E-Catalogues of Equipment for Constructing an Injection Molding Digital Eco-Factory

A digital eco-factory has been proposed by the authors for the simultaneous simulation of environmental performance, productivity and manufacturability. A virtual production line is constructed as a multi-agent system by connecting virtual equipment implemented as software agents which are automatically generated from equipment models. These models are provided as equipment e-catalogues. An e-catalogue of equipment includes a dynamic behavior model and a static property model of manufacturing equipment. In the previous papers, the above-mentioned concept was applied to constructions and usages of a digital eco-factory for PCA (Printed Circuit Assembly). In this paper, the above concept is applied to the construction of a digital eco-factory for injection molding. A production line consists mainly of an injection molding machine. An injection mold, a molding extraction robot, and a mold temperature controller are connected to the injection molding machine. The connection is not a sequential connection. Therefore, in the virtual injection molding line, more complicated interaction and control among equipment agents are required. Therefore, e-cataloging of equipment models for injection molding lines is more complicated. Trial implementation of e-catalogues for the above equipment has been executed for construction of a virtual injection molding line. On this virtual injection molding line, an environmental performance simulation in terms of electrical energy consumption simulation can be performed. Because this virtual line is structured by equipment agents which are generated from selected equipment e-catalogues, it can simulate environmental performance with various views such as from an equipment level, a production line level and a factory level.