cloud technology

Current control systems are limited from a technical viewpoint in areas such as scalability, reconfiguration time and computational complexity for algorithms. These limitations call for a new concept for control systems to address current and future requirements. One idea is that the physical location of the control system has to be moved of the machine to a cloud. In this way, the control system becomes scalable and can handle highly complex computational tasks while keeping the process expertise in the bay.

Fulfilling individual customer demands requires a high level of flexibility in the manufacturing industry. To produce heterogeneous orders, companies need various production resources while capacity requirements vary. Cooperation in value-adding networks allows for the trade of production resources and thus for the dynamic adaption of capacities. This contribution describes a cloud-based platform for the B2B exchange of production capacities, which supports an efficient, flexible and individual production in industry 4.0.