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Industrial companies are moving to a solution driven business by offering smart product service systems (Smart PSS). In addition to an existing portfolio of physical goods and technical services, companies develop new digital services and combine all three offerings to an integrated digital solution business. While the development of new digital services does not pose any major challenges for companies, the successful sale of Smart PSS does. Due to changing customer requirements and value propositions of a solution, the sale of Smart PSS requires new design principles for the sales organization compared to the simple sale of physical goods or technical services. While there are already many publications on the topic of industrial sales in research, the description of Smart PSS in particular represents a new field of research. The combination of both topics is therefore not only interesting from a theoretical point of view, but also has a particularly high practical relevance and impact for industrial companies. This paper therefore describes on the one hand, which characteristics can be used to derive customer requirements for Smart PSS and on the other hand, which effects these requirements have on the sales organization of the industrial company. The design principles give recommendations for the organizational structure, the resources, the information systems and the culture of the company depending on the targeted customer type. In order to identify and describe both the customer requirements and the design principles, two morphological boxes were developed based on a literature research and semi-structured interviews with industrial companies. The paper gives an outlook on the different characteristics of the design recommendations and describes first best practices for the successful transformation of the sales organization.
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]
In a subproject of the cluster of excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries” at RWTH Aachen University a configuration logic is under development that enables companies to configure their production system according to the dynamic requirements of the market. As a result of this project, a holistic description model for production systems has been defined. With numerous attributes in the sub-models a detailed characterization of the production system is possible.
The sub-model for the design of the supply chain will be depicted in detail in this paper. Representative for the design of a supply chain, the spare parts logistics of the wind energy industry is analyzed in depth. Designing this supply chain is not only one of the most challenging tasks in logistics. Only a responsive but also cost efficient design of the spare parts supply chain guarantees high productivity, extended life spans of the wind turbines as well as the expected profit for all companies in the supply chain.
Assets of integrated production systems, especially in the heavy industry, are facing high requirements in terms of reliability and availability. In case of component breakdown, the operating firm is confronted with high costs due to downtime and loss of production. Modern maintenance concepts in combination with advanced technologies can help to improve the plant availability and reduce the downtime costs caused by unplanned breakdowns. Against this background, the research institutes FIR and IMR from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, are collaborating within the research project “SiZu”. This project deals with the integration of condition monitoring system and real time simulation to assess the condition of components and to support failure cause analysis.
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.
Subscription business models provide an important component for monetizing the potential of Industrie 4.0. Subscription business is based on a long-term and participative business relationship between customer and provider. However, only digitalization offers the necessary framework conditions to realize the characteristic recurring and performance-based billing, and to ensure the necessary transparency about the usage phase of products as well as continuous performance improvements in the customer process. Against this background, companies must not only recognize the much-cited potential that lies in the total dedication to the success of individual subscription customers. Rather, the central obstacles must be addressed, examined, and subsequently overcome in a targeted manner in order to successfully establish subscription business models and place them on the market.
Discrete Event Simulation (DES) is a well-known approach to simulate production environments. However it was rarely used for operative planning processes and to our knowledge never in terms of multiple disposition levels.In this paper we develop the necessary adjustments to use DES for this purpose and show some theoretical advantages.
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.
The Aim of this article is to provide a framework which enhances the existing scope of manufacturing asset management by specifically addressing industrial services provided by external suppliers as an integral part of today’s manufacturing structures. Existing research shows that sourcing industrial services from specialized service organizations establishes complex and unique interdependencies and links total production efficiency to the performance of the external service suppliers. Within the context of the EU-Project InCoCo-S - “Innovation, Coordination and Collaboration in Service Driven Manufacturing Supply Chains” a standard business reference model with key focus on operation and integration of business related services (BRS) in the supply chain has been developed. Based on the service type retrofit this paper aims on the one hand to present the modules of the reference model and on the other hand to explain how the model can be used to enhance the retrofit business.
Industrial Service Providers (ISP) are exposed to constantly raising competitive pressures regarding both cost and performance aspects. The massive challenges caused by the current worldwide financial and economic crisis even intensified the need for process optimizations aimed at increasing the productivity of service production. To reach this goal the evaluation and elimination of waste in their production processes becomes a crucial ability for ISPs. This paper proposes a new approach for increasing productivity in service production processes using a generic measurement model for the detection and evaluation of waste. The model is based on established lean management principles, but tailored to the specifics of ISPs by adopting a customers’ perspective to track down and eliminate waste. The evaluation builds on an in-depth-analysis of particular types of waste in the industrial service production processes. Viewed from the customers’ perspective and taking into account the specific characteristics of services (e.g. intangibility, heterogeneity, inseparability, and perishability) and service production (e.g. volatile demand, a tendency to over-capacity, and limits to planning) the approach employs a service blueprint reference model to then determine the different types of waste in the various parts of the service production process.
