All rights reserved © Preben Hjørnet, PH Inception.

STARGAME Aim High and Play by the Rules of Innovation

Preben Hjørnet

PH Inception

Innovative Automation

Strandby, Denmark

Preben.hjornet@gmail.com

Abstract Innovation comes in many descries, it’s a competence ; a cabability, a process ; a value, you might

Enterprises more than ever operate in a changing world and, hence, they must improve their change

proficiency with respect to market adoption, product and service portfolio, and with respect to manufacturing

functions. First, the paper takes up the discussion of the relation between market, products & services and

capabilities of the company functions for companies operating in a changing and competitive environment.

This discussion leads to an identification of enabling activities which are to prepare companies for the future.

Second, the paper in particular discusses characteristics of enabling manufacturing capabilities for managing

a change proficient enterprise. A concept of eight characteristics is presented, called STARGAME, as an

abbreviation for Scalability, Transparency, Agility, Robustness, Genericy, Adaptability, Modularity, and

Economic Efficiency. Each characteristic of the STARGAME concept is defined and presented by tangible

examples. An outline of concrete enabling technologies, which fulfil the suggested characteristics is

presented; e.g. robots, machine visions, flexible feeders, etc. The major finding of this paper is a useful

concept to innovators and technicians for developing new technology platforms, and as a concept to decision

makers for managing the technology development in creating a change proficient enterprise.

Keywords Agile Manufacturing, Enabling Manufacturing Technologies, Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Design

Principles, Management of Technology, Mass Customisation.

1 Introduction

Enterprises of today more than ever face changing conditions for them to do their businesses in. The market

is as dynamic as ever; customers demand differentiated products and services, cost-profit margins are

narrowing, and the company functions are becoming more and more fragmented, due to for example

decentralizations and/or outsourcing. With the unpredictable and increased pace of changes it is no longer

sufficient for companies just to concentrate on reducing costs (by e.g. lean principles) – they also have to

think about how to stay in business. History has several examples of companies making money right up to

the day they became irrelevant (Clayton Christensen). Hence, the success for a company today has never

before been so depend on how well the company can adjust and react to its surrounding ever-changing

environment. Managers and scholars talk about the change proficient enterprise.

On Figure 1.1 below the scene in which companies must operate is illustrated. The market is constantly

evolving, and hence, it is important for companies to identify and adapt to new trends in the market.

Consequently, products and services must likewise evolve continuously to fulfil the new marked conditions.

To be fast on the market is extremely important as to gain the most profit of a new market. Any leaning back

resting on current successes will inevitable lead to a misfit between the product and services offered and

what soughed-after in the market. If this misfit is realized too late it (may) leads to lost earnings and in worst

cases it will be catastrophically for the company.

STARGAME 2

Market

Product and services

Company functions

R&D

Part manufacturing

Assembly

Marketing

Distribution

Today Future

Product and services

Procurement

Company functions

R&D

Part manufacturing

Assembly

Marketing

Distribution

Procurement

Product and Service Evolutions

Enabling activities towardsimproved change proficiency

Functional Capability Strategy

Potential misfit

Potential misfit

Product and Service Portfolio Strategy

Market

Constantlychanging markets

Company Mission

Cu

sto

mer

s

Time

Sale

Time

Figure 1.1. The relations between marked, products and services, and company functions in a changing and

competitive environment. Enabling activities are illustrated as puzzle bricks as they symbolise the bits and pieces which

must form the future appearance of the company’s functions.

As products and services change also the apparatus for manufacturing these new products and services must

change. It is a major point of the present paper that product and service innovations not alone will originate

from R&D activities solely focusing on products and services. Intensive focus must also be concentrated on

innovation of the company functions in general, and in specifically the capabilities of the production

functions (component manufacturing, assembly, packing, and the like) and the enabling technologies

governing these functions. Hence, this paper aims at identifying and discussing characteristics of enabling

manufacturing capabilities which companies must have in mind in order to improve its change proficiency.

STARGAME 3

2 Identification of Enabling Activities

What activities should be initiated today in order to be ready for future requirements? With Figure 1.1 as

the starting framework for understanding the context in which companies operate the following section

discusses what priorities should be in focus and how enabling activities can be identified.

