28 n VIRTUALISATION June 2024 www.drivesncontrols.com Audi virtualises factory with software PLCs Akey aim of the German car-maker Audi is to have stable and consistently available production facilities where it can build as many cars as possible. But to speed up the integration of innovations from the rapidly developing world of IT, and to optimise production continuously, this production needs to become more IT-oriented. A major challenge for Audi is the wide variety of devices that it uses. To adapt production to increasing customer demand, it needs to install more hardware devices. However, in recent years, delivery periods have become stretched. Often, updates have to be installed manually on the hardware devices and maintenance can be costly, but both are necessary to ensure cybersecurity. Power consumption is also high. As more hardware devices are installed, more power is consumed, affecting energy efficiency. To tackle these challenges, Audi realised that it needed to merge IT and OT in its production environments by virtualising the shop floor. It has therefore created a new software-based infrastructure modelled on how data centres are implemented. The lowest level of the infrastructure is always the same, and lays the foundation for various applications. With its Edge Cloud 4 Production platform, Audi has transferred this principle to production and has revolutionised automation on its shop floor, including the use of virtual PLCs. The platform has been created by a team of IT and OT specialists who’ve designed a private cloud infrastructure that covers all of the production requirements in a factory. Applications run in this cloud as software – including Siemens’Simatic S7-1500V virtual PLCs. After some initial debate about how IT-based production should be designed, it quickly became clear that a large-scale concept was required. It took about three years to evaluate its feasibility and perform the necessary tests. This period was needed to define requirements, test conditions, and talk to the manufacturers of the necessary components. This way, the partners in the virtual PLC project were already benefitting from each other early on: Audi from Siemens’expertise in the field of automation engineering; and Siemens from Audi’s feedback. The technologies also needed to be modified: for example, to establish the real-time capability of the lower-level infrastructure. Software-driven factory automation is only feasible if suitable software-based controllers are available. Audi needed a virtual PLC that would be compatible with its Edge Cloud 4 Production platform and could be integrated into its existing automation environments. “The virtual PLC represents a revolution in automation engineering and industry, making it possible to totally rethink a factory and its infrastructure,” says Sven Müller, project manager for Edge Cloud 4 Production at Audi. The Simatic S7-1500V virtual PLC was first tested successfully in Audi’s production laboratory. Part of the line being used to produce Audi’s e-tron GT high-performance electric car at the company’s Böllinger Höfe plant in Neckarsulm was then chosen as suitable for the initial commissioning of the virtual PLC in a production environment. The line’s small-series manufacturing was ideal for testing the new technologies. Working with Siemens, Audi performed tests at the plant to learn about the on-site setup and to discover if there were any challenges that might hamper the implementation. This cautious approach helped to increase employee acceptance. The growing number of successful tests boosted Audi’s confidence in the virtual PLC. “Naturally, employees were initially sceptical and expressed reservations,”acknowledges Robin Fallmann, who is involved in production planning for automation engineering at Audi. “This was our motivation for making the rollout planning for the overall project as detailed and predictable as possible.” Before commissioning the technology in a working production environment, there was a preparatory phase, lasting several months, Audi has implemented virtual PLCs at one of its plants, with the aim of reducing the variety and number of hardware devices needed, and converting applications to run in software thus making production faster, more robust and more flexible.
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