ABSTRACT

Aeronautics, in the context of industry 4.0, is continuously evolving to respond to the market dynamics and has incorporated automation to many stages of aircraft manufacturing. However, most of the final assembly line processes are still done manually and remain a challenge. Virtual Reality (VR) technologies can be leveraged to study the incorporation of automation systems involving Human-Robot Coexistence (HRC) in assembly processes before the physical system is available, which is beneficial for increasing the productivity and identifying issues beforehand, thus, preventing unexpected costs. In this context, a VR simulation environment was developed with two innovative factors: (1) The possibility to evaluate multiple new automated and semi-automated cabin and cargo processes and select the best one in terms of specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a future implementation in the physical system and (2) the capability to study the ergonomics of the human worker inside the narrow space of the fuselage while assembling the parts and coexisting with robots, without compromising the worker’s safety. The results show that most of the new proposed strategies improve the assembly time, worker cost, or ergonomics of the process, with an investment varying between 100 K and 200 K euros and ROI of 1–2 years.

摘要

在工业 4.0 的背景下，航空业不断发展以响应市场动态，并将自动化融入飞机制造的许多阶段。然而，大多数最终装配线流程仍然是手动完成的，仍然是一个挑战。在物理系统可用之前，可以利用虚拟现实 (VR) 技术研究涉及人机共存 (HRC) 的自动化系统在装配过程中的结合，这有利于提高生产力和提前识别问题，从而防止意外成本。在此背景下，开发了具有两个创新因素的 VR 模拟环境：(1) 评估多个新的自动化和半自动化客舱和货运流程的可能性，并根据未来在物理系统中实施的特定关键绩效指标 (KPI) 选择最佳流程，以及 (2) 研究这些流程的能力人体工学在机身狭小的空间内组装零件，与机器人共存，同时不影响工人的安全。结果表明，大多数新提议的策略改善了装配时间、工人成本或过程的人体工程学，投资在 10 万到 20 万欧元之间，投资回报率为 1 到 2 年。