Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Conference Proceeding (82)
- Article (6)
- Part of a Book (3)
- Contribution to a Periodical (3)
- Book (1)
- Lecture (1)
- Preprint (1)
- Working Paper (1)
Language
- English (98) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (98)
Keywords
- 02 (15)
- 03 (4)
- 3GPP (1)
- 5G (5)
- 5G mobile communication (2)
- 5G use case (1)
- 5G-Mobilfunk (1)
- 5G-Technology (1)
- AI (2)
- Adaptability (1)
Institute
In recent years, the complexity of the management of supply chains has increased significantly due to the growing individualization of products and dynamics of the market environment. To remain competitive, ensuring efficient and flexible processes and procedures along the entire supply chain are of particular importance for companies. Especially in the inter-company context, decisions must be made as quickly and correctly as possible. To enable good decision-making processes data must be processed and provided in a targeted manner. Currently, however, the necessary transparency is often lacking within the supply chains. In this article, a software-based assistance system for decision support on supply chain level is presented that aims to increase the transparency and efficiency of the decision-making process. A concept for decision support on supply chain level is presented. This paper focuses on the conceptual linkage of relevant decisions and data. Therefore, indicators are identified and linked with the relevant decisions. Moreover, a suitable way of visualizing the identified indicators for each decision in a user-friendly manner is defined. These results are then used to implement the software tool.
The industrial food production is currently caught between the increas-ing demands of numerous stakeholders, economic profitability and the challenges of digitization. A solution to face these various challenges can be seen in the aggregation of data into higher-value, independent data products that can be of-fered and sold on a buyer's market. Large amounts of heterogeneous data are already available in the value chain of the industrial food production, e.g. throughout the data-driven harvesting of primary products, further processing by interconnected production facilities and the information-intensive product distri-bution to end consumers. However, the data is usually only evaluated and used locally for the optimization of internal processes or, at the most, within compre-hensive partnerships. The purpose of this paper is to identify new revenue oppor-tunities for current and future players in the industrial food production by using data as an independent economic good (data products). For this purpose, scenar-ios for the development and use of data products via Industrial Internet of Things platforms are developed for a food technical reference process, the industrial chocolate production and its value chain. On this basis, examples for different types of data products and their value propositions are derived. The results can not only serve food producers and relevant stakeholders but all industrial produc-ers as an input for the future, yield-increasing orientation of their business models.
Many ERP systems support configurable materials. Due to an ever increasing number of product variants the benefits of this approach are well understood. However, these implementations are not standardized. In this article we propose a new standard interface for the exchange of configuration data. This would lead to further benefits as systems as Advanced Planning systems could better use manufacturing flexibility while web shops as Amazon could easily integrate manufacturers of complex products with much reduced implementation effort.
Ongoing digitalization and Industry 4.0 enable the development of new business models due to the increase in available data and digital connected products. A promising business model type for the machinery and plant engineering industry are subscription models, consisting of products and services offered in return for continuous payments. However, subscription-based business models are associated with extensive changes in the traditional machinery and plant engineering industry, in particular, for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). Established concepts for the development of value propositions and business models neglect important aspects, such as the integrated development and optimization of products and services across the entire life cycle or the data infrastructure. This paper presents a concept for a methodology to support SMEs developing value propositions within subscription models. Therefore, the systematic identification of customer benefits, the determination and prioritization of subscription relevant functionalities as well as the design of product and service elements addressing those functionalities are the main aspects on which the focus is placed on. The result is a subscription value proposition canvas for SMEs to address the impact of subscription models on products and services.
One major problem of today’s producing companies is to reach a high adherence to delivery dates while considering the volatile market situation as well as economic aspects. This problem can only be solved by using a production control that is optimally adapted to the processes. A good working, process-oriented production control is essential for being able to control the production situation and to ensure a high adherence to delivery dates. Data generation and processing determine the success of production control. Current processes and IT systems have several shortcomings in meeting these challenges.
The solution for this problem is the so called “cyber physical production control” (CPPC). It optimally supports the production scheduler in his decision making process based on real-time high-resolution data. With the help of data analytics, the production controller receives decision support over various steps. Due to CPPC, the overall goal of a high adherence to delivery dates can be fundamentally increased.
