Research on digitalization and applications of artificial intelligence are advancing rapidly. In spite of excellent results, which are published by publicly funded research projects, there is still a lack of systematic solutions for SMEs that provide robustness and reproducibility of AI and at the same time take the restrictions of software and infrastructure in SMEs into account. The overall aim of the ecoKI project is to close this gap. ecoKI supports SMEs by developing an infrastructure for increasing energy efficiency through AI technologies. ecoKI pursues the following goals:

 

1. Make digitization and AI modules(solutions) more generic in the area of energy efficiency. Moreover, make the available AI and digitalization solutions as easy as possible to use.
2. Reduction of barriers that SMEs encounter when they begin to use of digitization and machine learning solutions for increase energy efficiency.

 

The KoMAR project is developing a flexible Augmented Reality (AR) multi-user application that connects digital models with real objects. Several people can interact simultaneously in an AR 3D scenario. The goal is context-based and robust interaction in virtual space. The project aims to develop new multi-user functions, such as location-independent participation in AR conferences and joint manipulation of virtual objects. For this, BIBA is developing a potential assessment of collaborative robots in industrial assembly as a first use case. Here, AR enables the early involvement of planning and assembly personnel in a real context without physical system adaptations.

TRICK will provide a complete, SME affordable and standardised platform to support the adoption of sustainable and circular approaches: it will enable enterprises to collect product data and to access to the necessary services on a dedicated marketplace, open to third party solutions. TRICK demo will be run in 2 highly complex and polluting domains: textile-clothing as main pilot and perishable food for replication. BIBA focusses on the adaption of the B2B marketplace to the needs for a Circular information management (CIM).

The manufacturing of large-scale parts needs the implementation of holistic data management and integrated automation methodology to achieve the desired levels of precision using modular and more flexible equipment. Large-part manufacturing is characterised by a high level of required customisation (built-customer specific). Furthermore, the manufacturing of complex and large-scale parts involves a variety of subassemblies that must be manufactured and assembled first.

This high degree of personalisation implies a great effort in the design and the posterior verification after manufacturing, to achieve high precision. Nevertheless, this customised product-centric design requires an optimisation of the resources of the workshop (i.e. workers, machines, devices) for a responsive, reconfigurable and modular production. In addition, there is the worker-centric approach: performing key labour-intensive tasks while maintaining the industry-specific knowledge and skills of the workers.

PENELOPE proposes a novel methodology linking product-centric data management and production planning and scheduling in a closed-loop digital pipeline for ensuring accurate and precise manufacturability from the initial product design. PENELOPE is built over five pillars for developing a common methodology and vision deployed in four industrial-driven pilot lines in strategic manufacturing sectors: Oil&Gas, Shipbuilding, Aeronautics and Bus&Coach; with potential replicability to further industrial sectors. Moreover, it will be set up a pan-European network of Didactic Factories and showrooms, providing training and upskilling capabilities enabling the workforce transition towards Industry 4.0 and multi-purpose testbeds, for assisting the dedicated industry adaption. PENELOPE envisions to highly-increase EU manufacturing sector competitiveness by increasing production performance, quality and accuracy while ensuring workers’ safety and resource efficiency.

TOKIOS aims to integrate innovative methods and techniques from the fields of statistics and artificial intelligence into the integration and system tests of aircraft. The addressed methods are to be applied to offline data, which is of the order of magnitude of big data.

The tasks of the BIBA focus on the development of data integration solutions and the analysis framework in order to be able to set up and use analysis chains in an interoperable manner. Furthermore, the analysis tool is geared towards the needs of the test engineer for future test processes

In the project, a vocational education and training platform for employees in logistics is to be developed on the basis of an existing platform (MARIDAL), which enables demand-oriented and individual learning and offers flexible learning paths. The platform envisaged in this project is a digital learning ecosystem. AI is used to personalise the user experience and support learning. In addition, certificates can be issued - also for external persons.

The aim of the project is to develop an off-the-shelf system for the most intuitive access possible to complex information through natural and low-threshold communication in combination with optical image recognition processes. At the same time, it shall provide experienced users with direct, fast and contactless access to a wide range of functions. For data protection reasons, personal image and voice data will be processed by an integrated computing unit.

ENHANCE aims at strengthening the cooperation between 3 EU and 4 PC universities across recent research outcomes related to MPQ 4.0. From a capacity-building perspective, this consortium will improve the capacity of HEI in PC with innovative programmes. It will develop new competencies and skills to transfer later to socio-economic partners. ENHANCE will guarantee the sustainability of the consolidated learning programs and materials through the creation of 2 new DIH in PC.

Freight transport in Germany today is mainly carried out by road and rail. However, the further increase in transport volumes is pushing the systems to their limits, as evidenced by increased congestion and more frequent delivery delays, among other things. Another challenge is the high environmental impact of road and rail transport. A lower-emission alternative and supplement to land-based transport is water-based freight transport by inland waterway vessel. The increased use of this mode of transportation requires the provision of additional decentralized transhipment points (so-called MicroPorts) for the intelligent and efficient linking of land- and water-based freight transport.

The aim of the project is the technical design of a network of decentralized transhipment hubs for linking land- and waterborne freight transport. The basic idea is to use existing infrastructure, especially bridges, for the installation of the MicroPorts. Based on this, a simulation-based evaluation will be carried out to assess the new transhipment concept's economic efficiency and sustainability. The expected project results thus provide the basis for the planning and implementation of decentralized transhipment points for combined land- and water-based freight transport in the future.

i4Q will provide a complete solution consisting of sustainable IoT-based Reliable Industrial Data Services (RIDS) able to manage the huge amount of industrial data coming from cost-effective, smart, and small size interconnected factory devices for supporting manufacturing online monitoring and control. The i4Q Framework will guarantee data reliability with functions grouped into five basic capabilities around the data cycle: sensing, communication, computing infrastructure, storage, and analysis and optimisation; based on a microservice-oriented architecture for the end users. With i4Q RIDS, factories will be able to handle large amounts of data, achieving adequate levels of data accuracy, precision and traceability, using it for analysis and prediction as well as to optimise the process quality and product quality in manufacturing, leading to an integrated approach to zerodefect manufacturing.

i4Q Solutions will efficiently collect the raw industrial data using cost-effective instruments and state-of-the-art communication protocols, guaranteeing data accuracy and precision, reliable traceability and time stamped data integrity through distributed ledger technology. i4Q Project will provide simulation and optimisation tools for manufacturing line continuous process qualification, quality diagnosis, reconfiguration and certification for ensuring high manufacturing efficiency and optimal manufacturing quality.

BIBA focuses on: 1) the creation of data quality guidelines for manufacturing and 2) the extension of its software QualiExplore to support a) production data quality knowledge, and b) production line certification under the aspect of data quality. The extension of QualiExplore includes the integration of a digital assistant (conversational AI).

ePIcenter will create an interoperable cloud-based ecosystem of user-friendly extensible Artificial Intelligence-based logistics software solutions and supporting methodologies that will enable all players in global trade and international authorities to co-operate with ports, logistics companies and shippers, and to react in an agile way to volatile political and market changes and to major climate shifts impacting traditional freight routes. This will address the ever-increasing expectations of 21st century consumers for cheaper and more readily available goods and bring in Innovations in transport, such as hyperloops, autonomous/robotic systems (e.g. “T-pods”) and new last-mile solutions as well as technological initiatives such as blockchain, increased digitalisation, single windows, EGNOS positional precision and the Copernicus Earth Observation Programme.

The project Inclusive Digital Environments to Enable High-Quality Education for Disadvantaged and Disabled Learners addresses core challenges associated with inclusive and accessible education and envisions technology-enriched interventions that target the specifics of disadvantaged and disabled learners, and that are directly enabled by teacher and stakeholder training initiatives to equip them with knowledge and skills

In the funded project "compARe", an AR-based technical assistance system is developed that uses image processing methods to support service technicians in the maintenance of wind turbines. The project will focus on tasks that only allow defect detection by comparing the current status with a previously documented status or a target status. Thus, the system can help avoid damage to the WTG and increase maintenance measures' efficiency.

Employing AI-based image processing methods, such as Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), defects in components can be detected, classified, and evaluated. Furthermore, the comparison of component states based on historical data is possible. Mobile assistance systems have proven to be very promising for the support of service technicians in wind energy. The use of these computing-intensive image processing methods on mobile devices is a challenge. However, it offers great potential in combination with mobile Augmented Reality (AR) technology. In this way, virtual information on the change of component conditions can be provided directly about the components concerned in the field of vision of the service technicians.

This project aims at reducing technological barriers towards using a fleet of robots in warehouses and conventional manufacturing environments. In this project, learning material was created to upskill university students and professionals in advanced autonomous navigation concepts, specifically how to leverage existing open-source software libraries on mobile robot platforms. From the end-user perspective, our education materials helped industries using mobile robot solutions to perform complex debugging/maintenance without overly relying on their third-party supplier. This will save time spent tuning motion planning libraries without fully understanding the effect of underlying hyperparameters. In the second phase, the project will be expanded to include collaboration with manipulators to implement an efficient interface based on ROS2 components using the e.DO Cube from COMAU as an example. Based on this example, additional learning units related to ROS2 will be created to establish a fully comprehensive intralogistics scenario.

Stress and scarce attention are the main causes of work accidents in industry, and they affect workers' performance. Physical, physiological, and psychological aspects related to stress have already been studied through the analysis of biometric data, but they have never been integrated with neuro-physiological/psychological data. No-Stress captures the motion of workers while performing manufacturing tasks by real-time collecting neurophysiological parameters and interacting with voice assistance to gather reactions and feedback. The causes of stress will be identified by analyses of workers' data to redesign the work environment with a human-centred approach focused on worker well-being. The project will develop a monitoring system for manufacturing companies to improve their working conditions and production efficiency. The use case providers with worker assistance sector operators will work to redesign manufacturing contexts focusing on workers.

Smart Power will provide knowledge of two industry4.0 application domains - namely smart manufacturing and smart micro grids - and furthermore unlock the potential by show casing the interconnection of those. Best practices of cross-domain integration will not only provide know-how to future employees, but open the mind set of skilled work-forces to enable competetiveness and advances by broadening possible solution space with taught opportuniƟes from the industry4.0 paradigm.

The training addresses professionals, entrepreneurs,students and life-long learners with skill-driven self-learning course material, which will transfer key principles, methodologies and technologies addressing actual industry problems and challenges. Alongside the problem solving of those real-world scenarios, participants will be encouraged to establish disruptive thinking across domains –

primarily in the cross-domain integration of smart factories and smart grids, but will not be limited to these.

Agriculture must increasingly address issues of sustainability and quality management. In this context, feed is also becoming increasingly important from a cost perspective. The goal of the project is the realization of a cloud platform for farmers, traders, and feed producers to individually configure feed, produce it according to demand and deliver it just-in-time. In addition to the integration of weather-dependent demand and price forecasts, the focus is on the development of a simulation-based supply chain control with optimization of the life cycle assessment.

