Closing the Loop in IoT-enabled Manufacturing Systems: Challenges and Opportunities

Revolutionary computing technologies are driving significant advances in the manufacturing domain. High-fidelity simulations and virtual design environments allow unprecedented opportunities to test and validate systems before they are built, reducing overall design time, and cost. These simulations can be run in real-time, in parallel to the physical system, to enable better visibility into plant floor operations. Torrents of data streaming from both simulations and the factory floor can be collected over high-speed networks, and stored in the cloud, enabling improved analytics, predictions, and performance. This paper will describe how the integration of simulation and plant-floor data can enable new control approaches that are able to optimize overall performance of manufacturing system operations. New opportunities for control engineers within the manufacturing sector will be highlighted.