Abstract
Digitalization in manufacturing, also known as Industry 4.0, and Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) may turn ordinary manufacturing systems, usually designed for mass-production, into highly flexible and reconfigurable manufacturing system for mass customization purposes. The huge potential of the digital information management and real-time data management introduced by Industry 4.0 will be a key enabler for further developments in mass customization manufacturing. Increasing customization capabilities means increasing product variability and producing small quantities in a highly flexible way; this impacts the production process and the business process as well. Such reconfigurable CPS promise improvements of the production processes efficiency. In order to disseminate this production strategy to students and industry, the authors created a simple case study in order to introduce these aspects in a learning factory environment. This paper presents a pilot case study implemented in the Smart-Mini Factory laboratory at the Free University of Bolzano for educational and research purposes. The pilot case study aims at introducing a digital information management since the early first steps of the business process, combining Computational Design techniques and CPS. The authors discuss a simple pilot case that will be used mainly for dissemination purposes towards people not addicted to CPS and digital environments such as students and SME’s entrepreneurs. In the upcoming academic year, the demonstrator will be tested for the first time in the course Production Systems and Industrial Logistics with engineering students. In addition, the use of the demonstrator in industry seminars on mass customization and computational design is planned. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2018.