2.1 Competitive Priorities

An absolute description of future markets is of cause not possible to give, still, it is important to have an idea

of the developments in the market. Generally, the current trend is that the market is ever-changing and being

first movers are hence extremely important. This calls for innovation, flexibility, and proactivity as important

competitive priorities. Besides these issues, cost, time and quality are still also important to focus on. Also

terms like political correctness, moral and ethics have for some years been in focus, which affects company

image and its ability to operate as a sound company. The above reasoning is supported by the concept of

competitive priorities, see Figure 2.1, which are discussed by several authors (…, …, …), among which

there is general agreement that seven priorities exist.

60's 70's 80's 90's 2000 +

Cost

Quality

Time

Flexibility

Innovation

Soundness

Proactivity

Figure 2.1. Historical development of enterprise competitive priorities.

In the effort of identifying the enabling initiatives for a company it is important to determine the derivatives

of the priorities as they lead to the company’s primary functional capabilities. As illustrated on Figure 1.1 a

company comprises of several functions, and hence, for each function primary capabilities can be set-up

based on the derivatives of the competitive priorities in focus. For example, one company may be operating

on a marked where cost of the products and the delivery performance are of most importance, and hence, this

company must concentrates on activities improving efficiency and on reducing lead time in production.

Another company may for example be producing products where new features of the product and the

possible range of product configurations are the most important competitive priorities. Such a company

therefore has to focus on capabilities like innovation speed, fast change over of production and the ability to

deploy new products/features fast and seamlessly on the marked.

2.2 Mapping, analysis and formulation of strategies

It is considerations like the above which companies must take in order to maintain a change proficient

profile. In relation to the context illustrated on Figure 1.1 the following six activities constitutes the

minimum effort for understanding the current situation and identifying future capabilities:

1. Mapping of current marked

2. Analysis of future market trends/patterns (watch out for traditional market analysis, as the market

may not even be defined)

3. Formulation of company mission

STARGAME 4

4. Mapping of current product and service portfolio

5. Analysis of required product and service portfolio characteristics

6. Formulation of product and service portfolio strategy

7. Mapping of current capability of company functions

8. Analysis of required capabilities of company functions

9. Formulation of enabling functional capability strategy.

Based on the company mission and the product and service portfolio strategy a functional capability strategy

can be formulated, outlining the competences and technologies required for reaching the future states of the

company’s functions, see Figure 1.1. Hence, for example what kind of technology should be focused on,

what new investments must be made, what new developments are required, etc? In this context management

of technology is important as to secure that operative levels in the company follow the strategy laid forward.

This, for example, in order to prevent that certain technology (e.g. a machine or other equipment) not

possessing the required characteristics, as in relation to the strategy, is being purchased by decentralised

functions in the company.

Once again it should be mentioned that the authors of the present paper see technology as the key factor of

meeting companies’ future capabilities. For a manufacturing company aiming at profitable growth by

offering products and services in a competitive and ever-changing market, a constant focus on and

investments in knowledge and advanced technology are inevitable. Hence, special focus must be made on

the company’s functions which rely (directly or indirectly) on technology and in specifically to focus on

enabling technologies for making the company change-proficient is important. So, although a holistic

approach to the company’s functional capabilities is important, the present paper focus on capabilities for

functions related to manufacturing, as for example part manufacturing, assembly, material handling, and

packing. We call these functional capabilities for enabling manufacturing capabilities.

3 Enabling Manufacturing Capabilities

As argued in the preceding section the derivatives of the competitive priorities are important to know of, as

they lead to the enabling functional capabilities. With respect to the manufacturing functions a total of eight

capabilities have been identified; Manufacturing functions of future enterprises must be able:

• to add and remove capacity and capabilities

• to share, exchange and present information where-ever and when-ever at any level

• to preserve optimised production under changing conditions

• to prevent and resist failures and reduced performance

• to minimize the necessary effort and time needed to change the production system by applying non-

specific and multipurpose equipment.

• to respond on demands and changes fast and seamlessly

• to rearrange, reconfigure and integrate systems fast and easily

• to ensure robust (long term) investments

Each of the above eight capabilities are transformed into eight descriptive characteristics:

Scalability – Transparency – Adaptability – Robustness – Genericy – Agility – Mobility – Economically

The eight characteristics constitute the STARGAME concept, which then becomes a term for expressing the

eight most important capabilities of a change proficient company, see Figure 3.1. The concept must be

understood in a production holistic manner and can be applied on all levels of the production hierarchy,

hence, ranging from sensor and actuator level to the plant level. See Figure 3.2 for a definition of the

STARGAME 5

production system hierarchy. Each of the eight characteristics may be weighted and interpreted differently on

the various production levels and therefore, results in different physical implementations.

