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Applied Sciences
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Industrial System Optimization and Intelligent Manufacturing
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Industrial System Optimization and Intelligent Manufacturing

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Mechanical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 October 2026 | Viewed by 1277

Editor

Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Gola

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Production Computerisation and Robotisation, Lublin University of Technology, Nadbystrzycka 36, 20-618 Lublin, Poland
Interests: industrial system optimization; manufacturing system design; operations management; production logistics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Industrial system optimization and intelligent manufacturing is a key research area addressing the theoretical foundations, methodological advances and practical applications that drive the transformation of modern industry toward smart, autonomous and sustainable manufacturing systems. This Special Issue invites high-quality original research that explores how advanced optimization methods and intelligent technologies can be integrated to improve the performance, robustness and adaptability of complex industrial systems.

Relevant contributions include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • optimization modeling and algorithms for manufacturing and supply chain systems;
  • simulation, digital twins and data-driven decision support;
  • the application of artificial intelligence, machine learning and cyber–physical systems in production planning, scheduling and control;
  • studies on Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT);
  • intelligent robotics;
  • predictive maintenance;
  • energy-efficient manufacturing;
  • resilient industrial networks.

This Special Issue welcomes both theoretical and applied papers that demonstrate clear methodological innovation, rigorous analysis and practical relevance. Case studies, real-world implementations and interdisciplinary approaches that bridge industrial engineering, automation and information technologies are highly valued. By publishing cutting-edge research in industrial system optimization and intelligent manufacturing, this topic aims to advance Industry 4.0 development and provide actionable insights that enhance competitiveness, sustainability and intelligent decision-making in next-generation industrial systems.

Prof. Dr. Arkadiusz Gola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • intelligent manufacturing
  • industrial system optimization
  • Industry 5.0
  • smart factory
  • digital twin
  • Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)
  • production scheduling
  • cyber–physical systems
  • data-driven decision making
  • predictive maintenance

