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Institute
Industrie 4.0 is hitting the market. The e.GO Life – an electric car for the city – is developed in under three years and only € 30M investment.
RWTH Campus pairs research and industry partners to pursue innovative ideas and yield cutting-edge products and services to face next-level digitization.
Digital, agile businesses outperform traditional businesses because of lower latencies in the entire reaction chain
acatech Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index:Helping established companies to build the development path to Industrie 4.0
The Maturity Index is offered to the Plattform Industrie 4.0 for transferring the approach to industry and defining Industrie 4.0 performance levels
Failure management in the production area has been intensely analyzed in the research community. Although several efficient methods have been developed and partially successfully implemented, producing companies still face a lot of challenges. The resulting main question is how manufacturers can be assisted by a sustainable approach enabling them to proactively detect and prevent failures before they occur. A high-resolution production system based on analyzed real-time data enables manufacturers to find an answer to the main question. In this context, Big Data technologies have gained importance since the critical success factor is not only to collect real-time data in the production but also to structure the data. Therefore, we present in this paper the implementation of Big Data technologies in the production area using the example of an actual research project. After the literature review, we describe a Big Data based approach to prevent failures in the production area. This approach mainly includes a real-time capable platform including complex event processing algorithms to define appropriate improvement measures.
Thanks to the challenges of the imminent energy turnaround, the power market faces a revolution regarding the energy distribution. In future, energy will not only be distributed from a limited number of large, centralized power plants but also from small, decentralized power generators, e.g. households. This also affects manufacturing companies, which are confronted with developing an energy management strategy. As those companies usually have not set high priorities on their energy management, there is a lack of a structured procedure to build an energy management strategy. Consequently, this creates the need for supporting methods to develop and implement an energy management strategy. This paper tackles the first step in the development of an energy management strategy. For this purpose, a target map is developed and possible use cases are systematized. The next steps of the implementation are presented using the example of load management.
Holistic PLM- Model
(2010)
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) is a widely discussed topic concerning the increase of efficiency of product development in terms of time to market as well as customizing products to the different needs of customers worldwide adequately. Historically PLM focuses the early phases of the product’s lifecycle, namely the product development phase. Therein the roots of PLM are based in supporting the information logistics of product data: Consistent data sets should be available to all stakeholders in the different departments at all times. Due to the increasing product complexity PLM has to be extended in terms of the temporal dimension (not limited to product development phase) and systemic dimension (not limited to the information logistic aspect). In this paper the authors derive a holistic framework for Product Lifecycle Management by analysing existing integrated management approaches. The framework consists of four dimensions: PLM strategy, PLM process, Product structure and PLM IT-Architecture. The sustainability and benefits of the framework is demonstrated by applying the framework to the communication service provider industry (CSP).
With big data-technologies on the rise, new fields of application appear in terms of analyzing data to find new relationships for improving process under-standing and stability. Manufacturing companies oftentimes cope with a high number of deviations but struggle to solve them with less effort. The research project BigPro aims to develop a methodology for implementing counter measures to disturbances and deviations derived from big data. This paper proposes a methodology for practitioners to assess predefined counter measures. It consists of a morphology with several criterions that can have a certain characteristic. Those are then combined with a weighting factor to assess the feasibility of the counter measure for prioritization.
Die Herausforderungen der Zukunft werden geprägt durch digital veredelte Produkte von höchster Qualität und hoher Variantenvielfalt bei gleichzeitig kleiner werdenden Losgrößen. Konventionelle Entwicklungsmethoden stoßen aufgrund zunehmender Komplexität und kürzer werdender Lebenszyklen auf Produktebene an ihre Grenzen. Dadurch werden bei kundenindividueller Produktion die Aufwände in der Arbeitsplanung und -vorbereitung überproportional größer. Eine mögliche Lösung stellt die generative Erstellung der Produktionsstückliste während der Montage dar. Durch das eventbasierte „Mitschreiben der Montage“ werden administrative und planungsintensive Prozesse in der Arbeitsvorbereitung überproportional reduziert und die Erstellung der Stückliste in die manuelle Montage transferiert.