Understanding the Organizational Impact of Robotic Process Automation: A Socio-Technical Perspective
(2022)
Interest in AI-driven automation software is growing constantly across
all industries, as these technologies enable companies to almost automate administrative processes completely and significantly increase operational efficiency.
However, many implementation attempts fail due to a lack of understanding of how these technologies affect the various socio-technical aspects that are intertwined in an organisation. This leads to a widening gap between value propositions of automation software and the ability of companies to exploit them. For long-term
success, collaboration between humans and software robots in the organization must be optimised. Therefore, the social, technical, and organizational impact of Robotic Process Automation was investigated. Following a socio-technical systems approach, a model was developed and validated in a use case of a company in the mechanical engineering sector. Knowing the influencing factors before launching large-scale automation initiatives will help practitioners to better exploit
efficiency potentials and increase the long-term success.
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.
Since data becomes more and more important in industrial context, the question arises on how data-driven added value can be measured consistently and comprehensively by manufacturing companies. Currently, attempts on data valuation are primarily taking place on internal company level and qualitative scale. This leads to inconclusive results and unused opportunities in data monetization. Existing approaches in theory to determine quantitative data value are seldom used and less sophisticated. Although quantitative valuation frameworks could enable entities to transfer data valuation from an internal to an external level to take account of progress in digital transformation into external reporting. This paper contributes to data value assessment by presenting a four-part valuation framework that specifies how to transfer internal, qualitative to external, quantitative data valuation. The proposed framework builds on insights derived from practice-oriented action research. The framework is finally tested with a machine tool manufacturer using a single case study approach. Placing value on data will contribute to management’s capability to manage data as well as to realize data-driven benefits and revenue. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-85902-2_19]
Viable Production System for adaptable and flexible production planning and control processes
(2009)
High Resolution Supply Chain Management (HRSCM) aims at designing adaptable and flexible production planning and control (PPC) processes according to the needs of the company’s supply chain environment. To reach this goal a model for a Viable Production System (VPS) has been elaborated and is presented in this paper. Based on the Viable System Model (VSM) developed by Stafford Beer current production systems are analyzed in terms of integrity. With the gained knowledge a complete recursive framework of a VPS is developed. The framework allows the design of a decentralized production system that meets all requirements of a dynamic environment. Flexible and adaptable PPC processes can be developed for each identified subsystem of the VPS. Hence, further research focuses on the development of process and control loops in order to assure the application of the framework. Exemplarily the decentralised control loop for inventory management is elaborated in a case study.
This paper addresses the challenge of modelling individual cyber-physical systems (CPS) for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing industries. CPS are key technology building blocks for the implementation of Industrie 4.0. Especially for SMEs the increase of production efficiency and reduction of manufacturing costs through CPS offer potential to maintain their competitiveness and innovation capacity. Although SMEs perceive the potential of CPS, they often lack financial and human resources to acquire the necessary CPS-competencies as well as an overview of all the currently available technological solutions. To overcome this issue a matching platform will offer SMEs support in finding suitable CPS-components by letting them express their functional and technical requirements. The matching logic is based on a set of morphologies that encompasses the functional and requirement spectrum of CPS-components. The matching algorithm analyses the input for congruence of requirements and available technologies and suggests suitable technology combinations. This paper describes the methodology of the matching platform, and introduces the research work to define and to develop the technology morphologies. The presented results facilitate the selection and configuration of CPS for SMEs.
Towards a Methodology to Determine Intersubjective Data Values in Industrial Business Activities
(2021)
This paper contributes to a valuation framework for valuing data as an intangible asset. Especially those industrial manufacturers developing and delivering holistic digital solutions are limited in calculating the true business value of data initiatives. Since the value of data is strongly dependent on the respective use case, a completely objective valuation is not possible. This complicates decision-making on the internal side regarding investments in digital transformation, and on the external side to communicate existing benefits to third parties via financial reporting. Therefore, the target is to design a valuation framework that allows industrial manufacturers to determine an intersubjective, i.e., traceable and transparent, data value. In order to develop a framework that can be applied in practice, the approach is based on industrial case study research.
