Factory Templates for Digital Factories Framework $ Azevedo Ame ´ rico n , Almeida Anto ´ nio INESC Porto—Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering of Porto, Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 378, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal article info Article history: Received 7 December 2010 Received in revised form 21 January 2011 Accepted 15 February 2011 Available online 21 March 2011 Keywords: Factory Templates Factory Life Cycle Estimation Management Knowledge Digital Factory Enterprise Reference Model abstract The global industry is currently facing a growing increase in the competitiveness that forces companies to adopt and develop new strategies and methods of production. Therefore, one of the most relevant challenges in manufacturing engineering is innovatively integrating Product, Process and Factory dimensions and life cycles, in a holistic approach, from design to recycling/disposal and reuse. The challenge faced here is the synchronization and simultaneous generation of all three-domain models by integrating manufacturing engineering knowledge into the early stage of the modelling and planning processes. The next generation of factories has to be modular, scalable, flexible, open, agile and knowledge- based in order to be able to adapt, in real time, to the continuously changing market demands, technology options and regulations. Therefore, integration, flexibility and efficiency requirements and the ability to simulate the production life cycle of a factory play a crucial role in decreasing ramp-up and design times. Furthermore they play a crucial role in improving the performance in the evaluation and reconfiguration of new or existing facilities, in supporting management decisions and providing tools that can guarantee real-time performance monitoring. Therefore, it is necessary to research and implement the underlying models and ideas during the foundation stage of a new conceptual framework, which is designed to be implemented in the next generation of factories. This will be supported by suitable Information and Communication Technol- ogies (ICT) and digital infrastructures and should lay down the foundations for future applications in this research area—the industrial paradigm of ‘‘Factory as a Product’’. In line with the context presented here, we propose the development of factory templates to address the design and operation practices throughout the entire life cycle of the factory. Different dimensions of the factory templates are presented in this paper; they cover the design and creation of the factory, its remodelling and even the disassembly and recycling stages. This entire study takes into account relevant factors such as costs, quality, time, flexibility, environmental and social issues and energy efficiency. Throughout the article, different kinds of models are presented, which describe and adjust the structure of the analysis, design and development of a factory integration project that helps provide a formal analysis of the system. Furthermore, templates integrating the factory’s response to internal and external disturbances will also be developed. & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In this climate of slow economy growth within the economies of developed countries companies are facing an extreme level of competitiveness. Furthermore, a transfer of power from companies to customers has been observed, which has caused a continuous decrease in product life cycles, a higher replacement rate of products and services and a significant change in business and technological processes, plant facilities and in human and technical resources. Indeed, one of the most important characteristics of today’s enterprises is that they are exposed to constant changes. Therefore, the development of a discipline that organises all knowl- edge needed to identify the need for change in enterprises and to carry out that change in an efficient and sustainable way is now necessary. The above mentioned challenges have led to the development of an innovative strategy and a new industrial paradigm is now essential in order to guarantee competitiveness with a sustainable business vision. From a manufacturing perspective it is becoming progressively clearer that the next generation of factories needs to be modular, scalable, flexible, open, agile and knowledge-based in order to be able to adapt, in real time, to the continuously changing market demands, technology options and regulations. In addition, this new generation of factories should be able to integrate models and strategies capable of adapting their Contents lists available at ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rcim Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing 0736-5845/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.rcim.2011.02.004 $ The author gratefully acknowledges the CSU East Bay University for support of the project. n Corresponding author. Tel.: + 351 222094399; fax: + 351 222094350. E-mail address: ala@fe.up.pt (A. Azevedo). Robotics and Computer-Integrated Manufacturing 27 (2011) 755–771