Indoor localization in Smart factories encounters difficult conditions due to metallic environ- ments. Nevertheless, it is one of the enablers for the ongoing industrial revolution, Industry 4.0. This study investigates the usability of indoor localization in a real factory site by tracking hoist assembly process.
To test the hypothesis that indoor localization works in a factory environment, an Ultra- Wideband Indoor Positioning System was installed to cover the hoist assembly space. The system followed hoist assembly trolleys for three weeks after which data was analysed by cal- culating assembly times.
The results show that indoor localization with Ultra-Wideband technology is a working solution for industrial environments similar to the tested environment. The time calculations are more accurate than known standard times and reveal that hoist assemblies are not standard and there is wasted time.
The results suggest that indoor localization is adaptable to industrial environments and to manufacturing processes. Analysing the processes through the position data provides new knowledge that is used for improving the productivity.
