Edge Computing and Distributed Ledger Technologies for Flexible Production Lines: A White-Appliances Industry Case

Abstract Industry 4.0 will enable the development of hyper-efficient plants, which facilitate the implementation of emerging production models such as Made-to-Order and Configure-to-Order. In this direction, the H2020 FAR-EDGE project has introduced a reference architecture and an accompanying platform that facilitates the implementation of digital automation solutions based on edge computing and distributed ledger technologies, which enable fast, reliable and responsive automation. In this paper, we illustrate the use of these technologies for the implementation and deployment of a practical use case in the white appliances industry. Specifically, we present how a sorter component can be automatically programmed in order to ensure that items arriving at a conveyor are optimally placed in various bays. The use case leverages the edge computing paradigm in order to ensure that each physical item is able to communicate its status to all the others. At the same time, distributed ledger technologies enable the modelling of the sorting process as a reliable smart contract among all physical entities. The benefits of the deployment include tangible improvements in productivity, along with a significant reduction in the effort and time needed for the reconfiguration of the sorter.