With the development of publicly accessible broker systems within the last decade, the complexity of data-driven ecosystems is expected to become manageable for self-managed digitalisation. Having identified event-driven IT-architectures as a suitable solution for the architectural requirements of Industry 4.0, the producing industry is now offered a relevant alternative to prominent third-party ecosystems. Although the technical components are readily available, the realisation of an event-driven IT-architecture in production is often hindered by a lack of reference projects, and hence uncertainty about its success and risks. The research institute FIR and IT-expert synyx are thus developing an event-driven IT-architecture in the Center Smart Logistics' producing factory, which is designed to be a multi-agent testbed for members of the cluster. With the experience gained in industrial projects, a target IT-architecture was conceptualised that proposes a solution for a self-managed data-ecosystem based on open-source technologies. With the iterative integration of factory-relevant Industry 4.0 use cases, the target is continuously realised and validated. The paper presents the developed solution for a self-managed event-driven IT-architecture and presents the implications of the decisions made. Furthermore, the progress of two use cases, namely an IT-OT-integration and a smart product demonstrator for the research project BlueSAM, are presented to highlight the iterative technical implementability and merits, enabled by the architecture.
Manufacturing companies face the challenge of managing vast amounts of unstructured data generated by various sources such as social media, customer feedback, product reviews, and supplier data. Text-mining technology, a branch of data mining and natural language processing, provides a solution to extract valuable insights from unstructured data, enabling manufacturing companies to make informed decisions and improve their processes. Despite the potential benefits of text mining technology, many manufacturing companies struggle to implement use cases due to various reasons. Therefore, the project VoBAKI (IGF-Project No.: 22009 N) aims to enable manufacturing companies to identify and implement text mining use cases in their processes and decision-making processes. The paper presents an analysis of text mining use cases in manufacturing companies using Mayring's content analysis and case study research. The study aims to explore how text mining technology can be effectively used in improving production processes and decision-making in manufacturing companies.
The agricultural industry is facing unprecedented challenges in meeting the growing demand for food while minimizing its impact on the environment. To address these challenges, the industry is embracing technological advancements such as 5G networks to improve efficiency and productivity. However, the benefits of 5G technology must be weighed against the costs of implementing a suitable network. This paper presents cost-benefit dimensions that are needed to assess the economic feasibility of implementing 5G networks for several agricultural applications. The paper describes the costs of deploying and maintaining a 5G network and the benefits of several 5G-specific use cases, including precision agriculture, livestock monitoring, and swarm robotics. Using industry reports and case studies, the model quantifies the benefits of 5G networks, such as enabling new digital agricultural processes, increased productivity, and improved sustainability. It also considers the costs associated with equipment and infrastructure, as well as the challenges of deploying a network in rural areas. The results demonstrate that 5G networks can provide significant benefits to agricultural businesses and provide an overview about the cost factors. Both benefit and cost dimensions are analyzed for the 5G-specific agricultural use cases.
The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies in manufacturing companies is challenging, particularly for SMEs that lack the necessary skills to develop and integrate AI-based applications (AI applications) into their existing IT system landscape. To address this challenge, the research project VoBAKI (IGF-Project No.: 22009 N) aims to enable SMEs to identify and close skill gaps related to AI application development and implementation using proper sourcing strategies. This paper presents the interim results from the second phase of the project, which involves identifying the tasks in the lifecycle of AI applications and determining the specific skills required for executing these tasks. The presented results provide a detailed lifecycle including the phases for the development and usage of AI applications, as well as the specific tasks that SMEs must consider when implementing an AI application. These results serve as the foundation for future research regarding the required skills to execute the presented tasks and provide a roadmap for SMEs to close skill gaps and successfully implement AI applications.
Crisis situations can lead to extreme consequences for society and the economy, such as the disruption of supply chains and the collapse of critical infrastructure. The challenge for optimal crisis preparation lies in the unpredictability of causes, duration and scope, and severity. AI-based resilience services can aid in crisis preparation by providing software-based warnings, recommendations, and countermeasures. The aim of this paper is to present a method for evaluating such services in terms of their usefulness and acceptance. A questionnaire is presented, and the results of its piloting phase are disseminated. With these results, existing and projected AI-based services for crisis prevention can be evaluated.
Organizations, of all sizes, in every domain and in all geographies, are facing growing challenges to comprehend the scope of social media based technologies for their internal process use and for their networks. To assist the CIO’s and executives, FIR has developed a tool based framework to evaluate the impact of social web based collaborative technologies to support knowledge intensive processes. The FSI framework extends organizational spectrum to three categories of Formal, Semi-formal and Informal. The FSI tool places the emphasis on both business process and IT level.
The FSI framework and approach are validated in conjunction with industrial and research clients as test cases. Initial finding, reflected in this article, show a dire mismatch between the process exploitable potential level and organizational ICT profile. At the end, a set of recommendations are included for the organizational management to consider for organizational transformation.