Figure 3.1. STARGAME – the eight most important capabilities of the change proficient company. A measuring web is

used to evaluate systems current state in relation to future required states.

Figure 3.2. Production system hierarchy.

Besides being a concept for expressing companies’ future capabilities STARGAME is meant as a tool for

both evaluating and designing manufacturing systems. This tool is a comparative tool for giving an

indication of the relative position of the current system’s capabilities in relation to what is required. This idea

is in Figure 3.1 illustrated by a measuring web for positing current and future states respectively.

For each level in the production system hierarchy the STARGAME concept can then be applied to evaluate

the level’s ability to live up to each of the characteristics mentioned, and hence, finding the level’s state of

change proficiency. The concept, thus, becomes a tool for managers to identify areas to which special

attention must be paid, and as a paradigm for innovators and technicians in developing new technology

platforms and physicals equipment.

Scalability

Transparency

Adaptability

Robustness

Genericy

Agility

Economically

Modularity

Goal

Current

STARGAME 6

4 STARGAME

Each of the eight STARGAME characteristics is on the following pages elaborated further. For each

characteristic first a closer definition is given, followed by an outline of the potentials of applying the

characteristic and finally tangible examples are outlined.

4.1 Scalability

Definition of scalability

The definition of scalability is the ability to deploy or remove capacity and capabilities easily and fast with a

minimum of effort in the production system. Capacity is interpreted as more of the same resources, e.g. an

additional machine in parallel or in series to the existing machines. Capability is regarded as a resource with

an ability which is not currently implemented into the system, i.e. an additional competence. In the figure

below the principle of scalability is illustrated by a process flow diagram.

P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6

P1 P2 P3 P4 P7 P5 P6

P3

b)

a)

Additional capability

Additional capacity

Figure 4.1. Scalability. The figure (b) illustrates the principle of deploying respectively a new resource (additional

capacity) and a new competence (additional capability) to an existing flow of processes (a).

Potentials of scalability Incorporation of scalability into the production system is important for having a change proficient

(production) system, in order to fast and seamlessly to either ramp up or ramp down of capacity due to for

example the current product demand situation. Another example is when introducing new product features, a

special type of process may be necessary, and hence also new competences are require. By being scaleable

the addition or removal of resources or/and competences to the system can be carried out fast and with a

minimum of effort. This is important in order to minimise the inconvenience and time spend of interrupting

the running production and in order to maximise the earnings of the value adding system, hence shortening

the time to market and time to volume period. Furthermore, it is possible to react on changes much closer to

the actual need of change when the system is scalable, i.e. the horizon (and hence the uncertainty) of

forecasts can be reduced as the reactability/change-proficiency is improved.

Examples of scalability

As an example of a scalable production system an insert injection moulding machine cell is presented. Insert

injection moulding requires that an insert part is placed in the injection mould in the injection moulding

machine. This operation can with advantage be carried out in co-operation between a part feeding device, a

robot and the injection moulding machine, see Figure 4.2 below. In situation a) a layout of a typical mass

production cell is illustrated. Here efficiency and costs has been in focus. If, however, scalability at the initial

design phase has been thought into the cell structure and the physical equipment, situation b), the cell can be

enlarged/scaled relatively fast and easy. In situation c) in Figure 4.2 both an additional injection moulding

machine and a new process in the form of a decoration machine (could be tampon print or laser marking) has

been added to the cell.

The individual equipment in the cell must it self be scaleable. For example the part feeding devices in the

three situations have different levels of scalability. The vibration bowl feeder is a unique designed and

STARGAME 7

implemented piece of equipment, with a fixed maximum capacity and capability. On the other side, the

vision based flexible part feeder1 can be easily duplicated if additional feeding capacity is needed. Another

advantage of the flexible part feeder is that its capability, i.e. its ability to feed new type of parts, is also

easily changed, as this is only a matter of changing the machine vision software. Opposed to that the

vibration bowl feeder requires a hardware redesign and reconfiguration in order to feed different type of

parts. Similar consideration about scalability concerning the choice of robot can be argued, but have for the

time being been left out.