As industrial service portfolios grow, many companies overlook the implications of their business operations: rising complexity and resulting complexity costs. One reason are nonexistent tools that help service managers to decide in planning phases with an adequate effort about the implications that variety and complexity decisions have on the complexity costs of their portfolio. This paper depicts the challenges service companies have to face in this context and presents a concept of a heuristic approach to evaluate the complexity costs for industrial services. The concept is being developed in strong cooperation with industrial partners.
Volatile electricity prices caused by an increase of renewable energy sources push producing companies towards taking in an active role in balancing the electricity grid. Possible actions at the customer side to actively adapt to volatile energy prices are called demand response actions. In production logistics such actions can be the modification of production schedules motivated by possible economic benefits. So far, the focus in scheduling problems has been the optimization in the dimensions of quality, time and costs. This paper presents the results of a simulation study on the economic benefits of demand response actions for a generic production system.
This paper presents a simulation approach for service production processes on the basis of which an optimal operating point for service systems can be identified. The approach specifically takes into account the characteristics of human behavior. The simulation is based on a system theory approach to the service delivery process. A specific use case of the simulation approach is presented in detail to illustrate how characteristic curves are deduced and an optimal operating point is obtained.
Numerous traditional, agile and hybrid development approaches have been proposed for the development of CPS. As the choice of development process is crucial to the success of development projects, it has become a major challenge to identify the best-suited process. This paper introduces a methodology for identifying the best-suited CPS development process, based on the individual boundary conditions for a certain development project within a company. The authors used a set of eight indicators to assess a CPS-development project. The results of the assessment were matched with CPS-development approaches. Based on the matching results a best-suited development process was selected. The application is shown for a use case in the German manufacturing industry. The developed method aims to reduce the risk of project failure due to the wrong choice of development process.
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.
Methods of machine learning (ML) are notoriously difficult for enterprises to employ productively. Data science is not a core skill of most companies, and acquiring external talent is expensive. Automated machine learning (Auto-ML) aims to alleviate this, democratising machine learning by introducing elements such as low-code / no-code functionalities into its model creation process. Multiple applications are possible for Auto-ML, such as Natural Language Processing (NLP), predictive modelling and optimization. However, employing Auto-ML still proves difficult for companies due to the dynamic vendor market: The solutions vary in scope and functionality while providers do little to delineate their offerings from related solutions like industrial IoT-Platforms. Additionally, the current research on Auto-ML focuses on mathematical optimization of the underlying algorithms, with diminishing returns for end users. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview over available, user-friendly ML technology through a descriptive model of the functions of current Auto-ML solutions. The model was created based on case studies of available solutions and an analysis of relevant literature. This method yielded a comprehensive function tree for Auto-ML solutions along with a methodology to update the descriptive model in case the dynamic provider market changes. Thus, the paper catalyses the use of ML in companies by providing companies and stakeholders with a framework to assess the functional scope of Auto-ML solutions.
Gap Analysis for CO2 Accounting Tool by Integrating Enterprise Resource Planning System Information
(2023)
Detailed carbon accounting is the foundation for reducing CO2 emissions in manufacturing companies. However, existing accounting approaches are primarily based on manual data preparation, although manufacturing companies already have a variety of IT systems and resulting data available. The gap analysis carried out based on the GHG Protocol and an reference ERP system shows how much of the required information for CO2 accounting can be integrated from an ERP system. The ERP system can cover 20 % of the required information. The information availability can be increased to 49 % through additionally identified modifications of the ERP system. Integrating the CO2 accounting tool with other systems of the IT landscape, e. g. Energy Information System, enables an additional increase.
Generation of a Data Model For Quotation Costing Of Make To Order Manufacturers From Case Studies
(2022)
For contract or make to order manufacturers, quotation costing is a complex process that is mainly performed based on experience. Due to the high diversity of the product range of these mostly small or medium-sized companies (SMEs) and the poor data situation at the time of quotation preparation, the quality of the calculation is subject to strong variations and uncertainties. The gap between the initial quotation costing and the actual costs to be spent (pre- and post-calculation) is crucial to the existence of SMEs. Digitalization in general can help companies to get a better understanding of processes and to generate data. For improving these processes, an understanding of the important data for that specific process is crucial. Accurate quotation costing for customized products is time-consuming and resource-intensive, as there is a lack of an overview of data to be used within the process. This paper therefore derives a data model for supporting quotation costing in the company, based on literature-based costing procedures and recorded case studies for quotation and calculation. Based on the results, SMEs will have a first overview of the needed data for quotation costing to optimize their calculation process.
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.