Systems and methods for defining a sensor layout for pallet routing in a manufacturing environment

A system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a nontransitory computer-readable medium including instructions that are executable by the processor, wherein the instructions include:
• defining a sensor layout of a digital twin based on one or more sensor parameters and one or more routing control locations of the digital twin, wherein the sensor layout includes a plurality of sensors;
• simulating a manufacturing routine of a plurality of pallets and a plurality of workstations of the digital twin based on one or more pallet parameters associated with the plurality of pallets and one or more workstation parameters associated with the plurality of workstations, wherein the one or more pallet parameters include wherein the one or more pallet parameters include a pallet merging time associated with each routing control location of the one or more routing control locations, a pallet splitting time associated with each routing control location of the one or more routing control locations, one or more pallet travel times between the one or more routing control locations, or a combination thereof;
• calculating, for each routing control location from among the one or more routing control locations, a transient production value and a steady state production value based on the manufacturing routine;
• determining whether the transient production value is less than a threshold transient production value;
• determining whether the steady state production value is greater than a threshold steady state production value in response to determining that the transient production value is less than the threshold transient production value;
• and
• adjusting the sensor layout of the digital twin in response to determining that the steady state production value is greater than the threshold steady state production value,
• wherein the steady state production value is equal to is equal to |d1/(d1+d2)−c1/(c1+c2)|,
• wherein d1 is a first target production value associated with a first type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets,
• wherein d2 is a second target production value associated with a second type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets,
• wherein c1 is a number of the first type of pallets that have passed through a given routing control location, and
• wherein c2 is a number of the second type of pallets that have passed through the given routing control location.

A method comprising:

• defining a sensor layout of a digital twin based on one or more sensor parameters and one or more routing control locations of the digital twin, wherein the sensor layout includes a plurality of sensors;
• simulating a manufacturing routine of a plurality of pallets and a plurality of workstations of the digital twin based on one or more pallet parameters associated with the plurality of pallets and one or more workstation parameters associated with the plurality of workstations, wherein:
• the one or more pallet parameters include a pallet merging time associated with each routing control location of the one or more routing control locations, a pallet splitting time associated with each routing control location of the one or more routing control locations, one or more pallet travel times between the one or more routing control locations, or a combination thereof;
• and
• the one or more workstation parameters include a cycle time associated with each workstation from among the plurality of workstations, a downtime associated with each workstation from among the plurality of workstations, or a combination thereof;
• calculating, for each routing control location from among the one or more routing control locations, a transient production value and a steady state production value based on the manufacturing routine, wherein:
• the transient production value and the steady state production value are based on a first target production value associated with a first type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets and a second target production value associated with a second type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets;
• iteratively adjusting the sensor layout of the digital twin until:
• each transient production value from among the one or more transient production values is less than or equal to a threshold transient production value;
• and
• each steady state production value from among the one or more steady state production values is less than or equal to a threshold steady state production value, wherein adjusting the sensor layout comprises adjusting a number of the plurality of sensors in the digital twin, adjusting a placement of the plurality of sensors in the digital twin, or a combination thereof,
• wherein the steady state production value is equal to is equal to |d1/(d1+d2)−c1/(c1+c2)|,
• wherein d1 is a first target production value associated with a first type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets,
• wherein d2 is a second target production value associated with a second type of pallets from among the plurality of pallets,
• wherein c1 is a number of the first type of pallets that have passed through a given routing control location, and
• wherein c2 is a number of the second type of pallets that have passed through the given routing control location.