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.
Driven by different trends, such as digitalization, the number of companies aiming for successful business transformation is increasing, while new structures and systems are paving the way. Strategic agile management systems offer significant potential benefits given the increasing speed of the evolving environment in which organizations find themselves these days. To select and implement the appropriate strategic agile management system, companies need to understand the underlying theoretical principles to be able to select the most suitable for the respective company and to introduce it based on individual adaption. Within this paper, a morphology is presented to improve theoretical knowledge about strategic agile management systems. Creating a common understanding of strategic agile management systems and their current areas of application creates a suitable frame of reference for future research projects.
Since 2016, the “Digital in NRW” Competence Centre has been supporting SMEs in the manufacturing industry in designing their individual digital transformation. With an Industry 4.0 maturity assessment, we define the status quo of SMEs, derive SME-specific measures from this, develop a digitalization roadmap and accompany the SME transformation. This paper presents the results of the four-year SME support. By analyzing the results of all maturity assessments, potential analysis and design workshops, we present the most frequent and most effective measures for a successful digital transformation of SMEs. The result of the paper is an action guideline for SMEs to initiate their own digital transformation based on formalized experience.
Augmented reality seems to offer great potential benefits in the field of industrial services. However, the question of the exact benefits, both monetary and qualitative, is difficult to evaluate, as is the case with IT investments in gen-eral. Within the framework of the DM4AR research project, an evaluation model was therefore developed. Based on group discussions and interviews on potential AR use cases, a list of monetary and qualitative benefits was compiled to form the basis for selecting suitable evaluation modules in the existing literature. These include an impact chain analysis in the form of a strategy map, a monetary eval-uation as a calculation of the return on investment, based on the assumptions of the use case as well as existing studies, and a qualitative evaluation in the form of a utility analysis. The outcome is an evaluation model in the form of a multi-perspective approach that considers the impact of AR in the four perspectives of the balanced scorecard (financial, customer, internal business processes, learning and growth). The results of the qualitative and monetary evaluation can be sum-marized in a 2D matrix to support decision-making.
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.
Towards the Generation of Setup Matrices from Route Sheets and Feedback Data with Data Analytics
(2018)
The function or department of production control in manufacturing companies deals with short-term scheduling of orders and the management of deviations during order execution. Depending on the equipment and characteristics of orders, sequence dependent setup times might occur. In these cases for companies that focus on high utilization of their assets due to long phases of ramp up and high energy costs, it might be optimal to choose sequences with minimal setup time times between orders. Identifying such sequences requires detailed and correct information regarding the specific setup times. With increasing product variety and shorter lot sizes, it becomes more difficult and rather time intense to determine these values manually. One approach is to analyse the relevant features of the orders described in the route sheets or recipes to find similarities in materials and required tools. This paper presents a methodology, which supports setup optimized sequencing for sequence dependent setup times through constructing the setup matrix from such route sheets with the use of data analytics.
Due to Digital Transformation, also called Industry 4.0 or the Industrial Internet of Things, the barrier for implementing data collecting technology on the shop floor has decreased dramatically in the past years – leading to an increasingly growing amount of data from a multitude of IT systems in production companies worldwide. Despite that, the production controller still relies heavily on intrinsic knowledge and intuition for the management of disruptions in production. Thanks to advances in the fields of production control and artificial intelligence, potentials for the collected data for disruption management arise. However, in order to transform data into usable information and allow drawing conclusions for disruption management in production, the relevant data-objects, disturbances and alternative actions must be known. Thus, the decision-making can be supported, reducing the decision latency and increasing benefit of alternative actions. Therefore, the goal of this paper is to discuss the prerequisites necessary to perform a data based disruption management and the methodology itself, serving as an approach to allow companies to build a data basis, classify disruptions and alternative actions in order to improve decision making in the future. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-28464-0_13]
High Resolution Supply Chain Management (HRSCM) aims to stop the trend of continuously increasing planning complexity. Today, companies in high-wage countries mostly strive for further optimization of their processes with sophisticated, capital-intensive planning approaches. The capability to adapt flexibly to dynamically changing conditions is limited by the inflexible and centralized planning logic. Thus, flexibility is reached currently by expensive inventory stocks and overcapacities in order to cope with rescheduling of supply or delivery. HRSCM describes the establishment of a complete information transparency in supply chains with the goal of assuring the availability of goods through decentralized, self-optimizing control loops for Production Planning and Control (PPC). HRSCM pursues the idea of enabling organization structures and processes to adapt to dynamic conditions. The approach includes the strengths of the existing planning models as well as the process of decision making in organizations. A precondition for this decentralized adaptation is the synchronization of the objectives of the several units or process owners. The basis for this new PPC Model are information transparency, stable processes, consistent customer orientation, increased capacity flexibility and the understanding of the production system as a viable, socio-technical system.
