A novel methodology for retrofitting CNC machines based on the context of industry 4.0

Abstract

The new concept of manufacturing, called as Industry 4.0, must transform the paradigm of the industries much faster than any other technological revolution known at the moment. This new paradigm must require the intensive use of different machines, mechatronic systems and electronic devices that will be integrated through protocols which must allow a wide sharing of data among the devices that compose the manufacturing system. Although this new paradigm has been changing the design of new machines, the current systems are not prepared to be integrated by these new concepts. Therefore, a new demand for retrofitting of these current systems is emerging nowadays in order to update them for the context of Industry 4.0. Hence, this paper proposes and studies a methodology based on the concepts of design and systems engineering for retrofitting existing Computer Numeric Control (CNC) machines. As result, the proposed methodology must depict in details the functional requirements (FRs), the design parameters (DPs), data model and the system architecture for updating CNC machines in use, enabling the engineers to create personalized projects for real industries.