Designed for scalability

Injection moulding

Injection moulding

Decoration

e.g. laser or

ink jet

Flex. Feeder

Aritculated

Robot

Inadequately designed for scalability

Injection moulding

Flex. Feeder

Articulated

Robot

Vibration bowl feeder

Injection moulding

Cartesian

Robot

a) Non scalable b) Before scale c) After scale

= Machine vision

Figure 4.2. Scalability. The figure shows examples of insert injection moulding cells each consisting of a robot, a part

feeder and an injection moulding machine. Situation a) represents a cell where both capacities and capabilities are

fixed and hence not easily scalable. Situation b) illustrates a cell which is designed for scalability. The same cell is

illustrated in situation c) where an extra injection moulding machine and an automatic decoration machine has been

added to the cell. Hence, both capacity and the capability of the cell have been increased.

4.2 Transparency

Definition of transparency

Transparency refers to the ability to share, exchange and present information where-ever and when-ever.

Physically, transparency is interpreted as an information infrastructure, which integrates various systems by

providing interfaces and communication protocols. Transparency means that information can be retrieved

from and transmitted in-between systems like for example:

sensors (barcode scanners, light sensors, machine vision, etc.)

machines and other equipment (process equipment, robots, transportation systems, etc)

databases (e.g. containing production or process data)

technical and administrative systems (e.g. planning systems, off-line programming system)

execution and control system (e.g. cell control systems, task dispatchers, quality inspection systems)

man machine interfaces (e.g. touch screens, palm pilots, cell phones, etc.).

1 A vision based flexible part feeder is a class of feeders which feeds, manipulates and presents parts of various kinds.

The feeder can be given various inputs which makes the surface of the feeder flip/bounce, move forward and

backwards, or combinations hereof. A number of commercial vision based flexible feeders are available. For an

example of one such visit the following internet site: http://www.flexfactory.com.

STARGAME 8

Transparency consequently requires that each individual entity (sensor, robot controller, process machine,

etc.) in the production system should be transparent ready, meaning they should be prepared for sharing and

receiving information based on a common communication protocol like for example TCP/IP. See Figure

4.3 for an illustration of a section of a transparent production system.

Figure 4.3. Transparency. Physical information infrastructure making the production system transparent.

[Schneider Electric]

Potentials of transparency Large amount of data and information are available on the production shop floor and in its auxiliary related

company functions. The information infrastructure will have a positive influence on the change proficiency,

as the infrastructure provides the fundamental basis for communication of information. It, thus, supports a

satisfactory exchange of information both interpersonal, man-machine, and machine-machine. Further, the

information infrastructure becomes the technology which supports a collaborative working environment.

On the shop floor a number of tasks include information preparation which often requires manual operation.

By being transparent ready it is possible to automatically facilitate these common but vital operations, and

hence, the reliability is improved as human errors can be avoided, and in general this means an enhancement

of the quality of the information processes. Moreover, operation time is minimised as some operations can be

made parallel to others, thus reducing the set-up time. This again leads to improved operator efficiency, as

the operator will have time for other kinds of operations. Typical production related tasks which could be

supported and improved by the transparency characteristic are for example; identification of material and

subparts, download of production data from databases (e.g. drawings, machine codes, recipes etc.),

dispatching/delegation of production tasks to resources or operators, initiation of automatic resources, and

monitoring and supervision of resources and processes. Fully extended a transparent system opens for

remote access of machines which require special trained service operators. Such machines can be monitored

and remote accessed for matters of diagnostics and eventual repair form anywhere in the world.

Besides the potentials of having systems for facilitating information processing tasks, there are large

potentials in also having systems for performing intelligent interpretation of the available data and

information. By being transparent information about the activities in the production are collected and

monitored, and thus, opens a potential for taking immediately (i.e. real-time) and appropriately action to any

STARGAME 9

disturbance or variation. By this the effect of possible disturbances are minimised and an optimal utilisation

of the resources in the plant is possible.

Examples of transparency

Many applications of information infrastructures in production systems exist. One of them is for example the

cell controller of a robotic welding cell in a one-of-a kind heavy industry company located in Denmark. The

cell controller facilitates the human operator in initiating and supervisoring welding tasks through a relative

simple interface. When a steel section with numerous welding tasks enters the cell, the operator identifies,

from a terminal, the physical section and hereafter initiates the production. Relevant information has prior to

the production been generated and stored in the database by an off-line robot and welding process planning

operation. This information is now automatically retrieved by the cell controller and distributed to the

relevant robots performing the welding tasks. During production the cell controller real-time supervises the

progress of the operations and alerts the operator if human interaction is required. Historical data is likewise

collected and stored for statistical analysis purposes.

