Real-Time Implementation of a Fully Automated Industrial System Based on IR 4.0 Concept

With the advent of modern communication and control strategies, existing industrial enterprises are now being transformed as per Industrial Revolution (IR) 4.0 standards to maximize production rates and monetary gains. To cope with the pace of the modern technological revolution, the Government of Saudi Arabia has launched Vision 2030. This research article presents the full automation process of an existing production line at the College of Engineering, King Saud University, as per Vision 2030 guidelines. Initially, a production line was designed to produce flavored yogurt bottles from a user-defined flavor and plain yogurt mixture. The research project was completed in two phases. During phase I, smart sensing, control, and automation equipment were used to minimize human intervention, the so-called semi-automated mode of operation. A bottle-feeding mechanism and robotic arms were later integrated to eliminate human intervention during the second phase. Moreover, during phase II, Node-RED, Telegram Bots, and a Raspberry Pi 4 controller were used to achieve IoT-based monitoring and control as per Industry 4.0 requirements. A comparative performance analysis was conducted between semi-automated and fully automated modes of operation to demonstrate the benefits of the fully automated operational mode. The performance of the fully automated system was found to be superior in comparison with the semi-automated system.

Automated summary

This research article presents the full automation process of an existing production line at King Saud University's College of Engineering, following two phases of implementation to reduce human intervention and meet Industry 4.0 requirements, where the fully automated system demonstrated superior performance compared to the semi-automated system.