The main challenge in all application areas of EV usage still is the energy storage within, as well as the energy transmission into an EV. However, this storage and transmission of energy also allows for synergies with a smart grid, if the information is adequately exchanged between roles in the energy and mobility sector. Since the energy transmission is a so called “fixed and intersection point” of E-Mobility, interoperability is required not only on an electrical (e.g. plugs), but also on an informational level. Standardization efforts are currently underway (e.g. IEC 15118), yet a comprehensive, consolidating view on the information system around energy transmission is missing. Therefore, this paper suggests a generic information system architecture for e-mobility (EM-ISA) derived from the Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM). EM-ISA shall be a base for companies to develop innovative services for their particular, ICT-enabled E-Mobility application area while at the same time stay at important points informational interoperable at the fixed and intersection point of energy transmission.
Systematization models for taylor-made sensor system applications and sensor data fit in production
(2015)
Industrial digitalization to realize smart factories is driven by an informatory base of high-resolution data provided by sensor systems on the shop-floor level. The challenge of technical availability of fitting measurement solutions nowadays turns in a struggle of finding the optimal solution for a specific task in an ever-growing sensor market. This paper analyzes and specifies necessary models to systematically derive and describe organizational, technical and informatory requirements for sensor system applications increasing the technological fit for faster integration and lower misinvestment rates.
Systematization models for taylor-made sensor system applications and sensor data fit in production
(2015)
Industrial digitalization to realize smart factories is driven by an informatory base of high-resolution data provided by sensor systems on the shop-floor level. The challenge of technical availability of fitting measurement solutions nowadays turns in a struggle of finding the optimal solution for a specific task in an ever-growing sensor market. This paper analyzes and specifies necessary models to systematically derive and describe organizational, technical and informatory requirements for sensor system applications increasing the technological fit for faster integration and lower misinvestment rates.
In recent years supply chain participants are increasingly suffering the effects of disturbances in transportation supply chains. Both, dynamics in consumer demands and global supply chains lead to a growth in unplanned supply chain events. These can cause from rather manageable disturbances through to complete break-downs of transportation chains, resulting in high follow-up and penalty costs.
Consequently, concepts for an efficient supply chain disturbance management are needed, preferably with a real-time identification and reaction to disturbance events. Therefore in the following paper the research results of the German research project Smart Logistic Grids with the focus on designing an integrated model for the real-time disturbance management in transportation supply networks are presented. This includes the introduction of elaborated classification models for disturbances and action patterns as well as an associated costs and performance measurement system. Finally, a procedure model for the disturbance management is presented.
In this paper, an approach towards energy management 4.0 will be presented. Energy management 4.0 is understood as an encompassing energy data based concept for manufacturing companies acting in an flexible energy grid of the future with the final goal of autonomous self-optimization Controlling, supervising and scheduling production and logistic steps based on a reliable communication infrastructure and real time data in accordance to achieve a maximum of profitability with regard to human factor is executed.
Guided by a four maturity levels of the "acatech Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index" developed by the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) different use cases are presented according to the steps of visibility, transparency, prognostic capacity and self-optimization. The basic idea of energy management 4.0 is described and an outlook of further steps that are needed to be evaluated for an implementation are presented.
Growing information systems (IS) often come along with growing IT complexity, because of emerging rag rug landscapes. This development causes rising IT costs and dependencies, which hinder the maintenance and expansion of the IS landscape. This article outlines the current research on published and presented methods to manage the rising IT complexity in a literature review. Because definitions of “IT complexity” vary a lot in literature, this paper also includes a definition of the term. In addition to that, it delivers a presentation of the used research methodology. Subsequently, it presents the findings in literature, highlights the research gap and – based on the literature analysis – presents the steps that need to be taken. A discussion of the results and a summary complete the article.
Growing information systems (IS) often come along with growing IT complexity, because of emerging rag rug landscapes. This development causes rising IT costs and dependencies, which hinder the maintenance and expansion of the IS landscape. This article outlines the current research on published and presented methods to manage the rising IT complexity in a literature review. Because definitions of “IT complexity” vary a lot in literature, this paper also includes a definition of the term. In addition to that, it delivers a presentation of the used research methodology. Subsequently, it presents the findings in literature, highlights the research gap and – based on the literature analysis – presents, the steps that need to be taken. A discussion of the results and a summary complete the article.
In order to introduce load management in the manufacturing industry, some obstacles need to be pointed out. This paper presents a feasible approach on how to implement load management measures in companies. To do so, load management and energy management are explained and distinguished in a first step. Subsequently, the implementation method is introduced. Therefore, by using this paper, companies will be enabled to use load management measure and reduce their energy costs significantly.
