Capability matchmaking software for rapid production system design and reconfiguration planning

Traditionally, the production system design and reconfiguration planning are manual processes, which rely heavily on the designers’ expertise and tacit knowledge to find feasible system configuration solutions. Rapid responsiveness of future production systems calls for new computer-aided intelligent design and planning solutions, that would reduce the time and effort put into system design, both in brownfield and greenfield scenarios. This paper describes the implementation of a capability matchmaking software, which automatizes the matchmaking between product requirements and resource capabilities. The interaction of the matchmaking system with external design and planning tools is explained and illustrated with a case example. The matchmaking approach supports production system design and reconfiguration planning by providing automatic means for checking if the existing system already fulfills the new product requirements, and for finding alternative resources and resource combinations to specific product requirements from large search spaces, e.g. from global resource catalogues.