The vision of LEVEL-UP is the development of a holistic operational and refurbishment framework applicable both to new and existing manufacturing equipment to achieve dynamic utilisation and maintenance with upgraded remedial actions for sustainability. The LEVEL-UP solution will be demonstrated in the operational environment of Vertical Lathes, Milling machines, Presses, woodworking, Pultrusion, Extrusion, Inspection and CNC equipment to achieve (i) increased efficiency, (ii) extended lifetime and reliability, and (iii) increased ROIC. To do so, LEVEL-UP will offer a scalable platform covering the overall lifecycle, ranging from the digital twins setup to the refurbishment and remanufacturing activities towards end of life.

The precondition of the sketched vision is the achievement of the interoperability from the data till the service layer. BIBA will provision the semantic mediator for the lifecycle of large industrial equipment. The connections between the data aggregator with the higher ontologies and the Knowledge base will be achieved through semantic models and ontologies

Humans are at the center of knowledge-intensive manufacturing processes. They must be skilled and flexible to meet the requirements of their work environment. The training of new workers in these processes is time consuming and costly for companies. Many industries suffer from the shortage of skilled workers caused, e.g. by the demographic change. A second challenge for the manufacturing sector is the continuous competition through high quality products. COALA will address both challenges through the innovative design and development of a voice-first Digital Intelligent Assistant for the manufacturing sector. The COALA solution will base on the privacy-focused open assistant Mycroft. It integrates prescriptive quality analytics, AI system to support on-the-job training of new workers, and a novel explanation engine - the WHY engine. COALA will address AI ethics during design, deployment, and use of the new solution. Critical components for the adoption of the solution are a new didactic concept to reach workers about opportunities, challenges, and risks in human-AI collaboration, and a concurrent change management process. Three use cases (textile, white goods, liquid packaging) will evaluate the results in common manufacturing processes with significant economic relevance. We expect to reduce the failure cost in manufacturing by 30-60% with the prescriptive quality analytics feature and the assisted worker training. For the change over time we expect a reduction of 15% to 30% by shortening the worker training time.

The aim of the project is to develop an intelligent modular end effector-component protection system for safe and intuitive cooperation between humans and robots. The protection system is to consist of a protective cocoon that is installed on the end effector and encloses both it and the component. In this way, people in the direct cooperative working area of the robot can be protected from hazards. Integrated sensors will detect people in the vicinity at an early stage and automatically keep them at a distance. With the help of intelligent control strategies, robot movements should be possible both spontaneously (avoidance) and anticipatory, so as not to interrupt processes unnecessarily. Interaction modules are to intuitively indicate the robot's next movement so that the movement can be anticipated and also serve as an interface for the input of commands. Thus, for the first time, humans can also react intuitively to the robot, which increases work safety and minimizes safety-related interruptions.

The BiT-Data Project is dedicated to efficiently harnessing the complexity and volume of production data. Our goal is to develop a platform that collects production data and provides it through standardized communication protocols. This allows for swift and transparent data processing, leading to improved operational management and decision-making.

A significant feature of our platform is the easy application of AI algorithms. These offer the possibility of presenting key metrics of the production facility in an accessible manner. Our focus is on designing these algorithms so that they can be used and adjusted by users with minimal effort.

Our pilot application case is the human-robot collaboration in the production of bipolar plates for hydrogen fuel cells. In this endeavor, we are joined by BIBA, a renowned research partner. BIBA focuses on developing and integrating AI algorithms that use image data from an optical camera to make statements about the quality of the fuel cells.

Our approach is multifaceted, including the trial of various procedures for quality control and fault detection. The results of our research work are incorporated into a guide that simplifies the use of these algorithms in production. An integral part of this guide is the demonstration of the integration of the AI algorithms into a graphical data pipeline tool. This practical section illustrates the straightforward application and the potential of the developed algorithms.

With the BiT-Data Project, we aim to make production processes more efficient, accurate, and productive through intelligent handling of data. We believe that smart data utilization and processing are key components for future competitiveness in the manufacturing industry.

ASSURED’s vision is to introduce a ground-breaking policy-driven, formally verified, runtime assurance framework in the complex CPS domain. As the demand for increasingly autonomous CPSs grows, so does the need for certification mechanisms to ensure their safety. Current methods towards software and system validation requires exhaustive offline testing of every possible state scenario PRIOR to fielding the system. In this context, novel assurance services ensure that the control output of such controllers does not put the system or people interacting with it in danger, especially in safetycritical applications as the ones envisaged in the ASSURED Demonstrators. ASSURED leverages and enhances runtime property-based attestation and verification techniques to allow intelligent (unverified) controllers to perform within a predetermined envelope of acceptable behaviour, and a risk management approach to extend this to a larger SoS. ASSURED elaborates over the coordination of deployed TEE agents in horizontal scope, encompassing numerous technologies applicable to everything from edge devices to gateways in the cloud. Such technologies DICE for binding devices to firmware/software, trusted execution environments, formal modelling of protocols and software processes, software attestation, blockchain technology for distributed verification of transactions between system elements and controlflow attestation techniques for enhancing the operational correctness of such devices. In this frame, we consider the mutual verification of system components in distributed multi-operator environments. Our approach ensures a smooth transition and advancement beyond current strategies where security management services are considered in an isolated manner relying on traditional perimeter security and forensics in a “catch-and-patch” fashion without dwelling on the safety of the overall network as a whole, to holistic network security services capable of minimizing attack surfaces.

Motivation

The results of the predecessor project Isabella produced initial improvements in transport order processing and identified further potential for improvement. These included the integration of transport modes into the system and the application of artificial intelligence to save computing time for the control algorithm. These should be taken up in order to further improve the logistical performance of the control system and to be able to apply it terminal-wide to all handling processes. Since the introduction of the solution approaches goes hand in hand with radical changes in the work situation for the employees, a virtual training environment was to be created with the involvement of operational employees to facilitate the transition to the new system for the driving personnel and increase its acceptance among the workforce.

Approach

Discrete-event simulation was used to model the process flows of the automobile terminal and to parameterize the dynamic priorities. A control algorithm was connected to the simulation model, which uses a two-stage optimization procedure to individually assign at first driving jobs to driving and shuttle personnel and then solves a shuttle routing problem via a branch and bound procedure. Artificial intelligence methods were used to increase the performance of the control algorithm. For this purpose, a Graph Convolutional Neural Networks was trained via imitation learning to imitate the approach of the classical optimizer (assignment of driving jobs to drivers and shuttles). In addition, a concept for information exchange in ships was designed and prototypically evaluated for the implementation of the control system. This is based on a router-satellite system and creates a mesh WLAN.

Results

Via discrete-event simulation, the modes of transport and the dynamical priorities could be successfully integrated into the control system, and via simulation studies, it was shown that the processes on the terminal can be reliably controlled in such a way that the time-critical processes of loading and unloading modes of transport can be completed within the specified layover/standby times. A preliminary version of the neural network was created and validated to improve the performance of the control algorithm. For a final application, a higher number of test data from simulations is still pending in order to further improve the solution quality. The concept for data reception on the ship was successfully validated prototypically and showed good response time, transmission speed and range throughout the vessel. Several scenarios (including area and process knowledge) were developed for the virtual training environment. The positive results from the simulation and laboratory studies could be confirmed in several test runs, which took place with the involvement of operational employees and under occupational psychology support on various automobile terminals of BLG.

In this project, we developed an unmanned aerial system (UAS) for automatic inventory recording and quality inspection of pallet contents in indoor block warehouses. By using a Helium-based lighter-than-air drone platform and an intelligent sensor system the drone can navigate safely and collision-free without the need for separation from humans or other autonomous systems. Latency-sensitive processes e.g. for collision avoidance are calculated on-board using special AI-hardware. Compute-intensive calculations for package detection and identification are outsourced to a mobile server, which is positioned inside the warehouse and comes with its own Wi-Fi network. For control and visualization of the system, we developed a 3D user interface.

The aim of the "QualifyAR" project was to support the training of apprentices in aircraft construction, where the highest demands are placed on training. Accordingly, the use of digital and individual learning environments was pursued, which should improve the learning success and prepare the later use of digital assistance systems in the productive process. In cooperation with Radisumedia GmbH, an AR-based learning environment with context-sensitive information provision and automated learning success and quality checks was developed. Using an AR framework and predefined process databases, teachers can digitally map teaching tasks independently.

The PassForM research project creates a modularly reconfigurable assembly station. It allows for a more flexible design of manual and hybrid assembly stations and systematic automation, which improves scalability, re-usability and responsiveness to market developments. Bidirectional information and control instruction exchange enable and ease the integration of the modular assembly stations into existing assembly organizations. For this purpose, a material supply module, a conveyor module and a robot module are implemented. The goal is to unite the opposing requirements of productivity and flexibility in the assembly area of medium quantities. The project will fill the gap between manual and highly automated processes. The performance of the modular, hybrid assembly system will be evaluated and based on application scenarios in variant assembly groups.

The production of bakery products poses great challenges to process control in order to achieve consistent end product quality, as the main components of the products are natural products. The properties of the natural products strongly depend on the parameters during the growth and harvesting of the raw materials as well as their preliminary processes. The production of baked goods involves the product-specific combination of ingredients and the mechanical production of a dough, which is mostly kneaded. Low quality is often the result of incorrect expert assessment of raw material quality and the selected process parameters. A particular problem here is the process transitions or transfers between the process steps of dough preparation, work-up, fermentation phase, pre-baking phase, intermediate storage and post-baking phase. The aim of the project is to increase the product quality of baked goods. This should be achieved by developing a raw material-specific and cross-process production control system that uses artificial intelligence to improve coordination of the production processes while taking into account the specific parameters of the semi-finished products. The improved coordination of the production processes allows the reduction of rejects (resource conservation and traceability) as well as the planning/calculation of achievable product qualities based on quality raw material models to increase the specific process quality.

The aim of this research project was the development of a cost effective and easy to integrate indoor positioning system for industrial environments. To achieve this goal two approaches were combined: precise WiFi-based positioning via round-trip time (RTT) as well as energy-efficient positioning via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signal strength. The tracked objects were thereby marked with compact and cheap BLE tags. Asset localization is realized via a smartphone app, which calculates the phones position via RTT. The app detects close-by tags via signal-strength and calculates their position using its own, known position. Through the utilization of mass-produces micro controllers and custom hardware layouts we were able to drastically reduce the systems cost.

The Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum Bremen offers support to small and medium-sized enterprises in the Bremen region and surrounding areas, in increasing their digitalization competencies. In particular, employees and managers in the innovation clusters of maritime industry and logistics, wind energy, aerospace, automotive industry, and food and beverage industry are targeted.

