Mass Customization Demonstrator at an Industry 4.0 Learning Factory

Abstract

The industry has been working to increase product variety while maintaining economies of scale for many years already. Mass customization strategies, product platforms, and modularity have provided the conceptual fundaments for increased product variety, targeting segmented customer needs in the last decades. Recently, technologies related to Industry 4.0 promise the needed production flexibility to support higher levels of product customization. Although the required concepts and technologies are already available, their integration for demonstration and teaching is still challenging. In this context, we discuss which technologies need to be integrated into a Learning Factory to create a comprehensive mass customization demonstrator. We also discuss how to teach mass customization leveraging the Learning Factory demonstrator. Therefore, a case study has been conducted. In order to create the mass customization demonstrator, a customizable modular product has been selected. The case product is a modular skateboard. Customization features include the wheel colors, options (rails and IoT connectivity), and the shock absorber levels (continuous scale from soft to hard). Based on an Industry 4.0 technology framework from the literature, the required technologies have been identified. The range of technologies includes: product configurator, ERP, MES, automatic computational vision quality control for the assembly, automatic torque wrench, augmented reality for assembly instructions, and additive manufacturing for the low scale, high variety production of options. Next, the technologies have been integrated. In the integration, the ERP and MES systems play a key role in managing the parts production and product assembly based on the product configurator’s individual customer orders. The demonstrator has been applied in teaching in a short-term continuing education executive program and undergraduate engineering courses. The results explore the potential benefits and limitations of the mass customization demonstrator based on Industry 4.0 technologies for supporting knowledge and technology transfer to the industry.

Keywords: Mass Customization, Industry 4.0, Learning Factory