Open Access

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.

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.

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.

Factory automation and production are currently undergoing massive changes, and 5G is considered being a key enabler. In this paper, we state uses cases for using 5G in the factory of the future, which are motivated by actual needs of the industry partners of the “5Gang” consortium. Based on these use cases and the ones by 3GPP, a 5G system architecture for the factory of the future is proposed. It is set in relation to existing architectural frameworks.

Im Rahmen dieser Studie untersuchten das Forschungsinstitut für Rationalisierung e. V. an der RWTH Aachen und die Universität St. Gallen (Lehrstuhl Produktionsmanagement) 24 Veröffentlichungen von 11 Beratungsunternehmen. Dabei wurden über 200 Aussagen zur Bewältigung der Krise bewertungsneutral identifiziert und analysiert.