The competence center provides interested companies with a range of free services, according to their needs. The entire innovation process is covered, beginning with the assessment of a company’s digitalization potentials, and continuing with the opportunity to experience applications in practice. In parallel companies are given the opportunity to prepare themselves and their employees for the digital world through trainings. If desired, the center also accompanies companies in the implementation of their digital projects to ensure success.

Icing on rotor blades of wind turbines leads to downtimes every year and thus to considerable financial losses. The "EisAuge" project aims to develop a camera-based ice detection system to reduce these downtimes. The captured RGB and infrared images are analyzed by modern artificial intelligence (AI) methods to determine the current icing condition on the turbine rotor blades. The captured images and the model outputs are then stored in a cloud solution.

BIBA is developing the camera system in this project. The goal here is a camera system that can capture sharp, detailed images both during the day and at night. In addition, BIBA is supporting the development of the AI algorithms in the project. For this purpose, modern methods of image processing, like for example Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), are utilized. The focus here is in particular on the transferability of the models to new wind turbines.

Despite the increasing automation and digitalization of industrial processes, manual activities are still indispensable for companies, as many tasks cannot be fully automated for technical or financial reasons. Ergonomic injuries are one of the most common categories of workplace injuries today. It is estimated that more than 30% of accidents resulting in days away from work are due to ergonomic-related injuries. To reduce physical strain on employees, exoskeletons can be used to assist with non-ergonomic movements. However, selecting the right exoskeleton for a job requires expertise in work planning and medicine, which is not always available, especially in small and medium-sized companies.

In order to quickly and cost-effectively find an initial selection of a suitable exoskeleton, a mobile application is developed with the help of which the performed work steps can be evaluated by video analysis with AI methods and special stresses are described. Subsequently, a suitable exoskeleton for the activity can be suggested on the basis of the stresses identified.

The application is evaluated in terms of ease of use and output results in laboratory tests and compared with currently used checklist-based methods.

The initiative for Fostering DIHs for Embedding Interoperability in Cyber-Physical Systems of European SMEs (DIH4CPS) will help European enterprises overcome innovation hurdles and establish Europe as a world leading innovator of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. DIH4CPS will create an embracing, interdisciplinary network of DIHs and solution providers, focussed on cyber-physical and embedded systems, interweaving knowledge and technologies from different domains, and connecting regional clusters with the pan-European expert pool of DIHs.

The vision of RAINBOW is to design and develop an open and trusted fog computing platform that facilitates the deployment and management of scalable, heterogeneous and secure IoT services and cross-cloud applications (i.e, microservices). RAINBOW falls within the bigger vision of delivering a platform enabling users to remotely control the infrastructure that is running, potentially, on hundreds of edge devices (e.g., wearables), thousands of fog nodes in a factory building or flying in the sky (e.g., drones), and millions of vehicles travelling in a certain area or across Europe. RAINBOW aspires to enable fog computing to reach its true potential by providing the deployment, orchestration, network fabric and data management for scalable and secure edge applications, addressing the need to timely process the ever-increasing amount of data continuously gathered from heterogeneous IoT devices and appliances. Our solution will provide significant benefits for popular cloud platforms, fog middleware, and distributed data management engines, and will extend the open-source ecosystem by pushing intelligence to the network edge while also ensuring security and privacy primitives across the device-fog-cloud-application stack. To evaluate its wide applicability, RAINBOW will be demonstrated in various real-world and demanding scenarios, such as automated manufacturing (Industry 4.0), connected vehicles and critical infrastructure surveillance with drones. These application areas are safety-critical and demanding; requiring guaranteed extra-functional properties, including real-time responsiveness, availability, data freshness, efficient data protection and management, energy-efficiency and industry-specific security standards.

AKAMAI team develop a novel Automated Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) solution, managing non-standard loads efficiently in compact warehouses. This EIT project focuses on an innovative system of vertical displacement (specific elevator) combined with proprietary Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) to provide higher density than existing industrial solutions.

The manufacturing facilities in Europe are mostly fully automated with minimum touch on pallets from production all the way up to the docks but the last mile of action, i.e. loading operation remains fully manual with no flexibility to decide on how to execute this task (automated or manual). This makes it a weak link in the supply chain, which is prone to disruption (especially as learnt in COVID pandemic situation) as it is fully dependent on human presence to execute a labor intensive and less ergonomic task. Hence true supply chain resilience cannot be achieved until there is a solution developed to automatically load palletized goods with on the road (un-modified) European trailers.

The main reason why this task is still conducted manually is the non-standard trailer fleet in Europe and the lack of no automatic solution available for curtain trailers. Given that curtain trailers comprise at least 80% of on the road trailers there is a huge opportunity with high scalability for a solution.

However, currently existing solutions for automatic loading of pallets only work for loading rigid-walled trucks, which are characterized by rigid, nondeformed walls. In contrast, for loading of curtain trailers, such systems fail due to the varying conditions of curtain trailers and less defined walls resulting in these systems to crash into obstacles like carrier beams causing damaged loads or resulting in emergency stops. Consequently, this activity aims to enable an existing automatic loading solution (Nalon) of the company Duro Felguera to tackle the challenges associated with automatically loading curtain trailers from the rear side.

The aim of the research project is to support people with learning, physical and/or mental disabilities in carrying out work tasks independently by means of an assistance system with a mobile device. For this purpose, an application is being developed that offers barrier-free information and instructions for individual work steps.

The assistance system is supplemented by a task portal that enables companies to create their own tasks in a database, divide them into work steps, and link them to media content.

The majority of today's organizations still heavily rely upon time-based preventive maintenance techniques. Such well established practices can be enhanced by today's ICT technologies, enabling real-time and continuous monitoring of production assets', towards identifying and preventing anomalies and failures proactively. As this may lead to money savings, predictive maintenance solutions are increasingly introduced in the industrial world. However, the prevailing skillsets of its workforce, even one of a new generation, lacks the required understanding over those soluƟons that will allow them to understand and benefit from them. Hence, Skills4PdM aims to expose interesting parties, including employees, students, professors and long-life learners, to the key enabling technologies of condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, for them to better understand the options, the technologies needed, and how to measure the effectiveness of their decisions with respect to predictive analytics. In addition to exposing key identified audiences to the principles and methods for enabling predictive maintenance policies in an organization along with the necessary education material, target groups will learn about real-world applications stemming from two concluded H2020 projects, SERENA and UPTIME, and EIT-M project RAMEN which will serve as basis for other successful maintenance applications.

The project aims to design end-to-end courses, composed of several nuggets regarding predictive maintenance in Industry 4.0, including video tutorials for theoretical presentation of the topic, hands-on exercises and testing in testbed. Skills4PdM will provide a set of educational material targeting different audiences and skillsets, enriched with the results and knowledge of past H2020 projects and applications, targeting the knowledge transfer across both the academic and industrial world via the EIT-M supporting tools as well as via PdM Teaching & Learning Factories projects.

UPMASS aims to provide a unified solution, bridging predictive maintenance to production planning and scheduling. To this end, the outcomes of the H2020 projects UPTIME and SERENA will be used as a basis to bring to the market an integrated IIoT solution covering a complete pipeline from sensor data acquisition, data analysis, and asset condition monitoring, enabling predictive maintenance strategies.

The BIBA’s task is to mature UPTIME components 1) UPTIME_SENSE and 2) UPTIME_DETECT&_PREDICT, which will be used as a local hub for IoT data acquisition and streaming predictive analytics respectively. Data exploration and Predictive maintenance expert.

Intense global competition, shorter product life cycles, and an increasing number of variants require flexible, adaptable, and economical production and logistics systems. An assistance system shall significantly shorten the time-intensive planning process to become faster and more cost-efficient. In the project "INSERT," an AI-based assistance system prototype for logistics and production planning concept development was developed. This assistance system guides the planners through the concept creation and cost calculation, supports with suggestions in the process planning and enables the generation of a simulation model of the production and logistics processes.

The concept of decentrally controlled production and logistic systems has gained a growing importance as part of Industry 4.0. The previous research activities in this area focused mainly on the development of control algorithms for decision-making and the required information and communication technologies. An additional success factor for decentralized control has also been identified: the topology, i.e. the underlying structure of the material flow network. However, the topology has so far not been considered when developing decentralized control approaches. The project aimed at quantifying the influence of the topology of a material flow network on the logistic performance.

Die Lernfabrik vermittelt Studierenden auf Grundlage des

didaktischen Konzeptes des forschenden und handlungsorientierten Lernens die Entwicklung energieautarker Produktionssysteme. Die Lernfabrik adressiert sowohl Lernziele der Produktionsplanung und -steuerung als auch der erneuerbaren Energieerzeugung, -speicherung und -nutzung. Studierende fertigen dabei reale Produkte, die in gesellschaftlichen und/ oder industriellen Anwendungen eingesetzt werden.

ViProQAS addresses a system solution that enables the operative execution of quality inspection processes by means of visual support. For this purpose, the project is rethinking the way of visualization in the sense that the representation should take place through projections on 2D and 3D objects. App-based approaches with video and AR on mobile devices (glasses or tablets), as well as approaches based on virtual reality (VR) are deliberately not pursued, since the project not only aims at visualization, but also at recording and controlling the activities. This is not possible to a sufficient extent with the hardware currently available on the market. In the project, a framework is developed which derives the information for the assistance system from the audit specifications and subsequently forwards the recorded data to the corresponding systems. The innovation here is both the focus on the area of quality processes and the connection of visualization and recording as well as the control and documentation of the processes.

In the Astradis project, a tool was developed to support the planning of automated guided vehicles (AGVs). In an assisted process, the user is guided through the requirements assessment process. In addition, a manufacturer-independent catalog of AGVs available on the market was created, which can be automatically compared with the determined requirements in order to suggest suitable solutions to the user. An integrated editor allows the user to define the layout of the future application scenario without any previous knowledge and an export function can be used to create the configuration for a simulation in Plant Simulation.

Ensuring the technical availability of machines and equipment is the task of maintenance and an essential factor for the efficient operation of manufacturing systems. As digitization progresses, condition-based preventive maintenance strategies are becoming increasingly important. These strategies use data describing a machine's current condition to predict disturbances in order to prevent them by taking early measures. The problem here is that the model development is associated with a high level of expert and computing effort. In addition, the models cannot be reliably transferred from one use case to another.

In the AutoCBM project, a software was developed that supports the development and evaluation of prognostic models. The core of the software is a machine learning algorithm that recommends the most appropriate model class. By automating the selection process, effort can be reduced, additional personnel can be empowered to create models, and faster scaling of condition-based maintenance strategies can be enabled.

To support public participation in route planning, an outdoor AR system was developed in the RailAR project. This includes an outdoor display that projects 3D planning statuses directly into the landscape using an AR device. For the implementation, automatically generated 3D data from the route planning software Korfin© were integrated via a 3D engine and adapted to the respective display purpose. Regarding the auralization, a visual representation was researched and integrated into the visualization.

