Manufacturing

Modernization of manufacturing systems (discrete system) is a major innovation challenge argued in the initiative "Factory of the Future – Industry 4.0" as a necessary means to improve competitiveness and keep industrial employment in Europe. One of these specific areas of innovation is related to sustaining the manufacturing system in optimal operating conditions as closed as nominal ones in order to be able to provide, all the time, the product or the service with the performances expected. This challenge places the dependability and maintenance issues as key items to be addressed and solved mainly in proactive and holistic vision as defended by PHM community (Prognostics and Health Management). Indeed (a) the parameters of Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, Safety and (b) the maintenance/logistic support practices have to be (jointly) considered in terms of modelling, optimization, assessment and deployment both in the design and the operating phase of the system. It should allow to keep, by anticipation, the target system in adapted performance state (e.g. productivity, sustainability, risk) to face faults, degradations, failures but also to ensure that its mission could be achieved in terms of “right” product delivery (e.g. quality, geometric dimension).

In that way, the Technical Committee is dealing with all the previous aspects of RAMS and Maintenance contributing to promote Factory of the Future / Industry 4.0 paradigm. It covers these aspects in a life cycle vision (from design to re-manufacturing or recycling) by considering both functional and technological issues. 

Chairs

Eric Levrat eric.levrat@univ-lorraine.fr