Dark Factory Simulation via Factory IO

Project Overview

The main goal of this project is to create a fully automated “dark factory,” where production lines, inventory, and even billing processes are managed autonomously. Building on my work with Factory I/O.

A Factory I/O simulation to demonstrate the concept of a dark factory, where industrial processes such as material entry, automated billing, and production management were fully integrated.

Next Steps

Next phase of this journey: bringing Siemens PLC data into the cloud to enable real-time monitoring and analytics.

Objectives

• Build a fully autonomus factory simulation with Factory I/O

• Create an effective TIA Portal program that ensures safety and efficiency

• Extend the digital factory concept by integrating TIA Portal PLC data with cloud services.

• Enable live data visualization in Power BI for better decision-making.

• Build a scalable foundation that can be applied to real manufacturing environments.

Tools & Techs

• Siemens TIA Portal & PLCSIM Advanced → PLC logic design and real-time simulation

• Factory I/O → 3D simulation of production processes

• OPC UA → standard communication bridge between PLC and external systems

• Python (opcua, pyodbc) → middleware for data collection and SQL integration

• Azure SQL Database → secure cloud-based data storage

• Power BI → visualization and analytics layer