Cross-industry state of the art analysis of modular automation

Abstract

Modular production is a persistent trend in both manufacturing and process industry. For process industry, the adoption of NAMUR Module Type Package (MTP) progresses rapidly including first commercial products. In the manufacturing industry, one prominent representative of modular production in factory automation is the PackML standard for packaging machines. Despite similar concepts and business advantages, requirements and current technical realization of module description and process orchestration differ across the industries. This paper is a state-of-the-art analysis of modular automation concepts. Along with MTP and PackML we also discuss the process control approach developed in scope of publicly funded BaSys 4.2 project and validated in a demonstrator. Our results bring advantages for manufacturers, integrators and operators of modular automation plants, especially in mixed discrete/process applications. We open a perspective for long-term convergence of the standards' aspects and help to define mid-term coexistence strategies especially for mixed applications.