The use of 3D printers has been established as a recognized manufacturing process in recent years. In addition to rapid prototyping, the economical production of small series even of quantity 1 and the spatial decoupling of development and production/distribution are decisive advantages of this process. In addition to a large number of different product types, 3D printing also offers the possibility of printing highly individualized shoes in one piece. By creating printer farms that require only a small amount of space and installation effort, decentralized production/distribution sites can be created almost anywhere. In order for these to work optimally, it is necessary to develop largely automated quality control loops that support the operators in detecting and avoiding misprints.

Innovation cycles are becoming increasingly shorter at the product and process level, making rapid integration into assembly a critical success factor for companies. The EKIMuPP research project aims to specifically increase the level of innovation by means of the integration of digital and AI-based systems. The project is dedicated to the development of an innovation-oriented assembly system that increases and optimizes the interaction of employees along the entire process chain through digital interaction capabilities. In addition, context-based training and support of operational employees is enabled by an assistance system. AI-based variant management will also be developed to manage complexity. The overall system will be developed in a modular fashion and its benefits will be demonstrated and evaluated in practice. For this purpose, typical products for manual assembly will be selected and the overall system will be evaluated in the company context. Furthermore, the functionalities of the overall system will be evaluated in a practical test with further product variants in order to prove its product-independent applicability.

With the advancing digitalization in industry, the use of complex robot systems in production and logistics is increasing. Configuration and control tasks for such systems therefore require increasingly extensive training measures or highly qualified IT experts. In contrast, however, there is an increasing shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector. To counteract this challenge, a novel software framework with an intuitive user interface was developed in the research project KoMILo, which unifies programming and interaction with technical systems by means of a visual, block-based programming approach in combination with digital twins of the systems. Thus, even non-experts are empowered to create process flows for multiple, different technical systems and to supervise the process execution.

Real laboratory infrastructures are personnel and cost-intensive and are generally only available to the respective research institution. In contrast, purely virtual laboratories offer advantages in terms of security, scalability, remote access and cost efficiency. However, simulations and purely virtual environments cannot replace the success of real laboratory environments, as these require and promote different knowledge.

In the research project Open Digital Lab for You (DigiLab4U for short), real laboratories are digitised, linked with virtual components and the synergies between the two approaches are explored. Augmented Reality can help to close the gap between the "virtual" and "real" experience. Methods of engineering education and serious gaming are combined using learning analytics, mixed/ augmented reality and open badges to form a unique holistic approach in a hybrid learning and research environment.

DigiLab4U provides location-independent access to a digitised and networked learning and research environment. Multi-user scenarios as well as individual self-directed learning will be supported. For example, students of the HFT Stuttgart can access laboratories at the BIBA and the University of Parma. The exchange of experiences in research and teaching is promoted beyond the boundaries of individual institutes. As the long title Open Digital Lab for Yousuggests, the inclusion of further laboratories is planned. There is a considerable need for research on this forward-looking approach from a technical, didactic and organisational point of view.

Automated guided vehicles or autonomous mobile robots are widely used in postal and e-commerce sorting applications. They increase the flexibility and scalability of logistics centres. There are two main solutions on the market: collaborative sortation robots, which work with humans in the same environment but are slower and safer, and non-collaborative systems, which work without human interaction but are confined in a cage.

The MARS (Mobile Autonomous Robot for Safe sorting) project has developed an intelligent system that enables the transition between these two approaches. It uses a dual-channel localisation system to safely position each vehicle and place it in the appropriate operating mode. This system is based on optical localisation using matrix codes on the floor and RFID technology for checkpoints and area changes.

The solution enables a flexible combination of collaborative and high performance workspaces. The vehicles intelligently adapt their behaviour according to their position. In collaborative areas they avoid people and obstacles, while in fenced-off areas they increase speed to maximise performance. The MARS system can expand existing facilities or redesign flexible sortation systems.

In the project, a meta-learning system was developed to automatically select suitable prognostic methods for preventive condition-based maintenance in manufacturing systems. The evaluation was carried out via prognostic performance and logistic key figures, which describe the effects of the derived maintenance measures on the performance of the manufacturing system. For this purpose, the meta-learning system was coupled with a manufacturing system, which was represented in the project by a discrete-event simulation model. Integrated production and maintenance planning based on the predictions was performed using priority rules constructed by a simulation-based optimization. This project was carried out in cooperation with Professor Dr.-Ing. Enzo Morosini Frazzon (UFSC, Brazil) and Professor Dr.-Ing. Carlos Eduardo Pereira (UFRGS, Brazil). Financial support was provided by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and by the Brazilian Coordination Center for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES).

In this research project, an eKanban system was developed that implements the benefits of modern, intelligent Industrie 4.0 solutions while remaining economical for companies to integrate and operate. This includes low-cost, autonomous sensor modules that are easy to install and demonstrate low power consumption to enable full inventory monitoring. The eKanban system itself is linked via a cloud with machine learning methods that continuously learn material demand behavior and thus constantly optimize material provisioning in terms of replenishment time during operation. In this way, a reduction in inventories of up to 30% could be achieved in an example scenario, which was validated by means of a detailed material flow simulation.

Innovative interaction possibilities at the point of sale (POS)

The aim of the project was to develop a mobile documentation and inspection system for the application and evaluation of sealants with pseudometric free-form surfaces. Specifically, the system was developed for the application and quality inspection of soft sealants in the aerospace sector. Through the use of deep learning algorithms, a "universal" inspection system for soft seals was developed that provides high reliability under various environmental conditions. The system was designed to be mobile, installed on the tool in direct human-technology interaction, and operated in real-time. The data generated by the applicator is sent wirelessly to a server, which performs the data analysis. Current research results were used, whereby an average accuracy of all models after a 5-fold cross validation with 94% could be achieved.

The Cross-KIC Human Capital project aims at building infrastructures that connect the different Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs), with a focus on the domain of Human Capital and Education vertex of the knowledge triangle. Through sharing of the common tools and expertise in learning analytics, skill gaps identification or innovative education, each participating KIC can benefit from the collaborative work.

The KIC’s pool their efforts in setting up a joint innovation process that consists of three steps: (i) The continuous harvesting of innovation practices, (ii) the fuelling of innovation initiatives, and (iii) the training and coaching of educators in Europe. Within the XKIC Human Capital Project, the RedVile (Redefined Virtual Learning) subproject of EIT Manufacturing conducted by INESC TEC, BIBA, and the TU Delft. The three partners are developing a Mixed Reality demonstrator for welding, which is currently under development to generate a matrix, in which learning content can be categorized and where a suggestion can be given on which part on the Reality-Virtuality Continuum a learning application should be located to fulfill its purpose.

Motivation

The planning and control of production processes has a significant influence on the performance of a job shop manufacturing system. The job shop production is subject to dynamic influences (e.g. faults caused by machine failures or rush orders), which have to be considered for the production planning and control. Common methods are therefore normally divided into modules for calculating plans and modules for operational control. In general, optimisation only takes place at the strategic planning level, while detailed planning is carried out on the basis of simple, static dispatching rules. This allows the generation of schedules in short computation times, but generally no optimal schedules based on the current state of the production system are generated.

Results

In the first phase of the Brazilian-German cooperation project, a simulation-based optimisation method for controlling dynamic job shop production has been developed. The classical approach of simulation-based optimisation was extended in such a way that the dynamics of job shop manufacturing are taken into account and the optimisation of planning decisions and control rules is always based on the current system state. The developed method was evaluated considering the job shop production of a Brazilian producer of mechanical parts.

In the second project phase, a method for the integrated control of inventory, production and maintenance processes has been developed in order to map the current status of a production system in more detail. This means that maintenance orders can be scheduled for the machines in addition to the existing method and the inventory stocks can be taken into account for planning and control.

Approach

Initially, methods for planning maintenance jobs (Germany) and methods for inventory control (Brazil) using up-to-date system data have been developed in parallel. Subsequently, both approaches have been combined to an integrated inventory, production and maintenance control method, which was evaluated in a real scenario using data from an industry partner as well as by scenarios from the literature.

Wettbewerbsvorteile können nicht nur für Produkte mit reduzierten Kosten sowie verkürzten Design- und Produktionszyklen erzielt werden, sondern auch durch das Erschließenneuer Geschäftsmodelle, wie der Weiterentwicklung klassischer Produkte zu Produktservice-Systemen. Das vom Norwegischen Forschungsrat geförderte Projekt "Robust Industrial Transformation" (RIT) unterstützt den mittelständischen Bootsbau dabei diesen Paradigmenwechsel erfolgreich zu meistern. Im Vordergrund steht die Entwicklung eines breiten Spektrums neuer Lösungen zur Erschließung neuer Wertschöpfungspotenziale, wie bspw. die Anpassung der Prozesse in der Entwurfsphase oder die Entwicklung neuer Produktkonzepte auf Basis realer Gebrauchs-Daten? Aufbauend auf den Ansätzen zur Datenakquise und -verarbeitung aus vorangegangenen Forschungsprojekten, bereitet RIT die Daten der Bootshersteller auf, um ihn gezielt frühen Phasen der Produktentwicklung bereitzustellen. So sollen die Bootshersteller unter Anderem in die Lage versetzt werden, große Mengen an Produktdaten in Bezug auf spezifische Designanforderungen zu analysieren und diese zusammen mit anderen Daten strukturieren und visualisieren zu können.

Motivation

Fully dynamic cross-company production networks that adapt to individual customer orders are a core vision in the Industry 4.0 sector. Production capacities are sometimes required at very short notice, e.g. in the area of drawing and special parts. Reasons are the failure of company owned machines or machines of a supplier, the complete failure of a supplier or also a sudden increase on the demand side. In these cases, however, there are barriers to a rapid response, such as finding one or more suppliers with free capacities or the high manual effort required to integrate new suppliers into existing ordering and logistics processes.

Goal

The "Dynamic Production Network Broker" is intended to support the dynamic formation of production networks by means of a modular service system. This includes the matching of supply and demand for short-term availability of production capacities while at the same time ensuring the necessary transport capacities, the short-term onboarding of suppliers, i.e. rapid integration production, logistics and quality assurance and the possibility of making complex assembly activities compatible for outsourcing. The latter should be achieved by means of an assistance system that is based on Augmented Reality (AR) technologies.

BIBA has contributed to the project by developing an ontological description of machine capabilities and requirements, and the development of a concept for generic service-based business models and their evaluation on the basis of the project results.

Results

Together with the industrial partners, the crucial points for designing a production network broker were worked out and on this basis four use cases were defined. For these four use cases, "Minimal Viable Products", i.e. prototypical solutions that can be implemented quickly, were developed in individual modules and later integrated into a continuous process.

Global production networks require efficient transport logistics.