Nowadays, cyber physical systems support the improvement of efficiency in intralogistics by controlling and manipulating the production and logistic environment autonomously. Due to the complexity of the individual production processes, designing suitable cyber-physical systems based on their existing production environment is a challenge for companies.
This paper presents a new methodology on how to design cyber-physical systems conceptually to suit an individual production environment. Compared to existing design approaches, this methodology matches immediately the required functions to existing information and communication technology’s components insisting on the neutral assimilation of requirements.
Therefore, the requirement specification asks for needed functions in relating to offered functions of information and communication technology (ICT) components. The paper focusses the use case of implementing a cutting-edge mobile network technology into an existing tracking and tracing process.
In order to introduce load management in the manufacturing industry, some obstacles need to be pointed out. This paper presents a feasible approach on how to implement load management measures in companies.
To this end, load management and energy management are explained and distinguished in a first step. Subsequently, the implementation method is introduced. Therefore, by means of this paper, companies will be enabled to use load management measures and significantly reduce their energy costs. In the second part of the paper, the introduced approach will be applied.
Hence, a use case of a manufacturing company is described. Alongside energy analyses with consumption data, specific measures are presented.
The manufacturing industry has to exploit trends like “Industrie 4.0” and digitization not only to design production more efficiently, but also to create and develop new and innovative business models. New business models ensure that even SMEs are able to open up new markets and canvass new customers. This means that in order to stay competitive, SMEs must transform their existing business models.
The creation of new business models require smart products. The required data base for new business models cannot be provided by SMEs alone, whereas smart products are able to provide a foundation, given the creation of smart data and smart services they enable. These services then expand functions and functionality of smart products and define new business models.
However, the development of smart products by small and medium-sized enterprises is still lined with obstacles. Regarding the product development process the inclusion of smart products means that new and SME-unknown domains diffuse during the process. Although there are many models regarding this process there appears to be a substantial lack of taking into account the competencies enabled by the implementation of digital technologies. Hence, several SME-supporting approaches fail to address the two major challenges these enterprises are faced with. This paper generally describes valid objectives containing relevant stakeholders and their allocation to the phases of the product life cycle.
Within each objective the potential benefit for customers and producers is analyzed. The model given in this paper helps SMEs in defining the initiation of a product development project more precisely and hence also eases project scoping and targeting for the smartification of an already existing product.
Due to the drastically increasing amount of data, decision making in companies heavily relies on having the right data available. Also because of an increasing complexity of structures and processes, quick and precise flows of information become more important.
This paper introduces a new approach for modelling information flows, creating a basis for an efficient information management. It can be used to structure the information requirements and identify gaps within the information processing.
To display its benefits, the proposed Information Logistics Notation (ILN) is applied to the information logistics of todays and future energy market and grid stability management, both processes of increasing complexity.
The integration of renewable energies in a local industrial environment is an urgent task to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their energy intensive processes and local energy generation make waste management companies to optimal areas to analyze micro grids. The combination of the main task to process arriving waste and the reaction on micro grid needs without disregarding user preferences is the challenge that is focused with the following approach applying machine learning techniques.
First, the amount of waste is predicted with an artificial neural network. Then, the waste processing is optimized via an augmented Lagrangian algorithm regarding the energy costs that are based on volatile energy prices influenced from renewable energies. In addition, the optimization regards user preferences, which are learned from a user feedback with a support vector machine.
For the user interaction, an active learning paradigm is used. The approach is applied on biological waste treatment process in the waste management company of the district of Warendorf. The results show that the energy consumptions can be controlled in a micro grid context within the frame of user preference.
Digitalization and Industry 4.0 continue to shape our industrial environment and collaboration. For many enterprises, a key challenge in moving forward in this matter is the integration of their shop-floor systems (hard- and software) with their office-floor systems to harvest the full potential of industry 4.0.
A multitude of different technologies and respective use-cases available on the market leave many companies startled. This paper presents a set of use-cases for IT-OT-Integration to bring transparency into a company’s digital transformation.
Additionally, a technical requirements profile for integrating IT- and OT-Systems based on the use cases is presented. Both, use-cases and their requirements, guide companies in selecting the digitalization measures that fit their current situation and help in identifying technical challenges that need to be addressed in the transformation process.