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.
Subscription business transforms traditional business models of machinery and plant engineering. Many manufacturing companies struggle to pull out the potential created by Industry 4.0 and make it economically usable. In addition to technological innovations, it is necessary to transform the business model. This leads to a shift from ownership-based and product-centric business models to outcome-based business models, which focus on the customer's value and thus realize a unique value proposition and competitive advantage – the outcome economy. Based on a case study analysis among manufacturing companies, this paper provides further clarification including a definition and constituent characteristics of subscription business models in machinery and plant engineering.
More and more manufacturing companies are starting to transform the transaction-based business model into a customer value-based subscription business to monetize the potential of digitization in times of saturated markets. However, historically evolved, linear acquisition processes, focusing the transactionoriented product sales, prevent this development substantially. Elemental features of the subscription business such as recurring payments, short-term release cycles, data-driven learning, and a focus on customer success are not considered in this approach. Since existing transactional-driven acquisition approaches are not successfully applicable to the subscription business, a systematic approach to an acquisition cycle of the subscription business in the manufacturing industry is presented, aiming at a long-term participative business. Applying a grounded theory approach, a task-oriented model for themanufacturing industry was developed.
The model consisting of five main tasks and 14 basis tasks serves as best practice to support manufacturing companies in adapting or redesigning acquisition activities for their subscription business models.
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.
The efficient dealing with the dynamic environment of production industries is one of the most challenging tasks of Supply Chain Management in high-wage countries. Relevant and current information are still not used sufficiently, to handle the influence of the dynamic environment on intra- and inter-company order processing adequately. Among other things, the problem is caused by missing or delayed feedback of relevant data. As a consequence of that, planning results differ from the actual situation of production. High Resolution Supply Chain Management describes an approach aiming on high information transparency in supply chains in combination with decentralized, self-optimizing control loops for Production Planning and Control. The final objective is to enable manufacturing companies to produce efficiently and to be able to react to order-variations at any time, requiring process structures to be most flexible.
Analysis of the Harmonizing Potential of Order Processing Attributes in Spread Production Systems
(2010)
The paper discusses an approach how to measure the competitive advantage of harmonized order processing data by making use of knowledge about the interdependencies between related benefit dimensions. Corresponding harmonization projects are all projects that strive for common structures in product attributes, classification systems or product structures. The main objective of the underlying research work is the development of a method for the estimation of the benefit potential of harmonized order processing data.
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.
Recent developments have demonstrated the challenges and impacts of disruptions in supply chains. Current disruptions especially affected procurement and have indicated a lack of resilience. Resilience aims at being prepared, decreasing the impact, and enabling fast reactions and adaption in case of disruptions. The systematic design of resilience in procurement is significantly influenced by proactive and strategic actions before disruptions occur. Thus, the procurement strategy plays a major role when increasing resilience. The procurement strategy is influenced by various factors. Thus, a data-based approach for its systematic design is required. Based on the vision of the Internet of Production (IoP), this paper presents a data-based approach for designing procurement strategies. The IoP is a framework that enables cross-domain collaboration by providing semantically adequate and contextual data from production, development, and usage in real-time at an appropriate granularity. The paper aims at analyzing the state of the art regarding the design of procurement strategy in uncertain environments and the identification of success-critical purchased articles. Based on this, an approach is developed that is structured along the action research cycle and uses CRISP-DM to further detail the different steps. Through the use of these frameworks, both practical applicability and objective evaluation are ensured. The proposed approach thus allows the systematic evaluation of purchased articles regarding supply risks and lies the foundation for the adaption of the procurement strategy. The resulting approach is the foundation for future practical application of different use cases. As one central use case for the presented approach, the paper introduces the textile industry and its supply chains.
