An approach for designing a platform of smart welding station system

The emergence of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), which uses smart manufacturing as a strategy to solve industry challenges, is associated with significant research efforts that focus on cyber-physical systems, the internet of things, big data, and artificial intelligence. Utilizing I4.0 system performance and decision-making technologies, real-time monitoring, and system control, we developed a smart welding station system. The platform provides guidance for implementing a reliable welding system with a minimal amount of effort using certain characteristics of I4.0 technologies. In this study, a practical guide for the application of Reference Architectural Model Industry 4.0 (RAMI 4.0) and the use of technologies for smartization of welding systems are presented. First, we discuss the conceptual approach of a smart welding station system to create a platform for the station. Enabling technologies and their working functions are then defined. In addition, characteristics of RAMI 4.0 that apply to implement the system into the major architecture of selected RAMI 4.0 areas are analyzed. Finally, a designed platform for a smart welding station system based on five layers and three hierarchies of the production of RAMI 4.0 is presented.