6TH IFAC SYMP. ON COST ORIENTED AUTOMATION (LOW COST AUTOMATION 2001)

(Oct. 8–9, 2001, Berlin, Germany)

The symposium brought together researchers and industrialists in two plenary sessions, eight regular sessions and two industrial workshops (special sessions). The organizers intended to rescue Low Cost Automation from its bad reputation by considering mostly the development and application of cheap components of control systems of low performance, just suitable for developing industries. Because of this, the organizers intended to focus on considering and discussing cost-oriented or cost-effective solutions for automation systems. This intention was quite successful. Despite expensive components, the life cycle of automation systems regarding design, production, operating, maintenance, reconfiguration and recycling was cost effective (cost of ownership). The participants of the Industrial Workshops I and II on “Virtual Programmable Logic Control” and “Lifecycle Costs” presented and discussed new developments in these fields. As it turned out, companies are currently refraining from the implementation of highly automated svstems because they are too inflexible, and their maintenance and reconfiguration is too expensive. Companies are looking for cost-effective solutions. Additionally, the invited keynote speech of the second plenary session, “Maintenance Holistic Framework for Optimizing the Cost/Availability Compromise of Manufacturing Systems” stressed these problems.