To improve the cooperation between transport service providers and their customers, the project developed a digital platform that supports the quotation and selection of transport services as well as the interactive planning and administration of transport processes.

The platform compares available service offerings in terms of price, time requirements and carbon dioxide emissions, automatically transfers quotation data into bookings and facilitates their iterative supplementation. Blockchain mechanisms support the secure exchange of associated electronic documents.

This increases process transparency, avoids planning errors and reduces the amount of information required.

Durch den Online-Handel gewinnt die Konsumentenlogistik zunehmend an Bedeutung. Dabei ergibt sich ein Dilemma für Endkundinnen, bei dem der Komfort einer Online-Bestellung höheren CO2-Emissionen im Vergleich zum Supermarkteinkauf gegenüberstehen. Im Rahmen des Projekts wurde mit einem sozialwissenschaftlichen Ansatz Endkundinnen zum individuellen Einkaufsverhalten befragt. Auf Basis der Befragungen wurden unterschiedliche Szenarien für die Stadt Bremen vom BIBA simuliert. Die Ergebnisse der Befragungen und der Simulationen zeigen, dass Kunden individuell zur CO2-Emissionsvermeidung bei verschiedenen Optionen tendieren. Auf der anderen Seite konnte gezeigt werden, dass vermeintlich schlechtere Logistikoptionen mit höherer CO2-Emission bei optimaler logistischer Planung ihre negativen Einflüsse verlieren.

The project „Manufactur 4.0“ developed and implemented prototypically a procedure for a digital and quality-oriented production planning and control for production of delicatessen. For all ingredients of a selected delicatessen product, raw material-specific quality-time profiles were determined in the project by means of sensory analyses in laboratory tests. In addition, the energy inputs and consumptions of the production were analysed and future energy concepts were investigated. Furthermore, a sensor-based identification system for a digitalised container management was designed and evaluated as a basis for the implementation of a digitalised production control. Finally, a procedure for quality-oriented production planning and control was developed. In preparation for a future implementation of the procedure in the production of Deutsche See, it was prototypically implemented using digital twins. Our models showed a possible decrease of 21 per cent regarding throughput time, increase of 17 per cent regarding the utilisation of production facilities and an optimisation of production-specific energy consumption, as well as a reduction in food waste. Through the developed production control, a contribution can be made to achieving the climate targets.

Software support for the planning, construction and management of buildings can prevent errors and significantly increase productivity. However, digitization has not yet been thoroughly implemented. For example, in the case of electrical installations, numerous problems can be found with regard to the creation of correct measurements, the transfer of changes, and the checking of individual trades. The aim of the project was to develop a mobile assistance system that would enable end-to-end digitization of electrical installations. Regarding the sensor technology, a LiDAR camera was used to take 2D/3D images of the respective room section. In addition, a high-resolution range finder and a laser projector were installed. A web framework was developed to display the stored and recorded data. The BIBA has developed the 360° room registration by means of LiDAR camera, whereby the correct point cloud registration takes place, as well as the semantic 2D analysis of the wall surfaces is investigated.

Das Gesamtziel des Vorhabens besteht in der Entwicklung und prototypischen Implementierung eines intelligenten Systems zur gezielten Anforderungsermittlung sowie optimalen Kundenberatung und -information bei der Suche nach Druckdienstleistungen. Der Kunde soll befähigt werden jederzeit, schnell und einfach und ohne jegliches Vorwissen den perfekten Partner für seine Problemstellung zu finden. Anhand der Spezifikationen soll das System dem Kunden alle möglichen Druckereien inkl. der Preisvorhersagen entsprechend der Nachfragemenge liefern. Zudem soll eine Plattform geschaffen werden, welche die Kunden und Anbieter zusammenbringt. Neben einer Beschleunigung sowie Vereinfachung des Prozesses sind darüber hinaus Kostenreduktionen für den Kunden sowie bessere Margen für bspw. spezialisierte Druckereien zu erwarten, da Unterbeauftragungen vermieden und Markttransparenz geschaffen werden.

The aim of this project is to bring a new software solution for condition monitoring and predictive analytics to the market. The focus relies on a systematic approach, combining the relevant AI algorithms, concepts, and specific solution into an industrial ecosystem. This project will deliver a novel distributed and resilient platform for production and process data ingestion and intelligence (with a focus on predictive maintenance and augmented reality for maintenance), based on microservices and federated machine learning. Additionally, containerisation technologies will provide an abstraction layer enabling scalability, resilience and flexibility. BIBA’s contribution is the integration of Edge devices into UPTIME Detect & Predict

Worksuit 4.0 – AI-based Toolkit for enhancing Human-Robot Interaction in Industry 4.0, is an EIT-Manufacturing project that aims to bring a functional toolkit to market consisting of a wearable fibre-optic sensing system for 3D-human motion capturing in combination with advanced activity and process mining capabilities.

As enabling technologies, the toolkit hardware and software components will provide the means for offering safer human-machine interaction, while maintaining enhanced collaboration levels. Moreover, the appliance of fundamental ergonomic principles (e.g. body postures) is pursued during the execution of process-related tasks, through real-time activity recognition and classification mechanisms.

The outcome of Worksuit 4.0 will be the key-driver for providing a wider spectrum of sophisticated safety and context-oriented applications in assembly processes and supporting continuous process control and optimization of Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) workplaces.

Human/Machine interaction is increasing across the industry. This creates new challenges for users and new interdisciplinary technology skills are needed. Professionals and executives must contribute with robust skills to this change, but frequently lack the time and opportunities to update their competencies. Hence, Comau developed e.DO (educational/professional 6-axis robot, modular, open source) and University of Tartu developed Robotont (open-source mobile robotics platform for robotics/ ROS education). TU Wien and BIBA are leaders in applying different cobot-systems to a multitude of new use-cases.

ENHANCE produces trainings with e.DO and Robotont to support executives and professionals in order to fulfil:

 

• new working and learning needs
• reinforce technical skills (programming, modelling, and validation through Python, ROS and Matlab applications)
• experience new forms of H/M interaction
• produce use-cases as models for industrial applications
• promote a learning-by-doing approach

 

The objective of MARIDAL is the establishment of a regional, industry-related maritime transfer network that will initiate activities in the sense of a "digital pilot" on the subject of digital learning on ships and in the port, as well as qualifying for the digitized port world. The main application areas are the digitized maritime supply chain, the Smart Shipping, and the Digital Port. The focus is on the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the maritime sector, as the resources for linking pedagogy and didactics, technology and organizational development are often lacking in SMEs and there is a need for learning from and among themselves. As a result, synergies can be exploited and competencies for the development of intensified knowledge transfer and qualification concepts can be built commonly.

Offshore construction logistics pose a challenging problem in terms of planning and control. Generally, one can differentiate two approaches: event-discrete simulations and mathematical optimizations. Both methods provide their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of computational time, level of detail, and optimality.

This project aimed to provide a foundation for the complementary use of both model types. Therefore, the project resulted in a set of tools that, e.g., enable users to derive discrete-event simulations and mathematical models for different subproblems from a single unified metamodel. Moreover, the resulting models can provide decision support on an operational level, taking into account current weather forecasts.

In Binntelligent, digital services as well as intelligent processes, procedures and information technologies for the optimization of trimodal logistics and transhipment processes in inland ports and the improved collaboration between inland and seaports are designed, implemented and evaluated in the field of application. It creates a cross-company visibility and transparency of decision-relevant information that allows predicting events in the supply chain.

For this purpose, an information system for (semi-) automated information distribution, operative process support and predictions will be developed. In addition to event predictions, forecasting capability in inland ports is achieved by simulation-based optimization of trimodal transhipment, which processes real-time real data and enables adaptability in synchro-modal freight traffic. Binntelligent considers logistics processes for containers and bulk goods in inland ports as well as the pre- and post-carriages. The planned technologies are designed for use in the Weser and Mittelland Canal shipping areas with the ports of Hanover, Braunschweig, Bremen and Bremerhaven and will subsequently be implemented for application-oriented testing and evaluation.

The unloading of containers is one of the last non-automated activities in a highly developed transport chain. A significant proportion of imported and exported containers are unloaded or loaded in seaports. Existing automatic and semi-automatic systems do not meet the requirements of port operators due to high investment costs, long commissioning times and adaptations to the infrastructure and have a low degree of dissemination. The aim of the IRiS project was to develop a novel, mobile robot system for improving the efficiency and ergonomics of handling processes at seaports. The mechatronics developed for this purpose enables unloading of entire rows of parcels on the one hand, and a fast and flexible deployment without major adaptations to existing operational infrastructure on the other. In addition, an intuitive human-robot interaction interface was developed to handle disturbances as quickly and effortlessly as possible.

Dough fermentation is essential for the bread production process, since not properly fermented doughs lead to low quality breads. Expert personnel do the monitoring of this process manually, which causes quality fluctuations. In this research project, an assistant monitoring system was created to measure changes in the size of the doughs during the fermentation process and if needed adjust parameters such as relative humidity and temperature automatically. This results in uniform growth of the doughs, improving the product quality.

An intelligent fermentation system equipped with a LiDAR camera, a movable linear axis and a processing unit was developed. The recognition of the dough pieces from the images and point clouds generated by the LiDAR camera is based on neural network analysis and point cloud processing implemented by the BIBA. Thanks to the vertical linear axis, several bread doughs can be monitored across different baking trays. In addition, it is possible to create and store fermentation reference curves. These can then be used to control temperature and relative humidity in the fermentation chamber to reduce deviationsand to ensure a consistent product quality..

The implementation of the vertical and horizontal consistency within the functional test process of avionic systems is the main objective of the German national research project AGILE-VT.

The first level of consistency focuses on interoperability in the vertical and horizontal linkage of test environments. For this purpose, the test preparation and test execution is optimized to such an extent that it is not restricted to a specific test environment. It should be portable to other test environments at a significantly lower cost than at present.

The second level of consistency focuses on the interoperability in test development and design support during the test preparation. For this purpose, the phase of test case creation is optimized so far that test cases can be exchanged across the boundaries of test departments in a common standard. In addition, the reusability of results from the test process will be increased by preparing them and suggesting them to the test engineer as part of design support.

The two listed groups of technological goals follow the main goal of consistency and will result in the achievement of interoperability in functional testing of aircraft.

The use of LNG (liquefied natural gas) propulsion systems in ships has major environmental advantages, as it reduces emissions in sea areas and ports. The advantages of this approach in terms of transportation and storage are offset by major handling challenges. There is a lack of sensitive fitting sets for high-volume ship-to-ship LNG transfer. The task of BIBA was to develop an augmented reality (AR) solution that can be used for maintenance and service purposes of these valves.