Increasing the energy efficiency and meanwhile avoiding unplanned maintenance breaks are keys for manufacturing companies to stay competitive in the future. This paper presents an energy saving and maintenance cost reducing approach for manufacturing environments. The approach describes first occurring types of energy wastage within manufacturing and characterizes them in more detail. Including additional external information, the significance of an identified on-going wastage can be determined. Based on the type of wastage and the significance; concrete recommendations for measures to prevent the wastage are delivered. The identified wastage facilitates detecting inefficient operating mode as well as wearing and malfunctioning at machines. By using complex event processing technologies realtime information can forwarded directly to the responsible persons to enable quick reactions to prevent energy wastage and unplanned downtimes. The paper presents an approach to identify detection and propose concepts for manufacturing enterprises. The information processing procedure is used for the implementation of two Use Cases.
Digital technologies such as 5G, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence (AI) are currently being used in various ways by manufacturing companies. As the fourth industrial revolution progresses, it has become apparent that reckless use and inadequate regulation of these technologies have a detrimental effect on the environment in which they are utilized. Therefore, regulation of digital technologies is imperative today to ensure more responsible and sustainable use. While governments usually establish regulations, progress is not keeping pace with the demands and hazards of employing digital technologies. The European AI law serves as an example of the considerable distance yet to be covered before binding guidelines are established. Consequently, companies must take proactive measures today to ensure that they use digital technologies responsibly in their environments. In this context, identifying which digital technologies are pertinent to manufacturing companies in terms of regulation is crucial. Furthermore, a comprehensive approach is required to design compliance holistically for digital technologies and to systematically derive the corresponding guidelines. This paper introduces a set of models that not only determine the importance of
compliance in the application of different technologies but also present a framework for methodically designing compliance. Furthermore, the paper contributes to the development of an AI platform in the German research project PAIRS by investigating the compliance relevance of applications such as artificial intelligence.
Industrie 4.0 is changing the industrial landscape in an unanticipated way. The vision for manufacturing industries is to transform to an agile company, in order to react on occurring events in real-time and make data based decisions. The realization requires also new capabilities for the information management. To achieve this goal agile companies require taking measured data, analyzing it, deriving knowledge out of this and support with the knowledge their employees. This is crucial for a successful Industrie 4.0 implementation, but many manufacturing companies struggling with these requirements. This paper identifies the required capabilities for the information management to achieve a successful Industrie 4.0 implementation. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-65151-4_3]
Smart Service Prototyping
(2021)
This chapter is dedicated to prototyping, one of the steps of the Smart Service Engineering Cycle. It includes three phases: realizing core functionalities, developing core functionalities, and testing functionalities with customers. In order to realize prototypes successfully, methodical aspects of rapid IoT prototyping are used.
First of all, this chapter explains the motivation behind rapid prototyping and provides an introduction to the approach. The concept of rapid IoT prototyping is based on the idea of developing short-cycle solution variants on the basis of benefit hypotheses or benefit promises and user stories focusing on them. The aim is to achieve data acquisition, aggregation, linkage, processing, and finally visualization by developing it in a vertically integrated manner. Once this is accomplished, the prototype can be evaluated with customers, which also makes it possible to put the benefit hypotheses to the test. Finally, the collected customer feedback can be incorporated more quickly into the development process of new prototype versions, leading to a continuous improvement of the user experience as well as a constant focus on prioritizing the user. Another component of rapid IoT prototyping is working and thinking in terms of minimum viable products (MVP), i.e., solutions that do not meet all of the defined requirements in the first iteration, but are nevertheless already functional. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-58182-4_6]
Companies are transforming from transactional sales to providing solutions for their customers. Mostly, smart products, enabling companies to enhance their products by providing smart services to their customers, are a key building block in this transformation. However, the development of a smart product requires many digital skills and knowledge, which regular companies do not have. To facilitate the design and conceptualization of smart products, this paper presents a use-case-based information systems architecture prototype for smart products. Furthermore, the paper features the application and evaluation of the architecture on two different smart product projects. The use of such an architecture as a reference in smart product development serves as a huge advantage and accelerator for inexperienced companies, allowing faster entry into this new field of business. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-14844-6_16]
Industrie 4.0 is all around us today: in politics, in the media, and on the agendas of researchers and entrepreneurs. Smarter, faster, more personalized, more efficient, more integrated – those are just some of the promises of this new industrial era. The potential, especially for Germany ́s mechanical
engineering industry and plant engineering sector, is indeed great, both for providers and for users of technologies across the spectrum of Industrie 4.0.
But there are still many unresolved questions, uncertainties, and challenges. Our readiness study seeks to address this need and offer insight. Because Industrie 4.0 will not happen on its own.
