Intelligent Flexible Manufacturing Cell

Published

December 11, 2023

Author(s)

Ethan Hollingsworth, Eric Holterman, Allison Barnard Feeney

Abstract

Designed around Industry 4.0 based digital technology, flexible manufacturing cells are envisioned to comprise a variety of machines capable of peer-to-peer communication, learning, and adaptation with the end goal of creating a standards-based, brand-agnostic, autonomously managed work cell free of any human influence. In this project, CCAM developed a physical and digital flexible manufacturing cell built primarily on open standards and open-source technologies to address the opportunities and challenges of development of a strong communication framework, as well as the semantics and context to drive individual decision making down to the machine or controller and enable brand-agnostic interoperability. This reference implementation of a full digital and flexible manufacturing cell can be used for the further development of standards and technologies surrounding the digital thread and distributed manufacturing.

Citation

Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR) - 23-046

Report Number

23-046

NIST Pub Series

Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR)

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.GCR.23-046

Local Download

Keywords

Automation, discrete manufacturing, flexible manufacturing, Industry 4.0, Kafka, manufacturing, MTConnect, networks, open standards, QIF, robotics, smart manufacturing, standards, STEP

Citation

Hollingsworth, E. , Holterman, E. and Barnard Feeney, A. (2023), Intelligent Flexible Manufacturing Cell, Grant/Contract Reports (NISTGCR), National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://doi.org/10.6028/NIST.GCR.23-046, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=956661 (Accessed October 13, 2025)