Virtual Launch & Validation of Manufacturing Automation Controls

In the automotive industry an integrated set of manufacturing engineering activities lie on the critical path of the Vehicle Development Process (VDP). After the product integration design is finalized, the Production Tool Design and Build (PTDB) processes becomes the VDP critical path. It is in the PTDB where virtual launch and validation activities are performed. To increase throughput of the engineering factory and reduce product development cost, we propose a research initiative in the area of Virtual Launch & Validation (VLV) of Manufacturing Automation Controls (MAC). VLV of MAC is composed of a series of PTDB launch and pre-launch activities in a virtual environment using physical, emulated, and simulated hardware and software. It encompasses the testing of MAC, its interactions with MAC analysis tools, and its interfaces with IT systems and related business processes. VLV of MAC also supports the development and testing of new IT systems and business processes as well as its hardware and software plant floor systems constituents. The mission of VLV of MAC is to minimize the duration of the launch and ramp up activities by reducing the implementation and execution times for plant floor systems and equipments via a priori system emulation, validation and testing. Based on our findings, we conclude that the most pressing needs for VLV of MAC lie in the thrust areas of object-oriented standard logic, auto-generation of virtual models, logic validation and system wide emulation. In summary, we conservatively estimate that a successful VLV of MAC implementation will reduce the VDP duration by several weeks hence providing automakers with savings in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars per year.