This study is intended to bring the grand vision closer to the business reality. We also highlight the challenging milestones that many companies must still pass on the road to Industrie 4.0 readiness.
The study examines where companies in the fields of mechanical and plant engineering currently stand, focusing on what motivates them and what holds them back, and on the differences that emerge between small and medium enterprises on the one hand and large enterprises on the other.
The results make it possible for the first time to develop a detailed, systematic picture of Industrie 4.0 readiness in the engineering sector.
The study concludes with recommendations for action in the business community, complementing the diverse suite of programs and activities offered by VDMA’s Forum Industrie 4.0. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the two sponsors of this project from the VDMA Forum, Dietmar Goericke and Dr. Christian Mosch, whose efforts played a critical role in making this study a success.
We are convinced that Industrie 4.0 can become a success story for Germany’s engineering sector. May our “Industrie 4.0 Readiness” study do its part in this effort.
Low-Level-Code Based Production Model For Improving Material Requirements Planning In ERP Systems
(2021)
Single and small-series production companies face specific challenges, such as variable customer order decoupling points (CODP), decreasing quantities and rising cost pressure. This leads to a increasing production complexity and growing requirements on Production Planning and Control (PPC). Digitalization’s direct links between objects, people, and machines as well as detailed recording of production progresses opens new solutions for PPC. However, volume of data and the required processing times are increasing. Thus, to achieve near-real-time data processing, a decentralization of decision-making systems can be observed. The function Material Requirements Planning (MRP) is PPC’s original need for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Here, PPC’s overall problem (to fulfil primary requirements for products) is divided into subproblems (to fulfil single production orders). Especially companies characterized by an organization in accordance to the workshop principle, high in-house production depth and variable CODP are confronted with high dynamics in their production systems. This ends in significant differences between primary requirements (overall problem) and single production orders (subproblems). Ultimately, these insufficient PPC data result systematically in a non-optimal overall solution despite optimal partial solutions. This publication combines PPC’s fundamentals from existing commonly known models with current implementation concepts of ERP systems. A newly developed Low-Level-Code based Production Model provides explanations for deviations between the overall problem and its subproblems. Furthermore, information flows of PPC can be structured between a periodically actualized vertical and an event driven horizontal information flow. These recognitions lead to an improvement of PPC by ERP systems.
The digital transformation brings up various new tasks to manage new business application software and integrate them into existing business processes and legacy systems, which are necessary to keep e.g. a production system running. Today, all these tasks are on the one hand not clearly defined and on the other hand, responsibility of these cross-disciplinary tasks is unclear in companies being mostly structured in a function-oriented way. While quality management has developed to a firmly established function of process excellence years ago, IT-application management is still to become an inevitable part of the digital transformation. There are just a few authors trying to define and describe this part, the related tasks, and necessary roles in an organization. In this paper, we show how the business needs of a company can influence the ideal adaptation of the digitization solutions and thus become the success of the digital transformation. We base the paper on a use case in manufacturing companies. We then describe how companies deal with business application systems today. Based on the framework Aachen Digital Architecture Management we describe how a company can holistically improve the management of business application systems.
Industry 4.0 is driven by Cyber-Physical Systems and Smart Products. Smart Products provide a value to both its users and its manufacturers in terms of a closer connection to the customer and his data as well as the provided smart services. However, many companies, especially SMEs, struggle with the transformation of their existing product portfolio into smart products. In order to facilitate this process, this paper presents a set of smart product use-cases from a manufacturer’s perspective. These use-cases can guide the definition of a smart product and be used during its architecture development and realization. Initially the paper gives an introduction in the field of smart products. After that the research results, based on case-study research, are presented. This includes the methodological approach, the case-study data collection and analysis. Finally, a set of use-cases, their definitions and components are presented and highlighted from the perspective of a smart product manufacturer.
Electronic appliance manufacturers are facing the challenge of frequent product orders. Based on each product order, the assembly process and workstations need to be planned. An essential part of the assembly planning is defining the assembly sequence, considering the mechanical product’s design, and handling of the product’s components. The assembly sequence determines the order of processes for each workstation, the overall layout, and thereby time and cost. Currently, the assembly sequence is decided by industrial engineers through a manual approach that is time-consuming, complex, and requires technical expertise. To reduce the industrial engineers’ manual effort, a Computer-Aided Assembly Sequence Planning (CAASP) system is proposed in this paper. It compromises the components for a comprehensive system that aims to be applied practically. The system uses Computer-Aided Design (CAD) files to derive Liaison and Interference Matrices that represent a mathematical relationship between parts. Subsequently, an adapted Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm generates an optimized assembly sequence based on these relationships. Through a web browser-based application, the user can upload files and interact with the system. The system is conceptualized and validated using the CAD file of an electric motor example product. The results are discussed, and future work is outlined.
