Current trend in automation area is focused to the innovation in all fields of the technologies and technological devices. Probably industrial robots and manipulators belong to development too. Industrial robots and manipulators belong to progressive elements of automation. Modern concept uses the offline programming as a tools integration of the virtual CAD models into programming environment. Offline programming carries a lot of advantages for example possibility of the programming without real robot system, possibility of the collision state debugging. Implementation of CAD models in virtual environment of Robot studio achieves better workplace station of creating robotic system and also it generates rather trajectories of the robot path in this system.

This paper introduces novel research into specific mechanical properties of composites produced by 3D printing using Continuous-Fiber Fabrication (CFF). Nylon (Onyx) was used as the composite base material, while carbon constituted the reinforcement element. The carbon fiber embedment was varied in selected components taking values of 0°, 45°, 90°, and 135° for parts undergoing tensile testing, while one specific part type was produced combining all angles. Carbon-fiber-free components with 100% and 37% fillings were also produced for comparison purposes. Parts undergoing the Charpy impact test had the fibers deposited at angles of 0° and 90°, while one part type was also produced combining the four angles mentioned before. Carbon-fiber-free parts with 100% and 37% fillings were also produced for comparison purposes as with the first part. The Markforged MARK TWO 3D printer was used for printing the parts. These were subsequently scanned in the METROTOM 1500 computed tomography and submitted to the tensile and impact tests. The results showed that adding carbon fiber to the base material increased the volume of defects in the samples as a result of the porosity increase. Although the tensile testing manifested an overall increase in tensile strength Rm of up to 12 times compared to the sample without reinforcement, it was proven that an improper fiber orientation significantly diminished the strength and that combining the four selected angles did not lead to the highest strength values. Finally, the impact tests also showed that fiber-reinforced parts implied up to 2.7 times more work to fracture, and that an improved fiber orientation also led to strength reduction.

Designing of the conveyors and its control system with control program through the design tool "Virtual Commissioning" is very important in the digital era Industry 4.0. Virtual Commissioning was recently used to perform realistic virtual simulations in the early stages of development processes in automation of the conveyors too. The main benefit is the possibility of integrating and testing the control system through the simulation on the virtual model even before physically constructing the conveyor. The contribution focuses on the possibilities of transforming a real conveyor into a virtual model in the Siemens Tecnomatix Process Simulate program and integrating the Siemens S7-300 real control system to control the conveyor itself. In the model it was allowed to test and perform numerous variations and situations without physical intervention into the real conveyor and possible damage functional parts including through virtual reality. These experiments were subsequently evaluated and the control system optimized with respect to material flow and the developed PLC code on virtual model was verified on real conveyor control system.

The commissioning of new designs, technologies, production related changes and control codes and strategies has been always a risky milestone to overcome in manufacturing. It has been carried out, in many instances, in a (quasi) poka-yoke way often leading companies to incur extra costs affecting the overall efficiency of a given project. In this regard, the emergence of novel Virtual Commissioning tools and methods have become a great asset adding to the commissioning process the values of shorter times, flexibility and reduced risks. The present paper aims at giving an introductory insight into the early steps of “Virtual Commissioning” in the software Tecnomatix Plant Simulation in conjunction with other engineering tools like the S7-PLCSIM Advanced and STEP 7 TIA Portal. It generally exploressome of the capabilities of the software, and boards the benefits of using it prior to the implementation/real commissioning. The paper further lists key steps related to the realization of this process andmakes emphasis on the interconnection and functioning of all of these tools for Virtual Commissioning purposes. At the end, there is also a simple example that implements and illustrates some of the contents and knowledge addressed.

This paper addresses the uncertainty analysis in the case of a coordinate measuring machine. The main goal was analyzing, quantifying, and drawing conclusions on the influence of key factors and their interactions on the measurements’ uncertainty of the variable’s parallelism, angularity, roundness, diameter, and distance. In order to achieve this goal, a Random Factorial Design of Experiments was designed and implemented. It focused on the factors Stylus diameter, Step width, and Speed using three random levels each. For the solution of the experiment, an analysis of variance was used. The study was carried out on the coordinate measuring machine (CMM) ZEISS CenterMax. It was concluded that the interaction effects among Stylus diameter, Step width, and Speed were active at a confidence level of 95%. Besides, it was possible to estimate random factors‘ variance and their contribution to the total variation. Among the main effects, the Stylus diameter showed to be the one with the biggest influence. The paper also quantifies the influence in the measurement uncertainty, where the highest value of standard uncertainty belonged to the Stylus diameter in the evaluation of the variable’s angularity and diameter. Besides, the Speed factor was proved to have the biggest influence on the roundness’ measurement and evaluation.

Over the years, the world of manufacturing has witnessed significant work in the area of Intelligent Manufacturing. Special efforts have been made in the implementation of new technologies, management and control systems, among many others which have all evolved the field. Closely following all this and due to the scope of new projects and the need of turning the existing flexible ideas into more autonomous and intelligent ones, i.e.: Intelligent Manufacturing, the present paper emerges with the main aim of contributing under a this new intelligent denomination to the design and analysis of the material flow in either systems, cells or workstations. For this, besides offering a conceptual basis in some of the key points to be taken into account and some general principles to consider in the design and analysis of the material flow, also some tips on how to define other possible alternative material flow scenarios and a classification of the states a system, cell or workstation are offered as well. All this is done with the intentions of relating it with the use of simulation tools, for which these have been briefly addressed with a special focus on the Witness simulation package. For a better comprehension, the previous elements are supported by a detailed layout, other figures and a few expressions which could help obtaining necessary data. Such data and others will be used in the future, when simulating the scenarios in the search of the best material flow configurations.