Progress in the development of small electric and hybrid aircraft promises business opportunities for thin-haul air mobility services. In order to develop demand-oriented flight plan scenarios for Germany, this paper presents a model to estimate the marked volume of thin-haul air mobility. To quantify the potential demand, our model includes the steps of trip generation, trip distribution and mode choice. Trip generation and distribution takes place between 412 geographic subdivisions of Germany and is based on calibrated traffic forecast data for the year 2030. For the first time the five relevant modes of transport, namely: car, intercity train, intercity bus, commercial aircraft and thin-haul air mobility services, have been included in one model. The step of choosing the transport mode is implemented via a generalized cost approach, taking into account travel costs and travel time. Additionally, route modeling of all transport modes is enhanced by real market data using large-scale data readouts of web interfaces. As primary result we predict a market share of 6 % or 81 million trips per year for thin-haul air mobility services. The demand concentrates on a small number of airports: 30 % of the trips are estimated to be between only 20 airports. Hubs and main routes are identified to offer the potential for scheduled air services.
Due to shorter product life cycles and the increasing internationalization of competition, companies are confronted with increasing complexity in supply chain management. Event-based systems are used to reduce this complexity and to support employees' decisions. Such event-based systems include tracking & tracing systems on the one hand and supply chain event management on the other. Tracking & tracing systems only have the functions of monitoring and reporting deviations, whereas supply chain event management systems also function as simulation, control, and measurement. The central element connecting these systems is the event. It forms the information basis for mapping and matching the process sequences in the event-based systems. The events received from the supply chain partner form the basis for all downstream steps and must, therefore, contain the correct data. Since the data quality is insufficient in numerous use cases and incorrect data in supply chain event management is not considered in the literature, this paper deals with the description and typification of incorrect event data. Based on a systematic literature review, typical sources of errors in the acquisition and transmission of event data are discussed. The results are then applied to event data so that a typification of incorrect event types is possible. The results help to significantly improve event-based systems for use in practice by preventing incorrect reactions through the detection of incorrect event data.
In the food industry, a very large potential of data ecosystems is seen, in which data is understood, exchanged and monetized as an economic asset. However, despite the enormous economic potential, companies in the food industry continue to rely on traditional, product-oriented business models. Existing data in the value chain of industrial food production, e.g., in harvesting, logistics, and production processes, is primarily used for internal optimization and is not monetized in the form of data products. Especially the pricing of data products is a key challenge for data-based business models due to their special characteristics compared to conventional, analog offerings and multiple design options. The goal of this work is therefore to solve this issue by developing a framework that allows the identification of pricing models for data products in the industrial food production. For this purpose, following the procedure of typology formation, essential design parameters and the respective characteristics are derived. Furthermore, three types for pricing models of data products are shown. The results will serve not only stakeholders in the food industry but also manufacturing companies in general as input for an orientation of their databased business models.
Industry 4.0 and Smart Maintenance represent a great opportunity to make manufacturing and maintenance more effective, safer, and reliable. However, they also represent massive change and corresponding challenges for industrial companies, as many different options and starting points have to be weighed and the individual right paths for achieving Smart Maintenance need to be identified. In our paper, we describe our approach to evaluating maintenance organizations in a case study for the oil and gas industry, developing a shared vision for the future, and deriving economical and effective measures. We will demonstrate our approach, by showcasing a specific example from the oil and gas industry, where a need for action on HSE-relevant critical flanges in the company's piping systems was identified. We describe the steps, that were taken to identify the need for action, the specifications of the project and the criticality analysis of the piping system. This resulted in the derivation of a digitalization measure for critical flanges, which was first commercially analyzed and then the flanges were equipped with a continuous monitoring solution. Finally, a conclusion is drawn on the performed procedure and the achieved improvements.
