5 Self-configuring: the independent address recognition of the modules … … guarantees the rapid networking of the entire system Visionary: adaptability and decentralised intelligence of WaveHandling provide new perspectives for tomorrow’s automation The evolution of the factory Networking will play an even bigger role in the production of the future: centralised plant control will continue to develop and, at the same time, greater use will be made of the opportunities afforded by decentralised self-organisation. The individual subsystems, components and workpieces communicate with each other in real time and exchange information, commands and diagnostic values. This distributed intelligence enables sub-tasks to be processed autonomously, without a central computer having to control them. In the future it will be possible to leave the configuration to the system itself. The decentralised intelligence of the individual components will mean an end to previously intensive steps such as manual adjustment and programming. Concepts for the production of the future With the WaveHandling system, Festo is already demonstrating how configuration of a system will be handled by the individual modules themselves in the future. Maximum flexibility and transformability The fast networking of the subsystems not only prevents errors, but also saves time. The principles of modularity and expandability guarantee high system flexibility. Efficiency in the sense of the factory of the future also means being able to adapt to meet individual customer wishes in the short term – without much additional effort. Whether it is decentralised intelligence, high transformability or plug and produce, the principles of the factory of tomorrow are already playing an important role in today’s products. The Tripod EXPT shows how a mechatronic system can be quickly and reliably commissioned, despite its complexity, using predefined parameters and an intelligent master. All the customer has to do is establish the electrical connection between the kine- matics and the control program, and then get started with programming the application. The modular automation platform CPX already enables decentralised control of the entire production sequence.
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