Thus, a digital assistance system using AR technology for application to LNG valves was developed and evaluated. The development approach was based on the process for designing usable systems, according to DIN 9241-210. An evaluation was carried out by means of a combined quantitative and qualitative user study as well as an expert review, which led to very good results in terms of usability and workload. The AR solution developed on the basis of an Android smartphone enables users to access maintenance instructions and manuals, simplifies spare parts ordering, and supports the work process through context-sensitive step-bystep virtualization.

So far, security research and technology development has focused almost exclusively on human

collaboration with a single robot. However, in industry several robots are increasingly working together

directly for single process steps and share workspace.

The Corofa project aims to develop a procedure for the introduction and design of safe human-robot

collaborations in multi-robot assembly systems. This will create working environments in which humans

and several robots share workspace and work together simultaneously. For safe collaboration, a close-tobody

sensor system will be developed in addition to the procedure with which persons in the workspace

can be detected, identified and localised and their behaviour/intentions can be recognised. It shall be

made possible by intelligent data analysis with process mining algorithms.

The COVR toolkit and the protocols will be integrated into the procedure and verified/validated by a

comparison with the results of the process mining.

Depending on flexibility and capacity requirements, placing fruit on conveyors is performed either completely manually or fully automated in large plants. Affiliated to the process are quality control and final packaging. Against this background, large rationalization potentials for medium flexibility and capacity requirements can be identified by partial automation. Therefore, a robot-robot-human collaborative fruit placing system was developed by the BIBA together with the TU Kaiserslautern and the company MWZ for control engineering.

The fruits are transported in a special conveyor belt, which is controlled by the main system, so that the velocity and position of the belt is known. A camera system detects the pose and defects of the fruits, and send this information to a robotic system with two robotic arms with specially adapted grippers to pick up the fruit without affecting its quality. Both arms work in collaboration with the employees at the conveyor belt to pick up the fruit and place it correctly on a tray, so that it can be properly packed.

As a result of the project, the camera system was able to detect the position and rotation of different types of apples using state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks. Additionally, a near-infrared camera was used to detect bruises and surface defects in apples using different neural network architectures such as SSD (Single Shot Detection) and U-Nets. This way it was possible to perform a quality inspection for each apple. This information was sent to the robotic system using the robotic operative system framework, ROS. The robotic system was able to properly pack and sort the apples in collaboration with human workers.

In the AxIoM research project, a novel assistance system based on artificial intelligence for manual assembly stations was developed. The system checks the assembly process and the quality of the product to be manufactured on the one hand and implements human-centered assistance functionalities on the other. Using image processing and machine learning methods, the system analyzes process data and camera-based information gathered at the assembly station with regard to the ergonomic and production-related work situation. By combining informational process guidance with worktop-projection, automatic monitoring of assembly process and component status, ergonomics posture recognition, and incentive-based gamification, the system was able to reduce both, process times and assembly errors, and achieved a high level of user acceptance.

Sufficient water levels in harbor areas (dock harbors) are of great importance for the efficiency of ports. In many cases, such water levels can only be ensured by the energy-intensive use of pumping stations. An intelligent, integrated network and control of the lock and the associated pumping stations enable an increase in energy-efficiency and easier integration of renewable energies in the port operations to ensure the smooth envelope of goods in tide-free port facilities.

Water levels in dock harbors must be kept at a nearly constant level. For this purpose, the water demand of the locks and other water losses are compensated by the water supply of pumping stations and other water inputs. Due to the number of ships in the lock or a large number of associated and external parameters, a complex control problem arises. This is further complicated by the fact that many of the parameters depend on temporal influencing factors. In the research project, Tide2Use uses initially existing information sources are to be brought together and visualized.

On this basis, it should be automatically recognized whether a water level increase in the harbor basin makes sense. Data from the Automatic Identification System (AIS) as well as data from the National Single Window (NSW), level readings and weather data are to be considered. It is intended to design and develop an adaptive system that can determine regularities in traffic - in particular, small-scale shipping - from AIS tracks and to take them into account in planning.

The aim is to create an assistance system that supports the lock operator. It is intended to recommend a time period to the navigator and lock operator, where the lock gate can be used for natural irrigation of the port without affecting shipping traffic and taking all risks into account. With intelligent and continuous networking of shipping traffic, the lock operation and the associated pumping stations will work more efficiently.

UPTIME aims to design a unified predictive maintenance framework and an associated unified information system in order to enable the predictive maintenance strategy implementation in manufacturing industries. As products become more complex due to evolution of technology, high quality and reliability have become issues of high significance. To reach the required levels of availability, maintainability, quality and safety of production machinery, while considering the system as a whole, and throughout the entire production lifecycle, manufacturing companies are increasingly considering turning to predictive maintenance, by utilising the capabilities of condition monitoring.

The UPTIME predictive maintenance system will incorporate information from heterogeneous data sources, e.g. sensors, to more accurately estimate the process performances. Therefore, UPTIME will extend and unify the new digital, e-maintenance services and tools in order to exploit the full potential of predictive maintenance management, sensor-generated big data processing, e-maintenance support, proactive computing and the four levels of data analytics maturity (Monitor, Diagnose and Control, Manage and Optimize). The UPTIME system will be deployed and validated through implementation in three business cases: white goods home appliances – dryer drum, steel industry – cold rolling machine and construction of production systems – transportation jigs.

The design of flexible handling robots and autonomous vehicles for logistic processes is a great challenge due to heterogeneous objects, variable environmental conditions and complex properties of the 3D sensor technology.

In the VirtuOS project, a freely available online tool was developed with which application scenarios in virtual space can be freely configured and 3D sensor data realistically simulated.

Depending on different optimization criteria, the multi-criteria optimization provides an optimal sensor configuration specific to the application. Automation companies, system integrators and suppliers of sensor/image processing solutions will be supported in the selection and configuration of sensor technology. The tool accelerates development cycles and the rapid development of new business areas.

When handling cryogenic fluids (for example, liquefied natural gas), there are major risks with regard to operational safety. The project pursued the development of a safety system that can be used when refueling a ship with LNG by using a bunkering vessel. In this context, BIBA developed a safety system. This is to be used to monitor the hazardous area. It includes monitoring for possible gas leaks as well as environmental monitoring to prevent injuries to people.

The safety system is based on a combined RGB and thermal camera, which in combination with Deep Learning algorithms enables automatic hazard detection within the use cases. In this way, detection of persons in the hazardous area can be ensured even under maritime conditions (e.g. poor visibility due to fog) during bunkering.

Extensive laboratory tests demonstrated that the selected approach enables reliable detection of the use cases based on thermal images and thus represents a promising alternative to a monitoring approach based on RGB images due to its robustness against maritime environmental conditions.

Due to a lack of skilled workers and external cost pressure, small and medium-sized production companies are also forced to optimize and automate processes. A great potential lies in logistic processes, which often take place manually and thus require productive working time of skilled personnel. For small and medium-sized companies, however, the initial investment for automated processes represents a major hurdle.

The MARGO project aims to use OPIL, an open platform for the integration of logistics processes, to demonstrate the optimisation potential of internal logistics processes in a simple and fast way by means of simulations and to prove the feasibility by means of a pilot test. Thus the risk of an investment is reduced to a minimum and the complete integration can be planned more easily.

For the identification of optimizations, the production environment of a ring gear manufacturer is mapped in a 3D simulation environment, which is part of OPIL. In this way, different application scenarios of automated guided vehicles (AGV) can be evaluated and compared quickly and cost-effectively.

A prototype AGV will be integrated into the cloud based IoT platform. This allows existing processes to be combined with new material handling processes.

The overall objective of the project STRADegy, which was conducted by EUROGATE and BIBA, was to increase the productivity and flexibility in container handling, to reduce the environmental impact, and to increase the security of German seaports. Within the project, automated straddle carriers were evaluated in a field test in Europe for the first time. A straddle carrier is a highly flexible freight-carrying vehicle used for stacking and moving standard containers in container terminals. To achieve the research objectives, a multitude of technical and operational concepts had to be developed and evaluated. A focus was the applicability of the developed concepts for a wide range of container terminals. For this purpose, standard interfaces had to be developed to link IT systems from different manufacturers, such as terminal operating systems (TOS), which control the handling processes in terminals. In this context, BIBA contributed to the design of the pilot experiments and ensured that innovative research approaches were considered throughout all phases of the project. Furthermore, guidelines were prepared that will help to automate mega container terminals in the future. Additionally, the profitability of an automation was assessed through a comprehensive cost simulation. The project STRADegy received funding from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur, BMVI) as part of the program for innovative harbour technologies (IHATEC).

Rotor blade inspection of wind turbines with hub heights of up to 160 m and blade lengths of up to 88 m is a challenge for service technicians. To support them in the future, the project is developing a drone for automatic inspection of the rotor blade surface. The rotor blade to be inspected is automatically flown off and examined for surface defects by means of optical measuring methods and machine learning. An attachment device also allows the drone to make contact with the rotor blade to test the lightning protection device.

In the VR-SUSTAIN project, a training environment was developed to familiarize trainees and skilled workers in automotive production with the existing risks. Virtual reality (VR) technology was used to provide participants with a realistic, immersive learning experience in a specially designed safe environment. Two learning scenarios were implemented: the prevention of physical misuse in the manufacturing process in conjunction with the prevention of scratches and dents on automobiles, and accident prevention in the handling of electrical equipment. Through the implementation of the learning scenarios in the VR-SUSTAIN project, important knowledge was gained about the development and implementation of VR-based training in the manufacturing industry in Europe.

Implementing predictive maintenance (PdM) in production is a challenging, data-intensive task that requires data science experts, who are capable to generate company specific maintenance strategies. There is intense competition between companies to hire these highly skilled experts. Their cost is an important barrier that limits the adoption of PdM. Manufacturers realize PdM with supportive software. Their users require expertise to work with it and the organization invests in employee trainings for this reason. DIAMOND aims to lower the barrier of introducing a digital intelligent assistance in PdM. It will use artificial intelligence to support less skilled employees during tasks, such as failure diagnosis, forecasting and maintenance planning. Employees will be able to have a conversation with it about machines and processes. They may use it during meetings, planning and shop floor tasks where it will provide information about machine health, components, and maintenance events.

The aim of this project is to bring a new software solution for condition monitoring and predictive analytics to the market. The focus relies on a systematic approach, combining the relevant AI algorithms, concepts, and specific solution into an industrial ecosystem. This project will deliver a novel distributed and resilient platform for production and process data ingestion and intelligence (with a focus on predictive maintenance and augmented reality for maintenance), based on micro services and federated machine learning. Additionally containerisation technologies will provide an abstraction layer enabling scalability, resilience and flexibility. BIBA’s contribution is the integration of the enhanced Predictive Maintenance Component in the Predictive Maintenance Component in Resilient Platform. It will enable the modelling of the entire data value chain from data acquisition, condition monitoring and predictive maintenance.