Another example of a suitable application of a transparent production system is the possibilities of remote

access to the production equipment. Special trained service personal does not necessarily have to sit next to

the equipment, but can log on to the equipment through the internet. In this way the service personal gets

access to information about the equipment – its current states and performing level, historical process

sequence, alert and warning messages, etc. New versions of software programs for the equipment can be

easily updated and specific software errors can be fixed from remote distances. Instructions for hardware

maintenance or repairs must be send to general trained operators located at the site of the equipment.

4.3 Adaptability

Definition of adaptability

An adaptive system is a system which has the ability to preserve productivity under event based and

continuous changing conditions, without any or with a minimum involvement from humans. A system’s

adaptability is a way of optimizing the behavior of the system in according to the circumstances the system

currently must work at. The adaptive behavior hence attempts to constantly optimize the system’s current

state of operation, and can be implemented by both hardware and software controls. A system’s adaptability

is not a design precaution which tries to prevent performance breakdown (passive robustness), but a

proactive design behavior which in real-time adapts/optimizes the performance of the system to the current

state of the system (active robustness).

Potentials of adaptability

Adaptability is a way of making systems more intelligent and not just relaying on general rules of operation,

which may work for all situations under which the system works at, but which then may not be optimal for

specific/individual situations. By incorporating intelligence into systems, systems are able to optimize its self

or adapt to any disturbances and hence the system will be able to run unattended for longer period of time

than systems with no adaptive intelligence.

Furthermore, after change-over of a system, the system can be self tuning and make run-ins by it self without

any or minimum involvement by humans. An adaptive system become error tolerant as for example any

failure is being compensated for by the adaptive intelligence (failure must of cause be reported to human

operators). Moreover, the system may even be able to identify and locate the reason for any no-optimal

behavior (self diagnostic), which will save time for an operator to locate the error.

Examples of adaptability One example of a system which can be made adaptive is a vision guided robot-feeder system as depicted on

Figure 4.4. The system is in many ways flexible as part of various types can be fed, manipulated, identified

and pick and placed by the system. The change-over and reconfiguration from one type of part to another

STARGAME 10

type of part are easy and fast. However, the physical behaviour of different parts varies when fed and

manipulated by the flexible feeder. Therefore, one type of parts need one type of feeder inputs (e.g.

maximum bounce combined with a feed backward) while another type of parts requires a second type of

feeder input (e.g. 50 % bounce followed by a feed forward) in order for most parts to position optimally for

the following pick operation. Besides, different feeder inputs may also be necessary even for the same type

of parts as different distributions of parts in the feeder requires different inputs (e.g. parts may be huddled

together or spread over a too wide area.).

Figure 4.4. Adaptability. Self tuning of the performance of a flexible part feeding system consisting of a vision guided

robot and a flexible feeder. The feeder input (bounce, feed forward, feed backwards, or combination hereof) are

determined by an intelligent comparison of the past feeder inputs and distributions of parts in the feeder.

Consequently, general rules used for all types of parts may very likely not be optimal. Making experiments

in order to identify an optimal feeder input scheme are, however, very time and resource consuming, even if

this is done during the production preparation phase off-line the running production. Instead optimisation of

feeder inputs should be done constantly during production. The system should be told on before hand how it

should teach it self by trying different combination of feeder input and compare it to the outcome of the

given input (in form of correct positioned parts in the presentation area). The performance of the system,

right after a change-over, may not be optimal, but as time goes the performance will raise.

Another example of an adaptive system is an information and control system for securing optimal resource

allocation in a plant/line layout. In Figure 4.5 an example of a manual assembly line for audio products are

sketched. The line is characterised by that there are more assembly stations than human operators. The

challenge is therefore that the operators must allocate to the various assembly stations in order that the flow

out of the line becomes optimal.