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 1618 KB  
Article
An Industrial Case Study of Rolling-Element Bearing Condition Monitoring Using CEEMDAN-Based Hilbert Spectral Analysis Cross-Checked Against Fourier Spectra
by Christos Tsiafis, Constantine David and Apostolos Korlos
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(16), 8175; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16168175 - 17 Aug 2026
Viewed by 71
Abstract
Rolling-element bearings are a leading cause of unplanned downtime in continuous-process manufacturing, and the migration toward Industry 4.0 condition-based maintenance (CBM) has intensified the need for diagnostic methods evaluated on real in-service assets. This paper reports an exploratory, longitudinal single-asset industrial field demonstration [...] Read more.
Rolling-element bearings are a leading cause of unplanned downtime in continuous-process manufacturing, and the migration toward Industry 4.0 condition-based maintenance (CBM) has intensified the need for diagnostic methods evaluated on real in-service assets. This paper reports an exploratory, longitudinal single-asset industrial field demonstration of Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN)-based Hilbert spectral analysis for rolling-element bearing condition monitoring. An in-service bearing on a critical production machine was monitored over eight measurements spanning approximately four months and analyzed with the Hilbert–Huang Transform, using CEEMDAN in place of the classical Empirical Mode Decomposition to suppress mode mixing. The Hilbert spectra tracked the evolution of the bearing’s vibration signature as a growing concentration of vibration amplitude in a stable band of the 0–400 Hz analysis window (approximately 280–380 Hz); because the analysis characterizes the distribution of amplitude within the band rather than resolving discrete defect lines, this is reported as band-amplitude trending, and the band is treated as compatible with bearing-related excitation rather than attributed to a specific kinematic fault frequency. At the final pre-replacement measurement (M8), a bounded consistency cross-check against a conventional single-sided Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) amplitude spectrum computed from the same exported waveform recovered co-located dominant content. This establishes cross-method consistency for the measurement examined, but does not independently validate diagnostic correctness or the full campaign trend. Interpretability of the representation is argued qualitatively and remains to be tested. The contribution is therefore the documented field application and its explicit consistency cross-check procedure; applicability beyond this asset and its operating conditions requires multi-asset evaluation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial System Optimization and Intelligent Manufacturing)
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23 pages, 13485 KB  
Article
Temporal Fidelity Assessment of a PLC-Mediated Digital Twin for Takt-Time Estimation in Manual Disassembly and Parts Sorting
by Adrian Kampa, Damian Krenczyk, Piotr Michalski, Iwona Paprocka and Bożena Skołud
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(14), 7129; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16147129 - 16 Jul 2026
Viewed by 328
Abstract
Designing modern disassembly systems requires the integration of industrial automation equipment. Due to the support of various communication protocols, PLCs not only perform control tasks but also act as intelligent data centers in distributed production systems. PLC solutions increasingly combine traditional approaches to [...] Read more.
Designing modern disassembly systems requires the integration of industrial automation equipment. Due to the support of various communication protocols, PLCs not only perform control tasks but also act as intelligent data centers in distributed production systems. PLC solutions increasingly combine traditional approaches to automation with modern digital technologies, enabling predictive maintenance, real-time data analysis, as well as remote process management and integration with digital twin simulation. The takt time of manual disassembly may vary due to human and technical factors; therefore, its estimation is a problem in many processes including, for example, Bluetooth speakers. This article discusses the issue of PLC-based control systems for a sorting process of dismantled parts, and the methodology of a digital twin framework in FlexSim software. A prototype of a sorting line based on a conveyor belt with an S7-1200 series PLC controller and a full digital twin development cycle were presented. The explicit assessment of takt-related temporal fidelity in PLC-mediated event streams remains less developed. Therefore, this article addresses this gap by using a Digital-Twin-in-the-Loop (DTiL) configuration as a digital twin validation setup in which a source process model generates PLC-mediated events and a separate resulting digital twin model is evaluated against this source. The article focuses on temporal fidelity, PLC-mediated event transfer, and takt-time estimation. Thus, the gathered empirical time data were then fed into the digital twin model and analyzed to obtain information about the time delay of the PLC signals. This article separates the general digital twin architecture from one specific validation scenario implemented in a digital twin in-the-loop configuration with FlexSim, Siemens TIA Portal, PLCSim Advanced, and a local network communication chain. Delay analysis is based on photocell event timestamps and inter-event time differences, which reduce the effect of initial clock mismatch. The results indicate that, under the tested local-network DTiL configuration, absolute event delays are visible, while inter-event timing and aggregated takt statistics remain highly consistent between the source and resulting models. These findings support the preliminary feasibility of PLC-mediated takt-oriented monitoring for long manual operations. Nevertheless, broader validation under different controller configurations, communication conditions, and operating scenarios is required before generalizing the proposed approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial System Optimization and Intelligent Manufacturing)
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14 pages, 3280 KB  
Article
New Possibilities of Testing the Darkening of Automatic Welding Filters as Expressed by Switching Time
by Joanna Szkudlarek and Marcin Jachowicz
Appl. Sci. 2026, 16(8), 4045; https://doi.org/10.3390/app16084045 - 21 Apr 2026
Viewed by 442
Abstract
Welders constitute an occupational group that is particularly exposed to high-risk hazards arising from harmful radiation emitted during welding, including ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation, as well as visible (VIS) radiation, whose high intensity causes glare. Effective protection of the eyes and [...] Read more.
Welders constitute an occupational group that is particularly exposed to high-risk hazards arising from harmful radiation emitted during welding, including ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) radiation, as well as visible (VIS) radiation, whose high intensity causes glare. Effective protection of the eyes and face is provided by welding shields equipped with automatic welding filters (AWFs), which activate automatically upon arc ignition. Their switching time is the most important protective parameter, as it has a direct impact on the user’s visual health. The objective of the work is to present a novel test stand for determining AWFs switching and holding times, which provides advanced possibilities for evaluating all types of AWFs. Until now, performance and safety levels have been determined based on numerical values: switching time and hold time. For the first time, it is possible to analyze the darkening and clearing phenomena over time with an interpretation of graphical results. Importantly, it is possible to analyze the symmetry of filter properties, using two measurement channels, which is crucial for binocular and curved (panoramic) AWFs. The results obtained for two types of AWFs mounted in goggles with a one-piece and a binocular visor differ from each other. Switching time differences between the left and right measurement channels were about 6–7% for the one-piece visor goggles (G1) and about 3–4% for the binocular goggles (G2). The dispersion of results confirmed the importance of the two measurement channels, which was not previously practiced. The test stand, designed in accordance with the requirements of the new European standards (EN ISO 18526-2:2020, EN ISO 16321-2:2021), can be used for prototyping and for AWF certification purposes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Industrial System Optimization and Intelligent Manufacturing)
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