R&D roadmap for process robotization driven to the digital transformation of the industry 4.0

This paper lays emphasis on a proposal of a tailor-made roadmap that manages the knowledge related to automation skills to be applied during the concurrent engineering phase. The approach of this Research and Development (R&D) roadmap is a particular guideline in a structured form that uses the concepts of Plan-Do–Check–Act (PDCA) method integrated to other quality tools and know-how in robotization, for management of this specific knowledge. This research work aims to guide the staff (project managers, engineers and technicians) who work multidisciplinary in concurrent engineering environment about the robot’s implementation steps and significant tips related to the deployment phases that can be beneficial when this proposed roadmap is applied. Also, it was developed to assist the robot’s installation and their validation on shop floor, aiming the best class of industrial processes regarding the automation. The main contribution and novelty of this paper is to propose a R&D roadmap that drives and assists the multidisciplinary work teams since the identification of robotization opportunities till the assurance of quality requirements established for the concerned process, in addition to a continuous improvement program to carry it on. Besides that, this work provides a high relevance in terms of knowledge management related to robotization expertise, spread of practical skills in concurrent engineering context and an unprecedented innovative contribution at science frontier.