The information and control system helps the operator to allocate properly by suggesting what stations which

should be manned. The control system is based on the states of the current situation in the line; that is the

number of operators and their current allocations and the remaining capacity of the buffers in front of each

assembly station. The situation in the line constantly changes, hence also the states of the line. Changes

happen as events like for example if an operator leave the line, or when more products are entering the line

or as the assembly processes progress. For each new event the control and information system adapts to the

new situation/state and suggests new guidelines for the operators. The operators are free to follow the

guidelines, the system adapts to whatever situation the line may be in, and will continuously suggests the

best possible allocation for each current state. [Mads og Torben’s 9. semester rapport]

Camera

Feeder

Robot

Camera

Feeder

Robot1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9101112

AB

12x

6x

8x

2x

9x

3x

10x

4x

11x

5x

7x

1x

Eth

ern

et

A

12x

6x

8x

2x

9x

3x

10x

4x

11x

5x

7x

1x

C

to robot

to camerato feeder

1 2 3 4 5 6

7 8 9101112

AB

12x

6x

8x

2x

9x

3x

10x

4x

11x

5x

7x

1x

Eth

ern

et

A

12x

6x

8x

2x

9x

3x

10x

4x

11x

5x

7x

1x

C

to robot

to camerato feeder

STARGAME 11

1 2 3 4 5

Products in Products outBuffer

AssemblyStation

Operator

Control and information system:Allocation needed at station 2

by operator 3

1 2 3 Figure 4.5. Adaptability. Manual assembly line of audio products, with more assembly stations than operators. A

control and information system facilitates the operators in order for them to adapt their allocation to the most optimal

location with respect to the current state of the line.

4.4 Robustness

Definition of robustness Robustness is a system characteristic which prevents or resists failures to the system or a reduced

performance of the system. As oppose to the adaptability characteristic the robustness characteristic is a

passive characteristic. By this is meant that the system do not take any active precaution during execution to

resist changing performance. Hence, robustness must be designed into the system on before hand. Besides

understanding robustness as a matter of not breaking down due to stress and repeated use, robustness also

includes stability and precision in task solving.

Potentials of robustness

By being robust breakdowns or reduced performances are avoided or minimised which is of great

importance to any type of production. This means that unproductive interruptions of the running production

are minimised. A robust system is also more likely to run for long periods of time unattended.

Examples of robustness

In cases of gripping a part very precisely for a repeated number of times, a robust system is definitely

needed. One way of obtaining one such robust gripping system is to design and construct a high quality, high

precision gripper, which will grip the parts exactly in the same manner each time. By this the part and the

gripper are positioned exactly identically every time a part is being graphed. Such a precision tool can be

very complicated and expensive to develop and realise. Besides, the part feeding system may also be

specially design for preparation of a robust grasp. During production run the pick up sequence may,

moreover, not be done a high speeds as the grasp may require narrow tolerances.

For matters of high volume production automation, such a precision gripping system may be affordable.

However, for operation in highly changing production environments this solution may not be suitable.

Another and more simple solution could be to use machine vision for determining the mutual position of the

part being grasped and a simple gripper, which for sure grasp the part every time, but where the position of

the part in the gripper is not fully determined at the moment of gripping. In Figure 4.6 a picking system is

illustrated, including a flexible feeder, a vision guided robot on which a simple parallel gripper is mounted,

and a refinement camera. In the procedure for moving the grasped part to its place-location the robot takes a

path which passes over the refinement camera (by a via-point). A picture of both the part and the gripper is

obtained and an instant calculation of the part’s position in the griper is made in order to determine the

mutual position of the part and the gripper. The result of this calculation is then included as an offset into the

place-procedure which the robot performs next.

STARGAME 12

As a spin off of the described system quality inspection can be obtained, which further improves the

robustness of the overall system. By using two cameras parts can be visual inspected from two sides. Parts

with errors are discarded by use of the robot.

Camera

Refinementcamera

Feeder

Robot

Figure 4.6. Robustness. The refinement camera is primarily used to determine a precise/robust position of the part in

the gripper. The refinement camera may also be used for quality inspections and check/verification before assembly,

which further contributes to robust operations.

4.5 Genericy

Definition of genericy

Genericy refers to the general nature of a system, which means that the system can be used for more

purposes than just one. In a production context genericy is considered as the equipment’s or system’s ability

to be applied to more purposes and applications, and is hence also characterised as non-specific and

multipurpose. Even if the equipment/system may require a slightly reconfiguration in forms of for example a

change-over or some kind of initiation before it can be apply it is still characterised as generic.