In the safeguARd project, BIBA and the companies craniMAX GmbH and Motec GmbH and the Chair of Robot Systems at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern have developed an augmented reality (AR)-based assistance system for commercial vehicles to increase safety in the workspace.

The safeguARd assistance system enables the early detection of occurring hazardous situations concerning the load and working space of mobile cranes with the help of image-processing methods. In the safeguARd project, BIBA dealt with trajectory prediction and collision detection of persons in the danger zone of the mobile crane. On this basis, BIBA developed an AR-based display of the crane operator's work area. The AR solution was implemented on a head-mounted display.

Maintenance of diesel engines of rail vehicles has been carried out reactively or preventively at periodic intervals. However, a reactive approach is usually associated with high follow-up costs. Periodic preventive measures also generate avoidable maintenance costs since components that could often have been used for a longer period of time are replaced as a precaution. Predictive maintenance, which makes measures necessary only when they are needed, can minimize expenses without increasing the risk of engine failures and resulting costs.

In the course of the project, typical damage patterns of various engines were analyzed to determine the necessary sensor technology for early wear detection and to define target criteria for fault forecasts. Subsequently, a sensor concept was developed that allows retrofitting of engines with a toolbox system to monitor economically relevant damage. After the requirements analysis, the toolbox and a procedure for the automated selection of predictive models were implemented. Finally, the toolbox was evaluated on the DB Fahrzeuginstandhaltung test bench at the Bremen plant.

The result of the project is a toolbox to collect and evaluate sensor data. A special feature is that a suitable predictive model is automatically selected to estimate a component's remaining lifetime. In the application case of diesel engines of rail vehicles, anomalies in the operating behavior, which were caused by, for example, an imbalance of the turbocharger shaft, can be identified clearly. Based on such information on the engine's current condition, optimized maintenance planning can be carried out. However, it should be noted that relative to the high complexity of a diesel engine, only a few components could be considered, and few experiments could be carried out. Thus, sufficient potential for future research projects remains.

As part of the new BIBA-project SmartSens, an autonomous sensor solution is to be developed that can also be used in harsh environments and meets the highest reliability requirements. The measurement of the rope forces on a tow rope during the winch launch of gliders was identified as an application field for the implementation of the sensor solution. The platform determines the occurring rope pull forces according to the situation and transmits them to a ground station, which is operated by a winch driver and visualizes the current forces. This controls the rotational speed of the winch according to the tensile forces on the rope. Incorrect operation can result in considerable material damage and possibly even personal injury. The implementation of an autonomous, inexpensive communication and computer unit with a minimum form factor and the highest degree of reliability opens up many other innovative applications in aviation (e.g. in production and maintenance).

Food retailing has expanded to online distribution in recent years. However, the use of EPS packaging, such as Styropor©, has a strong negative impact on the eco-balance of the individual products and a lot of waste remains with the customer. In the RETROFIT project, a sustainable cooling solution was developed. Cellulose-containing material in the form of paper dust, which is a residual material from waste paper recycling, was used as the starting material. This was used to produce paper foam sheets, which served as the base material for the RETROFIT insulated container. BIBA's subproject then dealt with the logistic design of the overall solution and the development of a sustainable cooling solution. The evaluation of the prototype solution in field tests showed similar insulating behavior to conventional EPS packaging over a period of more than 48 hours. The sustainable cooling solution developed by BIBA was able to demonstrate excellent cooling properties in the deep-freeze range of below -18°C.

The central goal of the project is the development of an autonomous assistance system close to the body for human-robot collaboration in assembly, which is particularly characterized by system neutrality. The aim is to enable MRK-capable assembly processes within various applications in medium-sized companies. Exemplary, the potential of this new type of Assistance systems in terms of flexibility, cognitive relief, ergonomics and safety is being tested and evaluated in application cases. On the one hand, the assembly of transformers during the production process is being considered and on the other hand the welding of mechanical components is being focused in the welder training.

The overall objective of the subproject of BIBA - Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH includes the development of an autonomous sensor system close to the body as well as a sensor system close to the robot or machine, which will be fused in a sensor framework and thus enable human-robot collaboration in assembly. Furthermore, a procedure/method for the design of MRK systems is to be developed.

Current energy management systems are only able to capture the energy data and determine key indicators. Methods of artificial intelligence offer the potential to analyze this enhanced knowledge to support the decision-making process for the selection of process parameters for an energy-efficient production. This approach could increase the transparency of the use of energy by giving automated suggestions which allow to lower the primary energy demand.The KIPro research project examines the possibilities of improving energy efficiency in industrial plants with strongly varying properties of the input materials. The aim is to reduce energy demand through the use of methods of artificial intelligence, such as artificial neural networks in combination with deep learning, architectures, semantic mediators and expert systems, without compromising product quality. These systems analyses large amounts of data and identify specific patterns and rules, training and improving their own knowledge base in order to offer specific proposals for an energy-optimized process.

The vision of MATILDA is to design and implement a holistic 5G end-to-end services operational framework tackling the lifecycle of design, development and orchestration of 5G-ready applications and 5G network services over programmable infrastructure, following a unified programmability model.

It aims to devise and realize a shift in the development of software for 5G-ready applications as well as virtual and physical network functions and network services, through the adoption of a unified programmability model, the definition of proper abstractions and the creation of an open development environment that may be used by application as well as network functions developers.

The developed 5G-ready application components, applications, virtual network functions and application-aware network services are made available for open-source or commercial purposes, re-use and extension through a 5G marketplace.

Logistic processes on sea and inland ports play an important role in the context of finished vehicle logistics. Due to increasing dynamics and complexity, the planning and control of these processes requires high flexibility and reactivity.

The project Isabella comprises the development of solutions for the improvement of the planning and control processes on sea and inland ports. The developed planning and control system was implemented for pilot testing on the vehicle port of the BLG in Bremerhaven. The developed planning tool works on a visual and thus most intuitive basis. A multi-touch table visualizes a 3D-layout of the terminal. Furthermore, the interactive planning tool allows the simulation based comparison of planning alternatives and the graphical visualization of the simulation results. Furthermore, the process of order assignments was digitalized and an optimization algorithm was developed for the management of vehicle movements on the vehicle port. The algorithm assigns tasks based on the current order situation and the location of the vehicles. The developed tracking and tracing system for the localization of the vehicle locations in indoor areas is based on WLAN Round Trip Time.

The interactive planning tool supports the users by the visualization of the planning situation and enables planning adjustments depending on the expected order development. The task assignment based on the localization of the vehicles results in route optimization and the minimization of empty runs. The project was carried out in cooperation with the project partners BLG and 28Apps. The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) as part of the program for innovative port technologies (IHATEC).

Picking is a core process of intralogistics tasks and pursues the goal of compiling deliveries according to customer order; the deliveries are thus subsets of the entire product range. The installation of complex and wired infrastructure systems that supports efficient picking procedures is expensive and also poorly adaptable to a changing warehouse infrastructure. An additional problem in the area of ​​quality assurance of the picking process is the monitoring of the correct picking processes (picks). This is especially true when picking from non-sorted subjects has to be executed as well as the simultaneous processing of multiple orders, in which an item that has been picked takes place in order-specific containers on a picking trolley. In the project, this gap is to be closed by developing a picking system that can be easily and inexpensively integrated into an existing warehouse infrastructure, maintaining a high degree of flexibility of adaptation and ensuring high quality standards. The maintenance effort should also be significantly lower than with conventional wireless systems. The system to be developed represents a deliberate departure from the development trend of continuous automation of warehouses and picking processes.

In the context of ongoing industrial digitization, new technologies are introduced to make production processes more efficient.

The digital data, which are created and processed by cyber-physical systems, promise additional improvements for adjacent areas, e.g. the restructuring of factories. Thus, the trend towards "Industry 4.0" influences factory planning and requires adapted methods for this task.

Within the project EILa, the prospects of digitized factory planning were identified and examined, based on a literature study as well as an empirical investigation .

The results serves as a methodical guideline for state-of-the-art factory layout planning and identifies further research areas for adaptable digital factories.

Das Testen sicherheitsrelevanter und -kritischer Teile, sowie deren Zusammenwirken in verschiedenen Komponenten, ist ein wichtiger und notwendiger Prozess für den sicheren Betrieb im Bereich der Luftfahrt. INCONTROL betrachtet die Systeme, welche zum Testen von Teilen und Komponenten genutzt werden. Dabei wird darauf geachtet, dass die bisher aufwendigen Systeme hin zu modulare und wiederverwendbare Einheiten entwickelt werden. Durchgängig modulare Testanlagen, sowie Architekturen erlauben u. a. schnell und flexibel neue Konzepte und Technologien integriert zu testen und bewerten zu können. Dadurch lassen sich inkrementelle oder andere neue Entwicklungen schneller für das finale Produkt nachweisen und bei Verifikation fristgerecht in den finalen Entwurf zu integrieren.

“RU EU?” is a project targeted to research, design, develop and evaluate an innovative, interactive game that will help young people to explore national and European identity and values. It has an approach to present the young Europeans with different problems that they can understand and relate to from their environment and surroundings. These problems are to be resolved by making decisions that will have considerable impact on their skills to perceive, connect and increase their understanding of Europe and European identity and values. The aim of this game is to teach, nourish, test and extend the knowledge of European identity, values, cultures and traditions while keeping it interesting for the young learners. The topic regarding the conflict between national and European identity keeps on returning to surface from time to time. It will solve challenging problems along the line of conflicts, which are rooted to the discussion of identity. As it also has a social dimension to it, the players will need to collaborate with others to tackle the problems at hand and make decisions to resolve the situation to win or complete the game.

In the course of the stable development of the German construction industry, the heating, ventilation, and climate control technology sector is recording steady employment growth. In addition to a growing shortage of skilled workers, the increasing networking of the world of work is creating new challenges for skilled technical personnel. As a result, there is a need to provide any employee involved in a work process with all the information needed to perform a work task in real-time. Technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR), which enrich reality with virtual information, are particularly suitable for this purpose. Therefore, BIBA and AnyMotion GmbH developed an AR-based assistance system to support service technicians in the maintenance of heating, air conditioning, and cooling systems.

The KlimAR assistance system supports the service technicians in their workflow during the maintenance of complex heating, air conditioning, and cooling systems. The use of data glasses made it possible to prepare and supply technical documentation in the work process, to provide orientation and work support with the help of additional virtual information and to adapt the documents used by interacting with the displayed content. In this way, it was possible to reduce the search effort in the maintenance process significantly and to support the documentation tasks that had previously occurred.

In the project Geregelt, an integrated control system for the energy-efficient operation of building technology in large infrastructures was developed. This control system connects the existing energy sources and energy storage with energy consumers while incorporating external data (e.g. environmental data, passenger data, aircraft arrivals, weather).