Smart Service Engineering
(2019)
In our digitalized economy, many traditional service engineering models lack flexibility, efficiency and adaptability. As today’s market differs significantly from the market of the late 20th century, service engineering models must meet different requirements today than they had to meet in the past. The present paper starts off by providing an overview of the requirements that modern service engineering models need to fulfill in order to succeed in today’s economic environment. Afterwards, three promising models that meet several of these requirements will be introduced.
Companies operate in an increasingly volatile environment where different developments like shorter product lifecycles, the demand for customized products and globalization increase the complexity and interconnectivity in supply chains. Current events like Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic or the blockade of the Suez canal have caused major disruptions in supply chains. This demonstrates that many companies are insufficiently prepared for disruptions. As disruptions in supply chains are expected to occur even more frequently in the future, the need for sufficient preparation increases. Increasing resilience provides one way of dealing with disruptions. Resilience can be understood as the ability of a system to cope with disruptions and to ensure the competitiveness of a company. In particular, it enables the preparation for unexpected disruptions. The level of resilience is thereby significantly influenced by actions initiated prior to a disruption. Although companies recognize the need to increase their resilience, it is not systematically implemented. One major challenge is the multidimensionality and complexity of the resilience construct. To systematically design resilience an understanding of the components of resilience is required. However, a common understanding of constituent parts of resilience is currently lacking. This paper, therefore, proposes a general framework for structuring resilience by decomposing the multidimensional concept into its individual components. The framework contributes to an understanding of the interrelationships between the individual components and identifies resilience principles as target directions for the design of resilience. It thus sets the basis for a qualitative assessment of resilience and enables the analysis of resilience-building measures in terms of their impact on resilience. Moreover, an approach for applying the framework to different contexts is presented and then used to detail the framework for the context of procurement.
Industrie 4.0 is said to have major positive effects on productivity in manufacturing companies. However, these effects are not visible yet. One reason for this is the lack of understanding of maintenance services as a crucial value contributing partner in production processes, although scientific literature already highlighted the importance of indirect maintenance costs. In order to retrieve the unused potential of maintenance services, a digital shadow in form of a sufficiently precise digital representation is required, providing a data model for the value of maintenance actions so that asset and maintenance strategies can be optimized later on. Using case study research for process manufacturers, the first research contribution of this paper consists of 21 value contributing elements being identified. The second contribution is a reference processes model, showing seven major process steps as well as the required intra-organization interaction on an information technology system level. Therefore, it provides the base for the missing data model shaping the targeted digital shadow of maintenance services’ value contribution. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-57993-7_69]
European machinery and equipment manufacturers face multiple logistical challenges in their daily business. Interacting in complex non-hierarchical production networks and thus living with the consequences of a lack of transparency, temporal instability, or imbalanced share of market power finally leads to an inadequate OEM’s delivery adherence which in many cases can be traced back to suppliers’ late deliveries.
This paper presents a framework for improving delivery reliability in non-hierarchical production networks by applying market mechanisms. Knowing the financial consequences of a supplier’s belated delivery provides useful information which can be applied in terms of financial incentives. The framework is supported by the results of a study which has been conducted by the authors throughout German, Spanish, and Italian machine tool manufacturers and their suppliers.
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.
The aim of the related research project eCloud is to enable small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to implement flexible energy management without in-depth energy knowledge and with little distraction from day-to-day business, which is prepared for current and future challenges in the field of energy use. The overall result is a validated prototype for a plug and automate capable (i.e. without implementation effort) operational energy management, which can be successively set up in SMEs based on a cloud platform. Through its gradual and modular implementation, energy management meets the individual needs of each company and contributes to energy system transformation and climate protection by reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 25%. In total, three expansion stages are available with the levels of monitoring, load management and grid usage, which consist of various Software as a Service (SaaS) modules from the cloud that can be retrieved as required. Thus, the user only needs a minimal hardware intervention in his production and saves a complex IT infrastructure. The methodology developed has been successfully applied by two user companies so far. This proves the effectiveness of the method.