Potentials of genericy

Generic equipment and systems reduce the necessary effort needed to alter the production system, as the

same equipment can be used again for a new purpose. Furthermore, generic equipment and systems is an

enabling characteristic for the ability to scale systems fast and easily.

Reaction time, due to for example reduced or increased demands, is minimised as existing equipment can be

reallocated to produce other products. Also does more product variants be made on the same type of

equipment; hence, reducing the number of special purpose equipment in the company. Special purpose

equipment very often are developed or specified by the company itself and dedicated to a certain product.

Such special purpose equipment often requires more skilled workers and a wider group of technicians for

maintenance and repair tasks. By using generic equipment and systems instead, technician skills can be

concentrated on specific areas hence reducing costs for maintaining the production system, like also the risk

is minimised. Compared to specific equipment is the effect of breakdowns of generic production equipment

minimised as the equipment is easily replaced with equivalent or corresponding equipment, thus, reducing

the time of reduced performance.

Another effect of generic equipment and systems is that the planning and capacity challenges are more easily

surveyed as cell/line dedication can be eliminated. The degrees of freedom for planning the production of

products become higher, and thus, improve the levelling of capacity in the overall production system.

STARGAME 13

Generic equipment and systems also reduce the risk in investing in new production equipment. The

investment in dedicated production systems are depending on that the products being produced are

performing well on the market. Only revenue from these products can be used to pay back the initial

investment. Whereas, if the production system can be re-configured, due to its genericy, if the products fails

to perform, then the investment can be earned by revenues from new products being produced instead.

Hence, the risk of investment becomes less dependent on the performance of specific products.

The cost of genericy is often loose of performance with respect to speed, more complicated designs and

higher initial investments. However, with the basis considerations in mind this cost is worth while paying.

Examples of genericy

In the present paper a number examples of generic equipment have already been mentioned. The most well-

known equipment is of cause the robot which is extremely generic and multipurpose. A robot can be (re-)

programmed for doing any operations and manipulations within its working area. Combined with a machine

vision system the robot becomes vision guided, which further enhances its possibilities for doing various

operations, with only slight changes between the different type of operations.

Figure 4.7. Genericy. Example of specific and generic part feeders. Above a vibration bowl feeder

[accutechautomation.com] and below a flexible part feeder [flexfactory.com].

Another example also mentioned previously is the flexible part feeding mechanism, which oppose to a

specific vibration bowl feeder is extremely generic. See Figure 4.7 for both type of equipment. The flexible

part feeder has its limitations in matters of size and shape of parts to be fed, however, so does the bowl

feeder. However, the principles of vision based feeding and manipulations of parts are exploited in other

flexible feeders than the type presented in the present paper, and the range of product types is expandable.

Genericy also exists in software architectures.

STARGAME 14

4.6 Agility

Definition of agility

Agility is a characteristic which refers to a systems ability to fast and seamlessly to react on changes

affecting the system or to follow changing demands to the system. In the present paper agile is considered as

one of the eight important STARGAME characteristics, and is considered to be applied in a specific

context/application. In other publications agility (agile manufacturing) is coincided with what we in the

present paper call change-proficiency. We however consider agility in a mush narrower context, i.e. as a

specific attribute of a system.

The difference between adaptability and agility should likewise be explicit defined here; Adaptability is a

system’s ability to adjust during operation, and hence adjust the performance of an ongoing process under

changing conditions. Agility is a system’s ability to adjust between operations, i.e. going from known

operations to new (known or unknown) operations.

Potentials of agility

To be able to adjust fast and with minimum effort is essential in order to operate in today’s ever changing

competitive environment.

Reduction of change-over time

Example of agility

Once again the vision guided robot-feeder cell is taken up as an example. The equipment is generic and

hence reusable and agile in preparing the cell in performing different types of products than the current ones.

for example feeding a completely different type of parts. but how should the change over from one type of

part to a new part be+

Figure 4.8. Agility. Draft …

Camera

Feeder

Robot to feeder

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 0 1 1 1 2 A

B 1 2 x 6 x 8 x

2 x 9 x 3 x 1 0 x 4 x 1 1 x 5 x 7 x 1 x E h e r n e t

A 1 2 x 6 x 8 x

2 x 9 x 3 x 1 0 x 4 x 1 1 x 5 x 7 x 1 x C

Vision receipt: - Cam config.

