through IMS, a site to manage company information, platform DB, users, and application management. When the company service is approved, general users are enabled to use the desired functions through USS. If a user wants to add or modify some functions while using an application, he or she may send the request to the developer, who would download the application source code provided by DGS and customize it in accordance with user requirements. As a site for developers, DGS offers developer registration, application code download, and platform code download.
Fig. 1. Concept of applications’ integration and operation platform
The information generated from the platform is stored in IMS DB and company DB. As a space that saves required information for platform management, the IMS DB is where application information and company service information are managed. As a space that saves company information, CMS DB is independently built for the company that has requested platform services. The CMS DB comprehensively manages general user information and other information generated by applications. 2.3. Interconnection middleware for applications’ integration and operation platform For a company to use AIOP while operating a legacy system, the legacy system and AIOP need to be exchanging information. However, the varying functions and formats of the legacy systems of different companies mean that it is very difficult to connect them via a unified measure. To interconnect these two systems, this study proposes interconnection middleware, which is the infrastructure for interconnections of the services provided by middleware
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that accommodates the concept of enterprise service bus [8]. Fig. 3 visualizes the major functions of interconnection middleware. The data adaptor module connects legacy servers of various types built in the company and supports connections to MS-SQL, Oracle, and Maria DB. The scheduler module is used to transmit the information of the legacy system to AIOP for a specified time, as the time for transmission may vary depending on the properties of the data. As the connection service module provides the technical means to connect AIOP and the legacy system, it supports communication methods such as HTTPs, JSON, etc.
Fig. 2. Infrastructure of SaaS platform
Fig. 3. Interconnection middleware module
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3. Implementation of the applications’ integration and operation platform for SMEs 3.1. An architecture for applications’ integration and operation platform for SMEs The concept-based AIOP implemented in Chapter 2 can be summarized as follows: The information delivered from the manufacturer via interconnection middleware is saved in the CMS DB, and general users view the desired information via USS. The implemented SaaS platform is described in detail from 3.2 to 3.4.
Fig. 4. Architecture of applications’ integration and operation platform for SMEs
3.2. Automatic generation of USS with TMS When a company manager requests the application service through TMS (Fig. 5-(a)), the Platform Manager confirms and approves the request through IMS (Fig. 5-(b)). When the platform manager approves the service, the SaaS platform automatically creates a USS environment and company DB for the company to use the application. Afterwards, the company manager selects the application for the company, and the general user can use the application through USS (Fig. 5-(c)).
(a) Service request menu
(b) Service request list Fig. 5. Implementation of CMS functions
(c) Default USS
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3.3. Application service for company user When the service for the company is approved, the company manager adds, deletes, and manages general users via USS (Fig.6-(a)). the company manager authorizes general users by application through the user authorization function (Fig.6-(b)). General users rename the authorized application and rearrange the menu (Fig.6-(c)).
(a) User account creation
(b) Authorization settings
(c) Application rearrange
Fig. 6. Implementation of USS functions
3.4. Application customization on DGS When general users request functional additions or modifications while using an application, the company manager requests the developer to make the necessary changes. The developer uses the source code (Fig. 7-(a)) and UI template examples (Fig. 7-(b)) provided by DGS to develop the application in accordance with the requests, and provides it to general users.
(a) download center menu
(b) ui template examples
(c) physical data model
Fig. 7. Implementation of DGS functions
4. Case Study: applications’ integration and operation platform for Injection Company Chapter 4 introduces a case study in which AIOP is applied to an injection company. As the subject for this case study, company M produces electric components using plastic injection molds with annual sales of 15 million won and about 50 employees. Company M operates two types of injection facilities (15 units of type A, and 10 units of type B) for production, and the legacy system for management.
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4.1. Application for electric components company Company M manages its manufacturing history through a manufacturing management system, but is concerned over the rising need for facilities management and possible means. Consequently, company M attached breakdown monitoring sensors and performed tracking management using graphs, but simple sensor data was not enough for systematic management. To resolve these issues, this study applied facility management applications provided by AIOP. The requirements for company use are as follows: connection to the existing manufacturing management system and the applications’ use of the data transmitted from facility sensors. The company manager of company M requested company services via SMS of SaaS platform, and after the approval, he selected facility-related applications for maintenance, breakdown management, vibration/noise management, and operation rate management. The company manager added general users through USS and authorized the facility managers to use the application. Also, the company manager connected the legacy system and SaaS platform through interconnection middleware to fulfill the requirements. In addition, the information acquired from the sensor was made available on the application. In this way, company A was able to manage facilities, including breakdown history and information acquired from the sensors, using the facility-related application provided by SaaS platform 4.2. Challenges of the applications’ integration and operation platform The following three issues emerged during company M’s use of the applications. The first issue was related to the extension of the serviced application. While SaaS platform provided fifteen applications on quality and facilities management, company M requested an additional application that could resolve and manage process-related issues. The second issue was related to the simplification of the connections through interconnection middleware. To connect the legacy system and SaaS platform through interconnection middleware, the developer needed to analyze legacy system and then create a connection script. As this job was too complex for a non-expert, a further application needed to be developed to improve the connection between legacy system and interconnection middleware. If this is accomplished, general users will be supported in performing their jobs. The final issue was related to the requests for big data analysis. Company M requested big data analysis on breakdown prediction, quality prediction, and energy based on the currently managed manufacturing information and data acquired by the facilities. If a big-data analytic platform can be connected using interconnection middleware for this study concerned with data connection, the analysis requested by this user will be possible 5. Conclusion This study proposed the applications’ integration and operation platform to improve the manufacturing information system for SMEs. To resolve the limitations of underequipped SMEs due to shortages of financial means and labor, this study proposed SaaS platform and subsequently implemented operation sites to enable services for companies. Also, the demonstrations of this study were applied to electric components production company M in Korea to improve their systems and to demonstrate the results. Company M requested basic applications provided by the platform, while the researchers offered customization of the applications to the company’s requirements. If the target industries for application are diversified and more applications added in the future, the platform proposed by this study will be available for more companies. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Technology Innovation Program (or Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program (10054508, Development of Integrated Operational Technologies for Smart Factory Applications with Manufacturing Big Data)), which is funded by Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy.
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