[Study] Blockchain
(2019)
Distributed ledger technologies, of which the best known example is blockchain, were expected to make their big breakthrough in 2018. Instead, the opposite happened. Cryptocurrency price slumps and delays in promising projects became symptoms of a new sense of caution. Organizations tried to use blockchain in unsuitable applications, and underestimated implementation hurdles. Despite this, the need for effective data exchange and data management in today's connected world remains high. Decentralized solutions, intelligent sensors, global supply chains and vast quantities of customer data will further stimulate demand for specialized and powerful data management systems. Blockchain therefore remains one option to enable a secure and interconnected world. The following five-step approach will help you harness blockchain's potential, avoiding common mistakes and overcoming implementation hurdles on your way.
This paper addresses the challenge of a systematic requirement-oriented configuration and selection of cyber physical systems (CPS) for SMEs. As the key technologies of realizing the digitalization and interconnection of production processes, manufacturing companies have realized the potential benefits brought by CPS. However, due to the
complexity and fast development of CPS technology, it is difficult for SMEs, which lack expertise and financial resources, to select the appropriate CPS technologies meeting both functional and financial requirements. To overcome the issue, an online matching platform is developed to let SMEs express their needs and assist them onceptualize
the individual CPS. This paper presents the matching methodology of the matching platform, which can not only match technical characteristics but also evaluate economic potentials. Then, it was demonstrated by a tracking and tracing use case in the end-of-line assembly of a small-sized German electric automobile manufacturer.
This research area focuses on the management systems and principles of a production system. It aims at controlling the complex interplay of heterogeneous processes in a highly dynamic environment, with special focus on individualized products in high-wage countries. The project addresses the comprehensive application of self-optimizing principles on all levels of the value chain. This implies the integration of self-optimizing control loops on cell level, with those addressing the production planning and control as well as supply chain and quality management aspects. A specific focus is on the consideration of human decisions during the production process. To establish socio-technical control loops, it is necessary to understand how human decisions are made in diffuse working processes as well as how cognitive and affective abilities form the human factor within production processes.
The environment in which companies operate is increasingly volatile and complex. This results in an increased exposure to disruptions. Past disruptions have especially affected procurement. Thus, companies need to prepare for disruptions. The preparedness for disruptions in the context of procurement is significantly influenced by the design of the procurement strategy. However, a high number of purchased articles and a variety of influencing factors lead to high complexity in procurement. The systematic design of the procurement strategy should therefore take into account the criticality of the purchased articles. This enables to focus on the purchased articles that have a high impact on the disruption preparedness. Existing approaches regarding the design of the procurement strategy in uncertain environments either lack practical applicability and objective evaluation or focus on the criticality of raw materials rather than of purchased articles. Therefore, a data-based approach for the systematic design of the procurement strategy in the context of the Internet of Production has been proposed. One central aspect of this approach is the identification of success-critical purchased articles. Thus, this paper proposes a framework for characterizing purchased articles regarding supply risks by combining two systematic analyses. First, a systematic literature review is performed to answer the question of what factors can be used to describe the supply risks of purchased articles. The results are analyzed regarding sources and impacts of risks and thus contribute to a structured characterization of supply risks. Second, existing criticality assessment approaches for raw materials are analyzed to identify categories and indicators that describe purchased articles. The results of both reviews provide the basis for linking product characteristics with supply risks and assessing product criticality which will be integrated into an app prototype.
Auf Basis einer systematischen Literaturanalyse wurden insgesamt 11 Kennzahlen identifiziert, welche die Grundlage zur Beschreibung der operativen Leistungsfähigkeit von Unternehmen bilden. Die Kennzahlen wurden in die vier Leistungsdimensionen Effizienz, Qualität, Zeit und Flexibilität eingeteilt.
