DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR OPEN AND REUSABLE SHOP-FLOOR CONTROL SOFTWARE

Integrating a heterogeneous manufacturing environment means using info rmation technology to provide appropriate access to accurate and timel y information. While individual systems provide valuable solutions to particular manufacturing or transport problems, quick and easy informa tion-sharing throughout the shop-floor has become almost impossible. Y et, information-sharing is increasingly critical for the success of th e company and its manufacturing goals. Whether data comes from a devic e or an application in the manufacturing environment, the critical suc cess factor in shop-floor integration is the ability to turn data into useful information, to distribute it, and to share it regardless of a pplication, device, hardware, operating system, and network used. Manu facturing environments are changing constantly and the technology surr ounding and supporting them is often changing faster. Solving manufact uring problems by acquiring a variety of incompatible hardware and sof tware from multiple vendors has created a complex application and devi ce integration problem. This paper describes an approach that makes th e task of application integration easier. The concept focuses on achie ving application independence and was verified in an assembly cell at a truck component factory. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.