- Models

- …

Robot receipt: - Robot config.

- Pick strategy

- …

Feeder receipt: - Feeder config.

- Feeder strategy

- …

STARGAME 15

4.7 Modularity/ MOBILITY (

Definition of modularity

…

Potentials of modularity

…

Examples of modularity

Figure 4.9. Modularity. Draft… [FlexLink]

Example of module based composition of an automatic cell, consisting of a base frame (work table), a

automatic manipulator (robot), a internal conveyor system, tools for the manipulator, and finally a casing and

user interfaces.

Figure 4.10. Modularity. Draft … [FlexLink]

STARGAME 16

Modularity on plant level. Line flow consisting of various automatic cells, conveyor systems, manual

assembly stations, and buffers. Each entity is considered as a module which is used in the layout of the plant.

Besides the physical hardware also software for example control or supervision of equipment or plants can

be build modular.

Object orientated programming is well known method for writing modular software codes.

Figure 4.11. Modularity. Draft … [FlexLink]

STARGAME 17

4.8 Economically

Definition of economically

…

Potential of economically

…

Examples of economically

Figure 4.12. Stepwise investment (See FlexLink brochure)

STARGAME

Dedicated Demand

Volume

Time

Production capacity

STARGAME 18

Figure 4.13. Product lifecycle vs. production lifecycle

5 Identification of Enabling Technologies

5.1 Classification of Production Entities

Value adding activities:

• Production processes

• Integration processes (= assembly and packing)

Non value adding activities:

• Handling and transportation

• Storage and Buffering

• Inspection

Non-physical activities/processes:

• Presentation and Identification of parts

• Data acquisition and Supervision

• Planning and Control

• Information flow

Plant level efficiency Event: New product family

Event: New product variant

= 70%

= 60%

STARGAME

Dedicated

Event: Ramp-up

Events: Machine breakdown, quality, etc.

Time

STARGAME 19

5.2 Enabling technologies

Konkretisering af teknologier som opfylder STARGAME konceptet.

Machine Vision

Robotics

Flex feeding Flexible mechanisms

Transportation

Integration

Process

Fixed feeding

Technology identification

Information Technology

Figure 5.1. Conceptual STARGAME manufacturing layout used for identifying enabling technology requirements.

Identification for enabling technologies

• Digital processes

• Robotics

• Machine vision

• Advanced mechanisms

• Transportation Systems

• Sensors

• Information and control system

– Facilitating

– Intelligent

Flexible

surface (7)

Custom

decoration (8)

Bag pack

and

marking

(19)

Box pack

and

shrinking

(24)

To

dis

trib

utio

n H

UB

In/

ou

t

Manual integration (1)

Automatic processes (3)

Automatic procurement (20)

Manual procurement

Re-

cicle

Automatic integration (2)

Feeding (13)

(4)

(5)

(4)

(6) Folio

conveyor

(18)

Deliv

ery

conve

yor (1

5)

(10)

(11)

(12)

(14)

(16)

(23)

(22)

(17)

AGV

AGV

Automatic storage (21)

External processes and

integrations

STARGAME 20

• System integration and holistic thinking

• Structured design approaches (modularisation and platformisation)

• :

6 Conclusion

Evt…:

Figure 6.1. STARGAME’s influence on stakeholders potential tradeoff

STARGAME Design &

Product developme

nt

Procure-ment &

purchase

Sales &

Marketing

Component

manufactu-ring

Assembly

& packing

Distributio

n

• More design families and variants

• Shorten time to market/volume

• Exploiting niche markets

• Upgradeability and replacement

• Customization

• Higher degree of design reuse enabling more design families and variants (cost)

• Shorten and precise time to market/volume (time)

• Higher quality from design, i.e. limited time for product quality corrections

• Reduction of finished goods/pipeline inventory from reduced lead time and higher delivery reliability

• Improvement of service level (time and precision)

• Customization of time and place of delivery

• Demanding responsiveness and flexibility for enabling STARGAME

• Production platforms enabling higher reuse flexibility and thus improving the investment robustness

• Reduced inventory/WIP from improved lead time and reliability

• Focused and dedicated cells enabling improved ramp-up and employment of new technologies

• Reduced inventory level from shorter lead time and higher delivery reliability

• Demanding a higher responsiveness from purchase