Digital technologies have gained significant importance in the course of the 4th Industrial Revolution and these technologies are widely implemented, nowadays. However, it is necessary to bear in mind that an ill-considered use can quickly have a negative impact on the environment in which the technology is used. For more responsible and sustainable use, the regulation of digital technologies is therefore necessary today. Since the government is taking a very slow response, as the example of the AI Act shows, companies need to take action themselves today. In this context, one of the central questions for companies is: "Which digital technologies are relevant for manufacturing companies in terms of regulation? This paper conducted a quantitative Delphi study to answer this question. The results of the Delphi study are presented and evaluated within the framework of a data analysis. In addition, it will be discussed how to proceed with the results so that manufacturing companies can benefit from them. Furthermore, the paper contributes to the development of an AI platform in the German research project PAIRS by investigating the compliance relevance of artificial intelligence applications.
Crises are becoming more and more frequent. Whether natural disasters, economic crises, political events, or a pandemic - the right action mitigates the impact. The PAIRS project plans to minimize the surprise effect of these and to recommend appropriate actions based on data using artificial intelligence (AI). This paper conceptualizes a cascading model based on scenario technique, which acts as the basic approach in the project. The long-term discipline of scenario technique is integrated into the discipline of crisis management to enable short-term and continuous crises management in an automated manner. For this purpose, a practical crisis definition is given and interpreted as a process. Then, a cascading model is derived in which crises are continuously thought through using the scenario technique and three types of observations are classified: Incidents, disturbances, and crises. The presented model is exemplified within a non-technical application of a use case in the context of humanitarian logistics and the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, first technical insights from the field of AI are given in the form of a semantic description composing a knowledge graph. In summary, a conceptual model is presented to enable situation-based crisis management with automated scenario generation by combining the two disciplines of crisis management with scenario technique.
In road haulage, transports are interrupted by truck drivers to comply with driving and rest times. On long-distance routes, these interruptions lead to a considerable increase in transport time. Transport interruption can be avoided by so-called relay traffic: a vehicle (e. g. semi-trailer) is handed over to a rested driver at the end of the driving time. This type of transport requires a certain company size. In Germany, however, transport companies have 11 employees on average. Intra-company relay traffic is therefore not economically viable for most transport companies. To organize an intermodal transport across forwarding companies, long-distance routes need to be split into partial routes to divide them between freight forwarders and carriers. This paper presents a data concept for an algorithm to find the best possible route sections along a previously defined start and endpoint. The developed data concept includes order-specific data, forwarder-specific data, real-time traffic data, geographical data as well as data from freight forwarding software and telematics to be the basis for the route sectioning algorithm. In this paper, different data sources, external services and logistic systems are analyzed and evaluated. It is shown which data is needed and what the best ways are to select and derive this data from the different data sources.
Feeding the growing world population is a scientific and economic challenge. The target variables to be optimised are the yield that can be produced on a given area and the reduction of the resources used for this purpose. High-wage countries are faced with the problem that the use of personnel is a significant cost driver. Developing countries, on the other hand, usually operate on much smaller field sizes, so that the work in the field is still strongly characterised by manual labour. One solution to meet these challenges is the use of smaller autonomous harvesting robots. These can be networked into a swarm of machines to work even larger fields. The networking of autonomous agricultural machines is a key use case for rural 5G networks. 5G technology can offer many advantages over older mobile communications standards and therefore make use cases more efficient or enable new ones. Various use cases are also conceivable in the field of agriculture, yet it is unclear how 5G networks can and must be specified for this purpose. In this paper, using the example of 5G-connected harvesters powered by swarm robotics, we present the challenges that have arisen and the specification that has been developed.
5G offers the manufacturing industry a wireless, fast and secure transmission technology with high range, low latency and the ability to connect a large number of devices. Existing transmission technologies are reaching their limits due to the increasing number of networked devices and high demands on reliability, data volume, security and latency. 5G fulfills these requirements and also combines the potential and use cases of previous transmission technologies so that unwanted isolated solutions can be merged. Use cases of transmission technologies that previously required a multitude of solutions can now be realized with a single technology. However, the general literature often refers to 5G use cases that can also be realized over cables in particular. In this paper, a literature review presents the current state of research on the various 5G application scenarios in production . Furthermore, concrete characteristics of 5G use cases are identified and assigned to the identified application scenarios. The goal is to verify the identified 5G use cases and to work out their 5G relevance in order to be able to concretely differentiate them from already existing Industrie 4.0 applications.
