Introduction
A manufacturer’s sustainable competitiveness depends on its capabilities with respect to cost, delivery, flexibility, and quality1. Smart Manufacturing Systems (SMS) attempt to maximize those capabilities by using advanced technologies that promote rapid flow and widespread use of digital information within and between manufacturing systems2 3 4. SMS are driving unprecedented gains in production agility, quality, and efficiency across U.S. manufacturers, improving long-term competitiveness. Specifically, SMS use information and communication technologies along with intelligent software applications to
- Optimize the use of labor, material, and energy to produce customized, high-quality products for on-time delivery.
- Quickly respond to changes in market demands and supply chains.
Smart manufacturing, different from other technology-based manufacturing paradigms, defines a vision of next-generation manufacturing with enhanced capabilities. It is built on emerging information and communication technologies and enabled by combining features of earlier manufacturing paradigms. Table 1 shows the relationship between SMS and previous manufacturing paradigms.
| Smart Manufacturing Characteristics | Other Manufacturing Paradigms | Enabling Technology |
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Lean Manufacturing Emphasis on utilizing a set of "tools" that assist in the identification and steady elimination of all kinds of waste in a manufacturing system. |
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| Flexible Manufacturing Utilizing an integrated system of manufacturing machine modules and material handling equipment under computer control to produce products with changed volume, process and types. |
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| Sustainable Manufacturing Creating products with minimal negative environmental impacts while conserving energy and natural resources and enhancing human safety. |
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| Digital Manufacturing Using digital technology through product lifecycle to improve product, process, and enterprise performance and reduce the time and cost of manufacturing. |
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| Cloud Manufacturing A form of decentralized and networked manufacturing based on cloud computing, and service-oriented architecture(SOA). |
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| Intelligent Manufacturing Implementing artificial intelligence based intelligent production that can automatically adapt to changing environments and varying process requirements, with minimal intervention form human. |
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| Holonic Manufacturing Applying agents to a dynamic and decentralized manufacturing process, so that changes can be made dynamically and continuously. |
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| Agile Manufacturing Utilizing effectice processes, tools, and training to enable manufacturing systems to respond quickly to customer needs and market changes while still controlling costs and quality. |
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In 2014 in the United States, the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) issued a report that identified three top-priority transformative manufacturing technologies: Advanced Sensing, Control, and Platforms for Manufacturing; Visualization, Informatics and Digital Manufacturing Technologies; and Advanced Materials Manufacturing 5. The first two of the technologies enhance the manufacturer’s ability to respond to information quickly and efficiently. They, in turn, rely on the effective information flow and system responsiveness that only standards can provide. The PCAST further noted that standards “spur the adoption of new technologies, products and manufacturing methods. Standards allow a more dynamic and competitive marketplace, without hampering the opportunity to differentiate. Development and adoption of standards reduce the risks for enterprises developing solutions and for those implementing them, accelerating adoption of new manufactured products and manufacturing methods.”
Standards are the building blocks that provide for repeatable processes and the composition of different technological solutions to achieve a robust end result. Standards come in many varieties and forms. Standards.gov 6 and OMB Circular A-119 [46] describe, in some detail, the variety of forms standards can take. The standards that we will discuss are primarily “voluntary consensus standards.” This means they are set by a standards organization based on the consensus of the partners who will be using them. In addition, these types of standards are enforced by voluntary compliance. Such standards are designed to open new market opportunities to their users. The standards supporting SMS range from those for information technology and communication through those that govern enterprises and supply chains.
This paper presents an SMS standards’ landscape based on a definition of a smart-manufacturing ecosystem that encompasses three dimensions – product, production systems, and enterprise (business) systems. The landscape associates standards with the lifecycle phases in each dimension. Section 2 presents key capabilities and the manufacturing ecosystem as the convergence of the three different lifecycle perspectives in operational manufacturing systems. It also identifies areas where the integration of functions within and across these dimensions will result in systems that are more effective. Section 3 describes the landscape in terms of key standards’ organizations working in the area, types of standards in each of the three dimensions, and the manufacturing pyramid where the dimensions intersect. Finally, we discuss areas of opportunity for future standards in terms of the smart manufacturing capabilities.
1. Strategos-International. Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing, http://www.strategosinc.com/toyota_production.htm ↩
2. Flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing systems paradigms, Int J Flex Manuf Syst (2006) 17:261–276 DOI 10.1007/s10696-006-9028-7 ↩
3. Glossary of Sustainable Manufacturing Terms, EPA, http://archive.epa.gov/sustainablemanufacturing/web/html/glossary.html ↩
4. DOE-FOA-0001263 Manufacturing innovation institute for smart manufacturing: advanced sensors, controls, platforms, and modeling for manufacturing. ↩
5. Cloud-Based Manufacturing: Old Wine in New Bottles? , Proceedings of the 47th CIRP Conference on Manufacturing Systems ↩
6. http://www.astri.org/technologies/initiatives/intelligent-manufaturing/ ↩