The PLC Code Generation (PLCG) app allows a Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) to effectively orchestrate a rapidly reconfigurable manufacturing environment. This is accomplished by generating SCL source code to configure the shop floor PLC responsible for orchestrating equipment during an assembly process. In the Made Smarter Innovation Research Centre for Connected Factories project, this is an enabler for the application study “AS3 - Automated Assembly of Aerostructures”, where the demonstrator is required to change both its physical and control configuration in response to new products entering the system.  

  

Specifically, the PLCG is a software application that can generate orchestration code tailored to the specific product requirements. To do this, the PLCG takes the Bill of Equipment (BoE) and the Bill of Process (BoP) and generates a set of SCL source code files. This SCL code can be executed on a PLC to orchestrate the defined processes on the defined equipment. 

  

This approach not only allows an assembly system to rapidly respond to product, process, or equipment changes without costly manual (re)programming of the PLC, but also minimises the complexity of the code running on the PLC compared to other possible approaches to flexibility and reconfiguration. 

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