Manufacturing companies worldwide recognized the high potential of Industrie 4.0 in order to increasing production efficiency. Key benefits include creation of integrated systems, networked products and improvement of service portfolios. However, for many companies deriving and evaluating necessary measures to use Industrie 4.0 potentials represents a major challenge. This paper introduces the "acatech Industrie 4.0 Maturity Index" as an approach to meet this challenge. The development of multidimensional maturity model intents to provide companies an assessment methodology. The aim is to capture the status quo in companies in order to be able to develop individual roadmaps for the successful introduction of Industrie 4.0 and manage the transformation progressively.
Nowadays, the market for information and communication technologies used for IOT-applications grows daily. Since companies need technologies to transform their business processes corresponding to the digital revolution, they need to know which technologies are available, and fit the best for their use case. Their inertial issue is the lacking overview of technologies suitable to connect their production or logistics. Hence, this paper presents a methodology to select technologies (and combinations) based on their functions. It differentiates between information and communication technologies, digital technologies and connecting technologies by the physical function and its role in a cyber-physical system. Depending on the use case, the applicability of every technology varies. Due to that reason, the paper illustrates a ranked qualification of the technologies for typical use cases, focussing tracking and tracing issues in the intralogistics of producing companies. The evaluation is performed upon a literature research, a market study to identify suitable technologies, and various expert interviews to assess the applicability of the technologies.
General classification of mobile communication technologies like 5G for the production and logistic
(2018)
5G as a new technology promises many potentials that come to bear in different use cases according to the technical, promised improvements of loads, bandwidth and network subscribers. The presentation presents a classification of applications for the area of production and logistics in comparison to the technical requirements.
Digitalization is changing the industrial landscape in a way we did not anticipate. The manufacturing industries worldwide are working to develop strategies and concepts for what is labelled with different terms such as the Industrial Internet of Things in the USA or Industrie 4.0 in Germany. Many industrialized economies are driven by the production sector and this sector needs specific approaches and instruments to take up other than those approaches we know from start-ups and ventures coming from Silicon Valley and other places. In this paper, we demonstrate an appropriate approach to transform producing companies in a systematic and evolutionary approach.
In particular, the objective of this paper is to provide results from two initiatives which conceptually build upon each other and are of particular relevance for the production industry. First, we present a global survey on the state of implementation and the future perspectives of the concept Industrie 4.0 from 2016. Findings from this study have forced parts of the German industry to heavily invest into a common approach to accelerate change towards Industry 4.0 in order to stay competitive in worldwide economy. This approach is presented in a second part.
Assessment of IS Integration Efforts to Implement the Internet of Production Reference Architecture
(2018)
As part of a collaborative network, manufacturing companies are required to be agile and accelerate their decision making. To do so, a high amount of data is available and needs to be utilized. To enable this from a company internal information system perspective, the Internet of Production (IoP) describes a future information system (IS) architecture. Core element of the IoP is a digital platform building the basis for a network of cognitive systems. To implement and continuously further develop the IoP, manufacturing companies need to make architecture-related decisions concerning the accessibility of data, the processing of the data as well as the visualization of the information. The goal of this research is the development of a decision-support methodology to make those decisions, taking under consideration the evaluated IS integration effort. Therefore, this paper describes the allocation of IS functions and identifies the effort drivers for the respective IS integration by analyzing the integration possibilities. Conclusively this approach will be validated in a case study.
Digital platforms act as mediator for many types of transactions and processes in various areas in business life. Especially, IoT platforms find increased use within companies. Still, the allocation of computation workload between a platform and exist-ing information systems is not clear. At the same time, companies have no guideline, which platform to choose to facilitate intra-com-pany optimizations. The platforms in the market are not fully designed or tailored for meeting the special needs of companies - especially in the manufacturing industry. To tackle these challenges, this article first gives an overview of the Internet of Production reference framework. In that context, it secondly investigates 212 IoT platforms in the market and then chooses the best options by stepwise narrowing down their number. Following, those selected platforms are described in detail. Additionally, the article provides a comparison of selected IoT platforms, which then creates the general framework of a platform especially designed for the manufacturing industry in terms of its features and functionalities. This reference platform architecture is developed for reaching the potential of the Internet of Production. This general framework and the representative reference architecture can help companies and software vendors to implement the Internet of Production reference architecture by creating an IoT platform, which fits its needs.