Reliability-centered maintenance for production assets is a well-established concept for the most effective and efficient disposition of maintenance resources. Unfortunately, the approach takes a lot of effort and relies heavily on the knowledge of individuals. Reliability data in Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) is scarce and almost never used well. An automated risk assessment system would have the potential to contribute to the dissemination and effective use of risk information and analysis. The individuality of production setting, however, prevents current systems from being practically relevant for most industries. The presented approach combines ontologies to store and link knowledge, an information logistics model displaying the various information streams, and the Internet of production to take the different user systems and infrastructure layers into account. The provided model of a reference digital shadow for risk information and a detailed information logistics model will help software companies to improve reliability software, standardize and enable assets owners to establish a customized digital shadow for their production networks. [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-57993-7_2]
Technology management can significantly influence the strategic decisions of a company and thus cause success or failure. Basic templates for technology management are technology radars as well as the determination of the technology readiness level (TRL) to be able to evaluate the maturity of newly deployed technologies (e.g., newcomer vs. established). The radars, as well as the TRL, are identified in time-consuming, manual research by subject matter experts from external consultancies. This process is often repeated due to the further development and new development of technologies so that the necessary research becomes an ongoing task. The TechRad research project, therefore, aims to automate the identification of the TRL as well as technology radars using web crawling and Natural Language Processing (NLP). To commercialize the pre-competitive prototype, the development of a pre-competitive business model is the goal of this paper. Based on customer analyses, a target group definition is created. Based on user interviews, the precompetitive business model will be detailed in a four-step approach using a business model canvas and a value proposition canvas.
Supply Chain Management delivers a considerable amount of ideas and methods to design the value stream. Each of these concepts may lead to significant cost reduction and higher service levels. But the same concept does not work for different customers and their diverse needs. Thus, a “one size fits it all” supply chain cannot lead to success. The key to overcome this obstacle is the hybrid supply chain. This paper outlines the application of hybrid system theory to supply chains. After a comprehensive overview of existing methods for the design of supply chains is given, a methodology for a customer-to-customer oriented supply chain design is presented. This approach adopts the hybrid system theory to supply chains which is in a nutshell that hybrid systems use the advantages of its subsystems to reach a superior result to one system alone. Concluding a case study illustrates the application of the methodology.
Influenced by the high dynamic of the markets and the steadily increasing demand for short delivery times the importance of supply chain optimization is growing. In particular, the order process plays a central role in achieving short delivery times and constantly needs to evaluate the trade-off between high inventory and the risk of stock-outs. However, analyzing different order strategies and the influence of various production parameters is difficult to achieve in industrial practice. Therefore, simulations of supply chains are used in order to improve processes in the whole value chain. The objective of this research is to evaluate two different order strategies (t, q, t, S) in a four-stage supply chain. In order to measure the performance of the supply chain the quantity of the backlog will be considered. A Design of Experiments approach is supposed to enhance the significance of the simulation results.
The technical development of the 5G mobile communication technology has been successfully completed. Now, vendor companies struggle with the analysis of industrial application and sales strategies as well as the development of business cases for their customers. Since this challenge is faced by many technology providers with innovative technologies in the “trough of disillusionment”, FIR’s information technology management has developed a methodology to bridge the gap, based on the example of 5G. This paper presents a methodology for identifying applications and defining business cases to select the most profitable ones. We also validate the methodology in the 5Gang research project.
The digitalization of manufacturing processes is expected to lead to a growing interconnection of production sites, as well as machines, tools and work pieces. In the course of this development, new use-cases arise which have challenging requirements from a communication technology point of view. In this paper we propose a communication network architecture for Industry 4.0 applications, which combines new 5G and non-cellular wireless network technologies with existing (wired) fieldbus technologies on the shop floor. This architecture includes the possibility to use private and public mobile networks together with local networking technologies to achieve a flexible setup that addresses many different industrial use cases. It is embedded into the Industrial Internet Reference Architecture and the RAMI4.0 reference architecture. The paper shows how the advancements introduced around the new 5G mobile technology can fulfill a wide range of industry requirements and thus enable new Industry 4.0 applications. Since 5G standardization is still ongoing, the proposed architecture is in a first step mainly focusing on new advanced features in the core network, but will be developed further later.
Es geht um die Entwicklung eines Software-Tools zur Unterstützung bei der Auswahl von geeigneten 3D-Druckdienstleistern im Kontext der additiven Ersatzteillogistik. Im Fokus steht der Logistikdienstleister als potentieller Nutzer des Softwaretools. Das Softwaretool erfüllt zwei zentrale Funktionen: Überprüfung ob ein Ersatzteil additiv gefertigt werden soll und Auswahl eines konkreten Produzenten durch Matchingalgorithmus.