The control system was implemented for the exemplary application scenario "apron lighting" at the Bremen Airport. In this scenario, data on aircraft arrivals and parking positions as well as brightness information are automatically implemented in the lighting control system. The proportion of artificial light provided by the dimmable LED floodlights supplements the natural brightness in such a way that the required amount of light (e.g. traffic route lighting, boarding lighting, maintenance lighting) is achieved for each specific position. In a second application scenario, the control system for the BIBA-auditorium was implemented. The technical implementation of the control system is currently being completed in order to finally integrate the complex communication of the control system with the building control system of the university. The environment and the finances already benefit from the lower energy consumption due to the new energy systems (heating, LED lighting). The project has also used the example of the major infrastructure of Bremen Airport to investigate future-oriented options for energy-efficient operation of energy and building services engineering, such as the use of storage technologies and electromobility, by means of a simulation study. The study examined various system configurations and derived corresponding timetables for the operation of the systems. The study showed that the desired smoothing of the load curves could be achieved to reduce the costs for external energy purchases. The examined scenarios were transferred to a future energy concept.

To improve the persistence, reusability, and sustainability of experimental research data, digital infrastructures for capturing, storing, and disseminating have been established (InfoSys, Radischen, etc.).

As in many areas, large amounts of research data are generated through experiments in the field of materials science. Up to now, these have been stored in decentralized, island solutions with little standardization. As part of the predecessor project InfoSys, a central infrastructure was created, which allows for the structured storage of 90% of the research data generated, including metadata, for metallic materials. The system developed is now in daily use and relies on user- and environment-specific input possibilities (e.g., tablets) to increase usability, efficiency, and at the same time, the acceptance of the system on site. In the context of this follow-up project, the existing system, as an example of a digital infrastructure for research data, is to be adapted, expanded, and optimized for its use for research, data mining, and dissemination of experimental data.

Here, the focus is no longer on easy, customized, and user-friendly data entry but on the later utilization of the data by third parties. The extensions to be developed, however, should not only be applicable to the pilot project but should allow and promote wider application. For this purpose, the InfoSys system is to be expanded with additional functions. A particular focus lies on a sophisticated search function and analysis tools based on data mining and semantic linking. This will make it possible to more efficiently exploit the potential of the data that is now centrally and structurally available.

At the same time, further measures in the area of quality assurance of research data are being developed and implemented. This is essential, especially in the context of referencing by Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The quality assurance measures partially overlap with the aforementioned analysis tools, such as automatic plausibility checks.

Additionally, innovative methods are to be developed that allow users to more easily assess the quality of research data. To ensure sufficient complexity and transferability, material science data from the class of fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) will be added, with all the specific characteristics regarding metadata and experimental procedures.

In the 21st century we are witnessing the raising and resulting expansion of new resources and methods for teaching and learning across Europe through the use and integration of new technologies and new ways of processing and disseminating information. These rapid technological changes in their form and use are opening new horizons for those people who want to improve their competences and remain active in the field of lifelong learning, especially in segments of the population with low digital competencies such as people of mature age (Population +55) or immigrants from low-tech areas.

These technological elements are focused around the creation of a set of video games integrated into a digital platform in such a way as to stimulate, firstly, the acquisition of digital competences and, secondly, the stimulation of cognitive functions and linguistic competences for the segment of the population targeted by this proposal as final beneficiaries. For these video games, 3D models of some European cities will be created, which players will have to visit in order to collect historical and heritage information and take on tests in order to complete the game.

WELD 4.0 is going to innovate the Welding VET by updating the European Welder profile, to harmonise and standardise requirements and training standards across Europe. The enhanced profile is also addressing new technologies in the context of Industry 4.0. Based on that profile, innovative tools are developed, including new approaches of teaching and learning using methods for skill and competence development such as Game Based Learning, Simulators and Serious Gaming. The new approach is piloted through hands-on approach seminars in three different industrial countries in Europe: Germany, Portugal and the UK.

The main objective of the SaSCh joint project, together with the project partners Robert Bosch GmbH, BLG LOGISTICS, queo GmbH and GS1 Germany GmbH, was a continuous end-to-end monitoring of the status and logistical quality of parts, components and products within supply processes. An automotive supply chain served as a test case.

The SaSCh project developed an innovative technical solution that integrates mobile sensors, gateways, 3D image processing, cloud platforms and digital services. In result, quality-relevant environmental influences on the products as well as the geolocation of transports are recorded and digitalised. For event-based data exchange, the EPCIS standard has been extended with means for the exchange of sensor and quality data. Based on the generated data, digital services ensure product and process quality in supply chains.

From the perspective of the automotive industry, transparency and responsiveness against supply chain disruptions are increased. As a result, special transports, reworking or production downtimes can be reduced.

The project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) as part of the technology programme “PAiCE-Digital Technologies for the Economy”.

Das Projekt Rang-E ist eine Durchführbarkeitsstudie zur Beurteilung der Machbarkeit von autonomen Rangiervorgängen am Beispiel der Hafenbahn Bremerhaven. Es werden technische, ökonomische und rechtliche Aspekte beleuchtet. Das autonome Rangieren ermöglicht die optimierte Disposition und Einsatzsteuerung von Rangierloks im Hafen – sowohl beim Containerumschlag als auch im Automobilumschlag. Die Terminals in Bremerhaven bieten dabei eine ausgezeichnete Plattform, da Bremerhaven einen hohen Bahn-Anteil im Hinterlandverkehr aufweist. Es werden verschiedene Automatisierungsstufen bis hin zur vollständigen Autonomie und Selbststeuerung von Rangierloks beleuchtet. Rang-E bezieht erweitert auch die Kompetenz deutscher Hafenunternehmen bzgl. aktueller Strategien zur Digitalisierung der deutschen Wirtschaft wie Internet of Things (IoT) und Logistik 4.0.

The aim of the research project "OBELiSK - Intelligent Outdoor Lighting Concept in a Port Environment" is to derive motion patterns or motion prognoses from operational data and DGPS coordinates of the port handling equipment or via smartphones using algorithms and thus enable intelligent lighting of a terminal by dimming LEDs. In addition, it must be possible to illuminate certain areas for special events via a central control system. The consortium estimates that lighting can save around 20% of current energy consumption.

The LINCOLN project aims to propose added-value

specialized vessels able to run requested services for Marine Aquaculture, Ocean Energy Coastal Monitoring

Control and Surveillance, and Rescue sectors in the most effective, efficient economic valuable and ecofriendly

way. These design and development projects will use an innovative fact based design model

approach which combines real operative data at sea with lean methodology, in order to support the

appropriate development and implementation of the new vessel concepts enhance the competitiveness of the

EU shipping sector and maximise opportunities for innovation in the European shipbuilding and

maritime equipment industry. Finally LINCOLN will use ad hoc IT tools, customized for the Maritime

environment to support the Lean Fact Based Design enabling the acquisition and the usage of field data

coming from an IoT platform and High Performance Computing- HPC- Simulation.

The aim of the project is the development and testing of an automatic monitoring system for wire ropes based on an innovative and intelligent measuring method. Therefore, a mobile system will be developed, which is also designed for a permanent installation on the wire rope. Consequently, the determination of the condition from the wire rope and a permanent monitoring will be possible with the system to be developed.

The project ProDiS provides a significant contribution to increasing innovation of German small and medium sized enterprises in the field of sea port industry with a focus on offshore wind energy logistics and the handling of containers. For this purpose, a concept for the development of product-service systems for companies in the port logistics is developed and tested in the operational environment. The aim of ProDiS is the development and testing of scalable and modularized company-wide digital services to the port of the future.

Towards the end of the project, the possibilities for the development and provision of services are identified and tested for their efficacy on the basis of three selected demonstrators. It is an information service (eg binding weather data), a planning service (eg integrated planning for all organizations involved in availability issues on a project), and a service as part of the operation (eg flow control to optimize turnaround times).

The project has a duration of three years and six months (11/2015 - 04/2019) and is founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the reference number 01FJ15081.

In the production of fibre composite components, it is still a problem to monitor the curing process reliable. In this project a Curing Transponder was developed, which uses RFID technology to detect the curing of fibre composite components. The project focuses on glass and carbon fibre components. The transponder can store detailed data about the component state and send this data to a software system. This system can interpret the RFID-Signal in order to visualize the curing process. Thus, its possible to control the production steps more efficiently. The BIBA institute conducted the data analysis and the development of algorithms which are necessary to interpret the RFID signals to determine the curing process of the fibre composite components. The project was performed in cooperation with the Faserinstitut Bremen [FIBRE] and the companies tagItron (Salzkotten) and Haindl Kunststoffverarbeitung (Bremen).

Subproject B5 - Safe Processes

In the 3rd phase of funding, the Project B5 aims at realization of a method for an automated quality inspection of cold formed micro parts. This method has to be integrated on the existing demonstrator platform. The result will be a fast and calibrated 3D-metrology system that can automatically measure deviations of object geometries in a measurement volume of about 1 mm3. Thereby in addition to deviations from the object geometry, undesired surface imperfections can be detected, which may be within the tolerances but still weaken the structure of the thin-walled components. Thus, the fast acquisition of the micro parts surface turns from a random sample inspection, being developed throughout the 2nd phase, into a 100% inspection.

Subproject C4 - Simultaneous Engineering

The manufacturing of micro components is characterized by a complex interplay of material, process and control parameters. Slight changes to single operations can have a drastic impact on the manufacturing costs and qualities of the overall process chain. Consequently, the subproject C4 is developing a method for the planning and configuration of micro process chains, that enables an integrated process and production planning by the use of so called cause-effect networks. The continuation of the project focusses on the development of methods for (semi-)automatic generation of process chains based on workpiece features.

Within the „Mit uns digital!“ Mittelstand 4.0-Kompetenzzentrum, Hannover, the BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik at the University of Bremen - has established its "factory of expertise" on Autonomous Control in Production und Logistics, which is able to offer services to small and medium sized enterprises (SME) coping with digital logistics and Industrie 4.0.

Services offered by the BIBA "factory of expertise" include demonstration of own activities related to "Industrie 4.0" and digital logistics, instruction and training courses for SME employees as well as dialogue workshops with SME.

 

• The training and instruction courses aim to qualify SME employees to gain expertise in digital logistics.
• The dialogue workshops aim at identifying potential applications of digital logistics within SME and specifying projects to implement them.

 

These services are currently offered within the project "Mittelsand 4.0 Kompetenzzentrum Bremen".

The Internet of Things (IoT) brings opportunities to create new services and products, reducing costs for societies, and changing how services are sold and consumed. Despite this, one of the most critical obstacles are the "vertical silos" that shape today’s IoT. Indeed, vertical silos constitute a serious impediment to the creation of cross-domain, cross-platform and cross- organisational services due to the lack of interoperability and openness.

The upcoming H2020 bIoTope project (grant agreement n° 688203), standing for Building an IoT OPen innovation Ecosystem for connected smart objects, aims to lay the foundation for open innovation ecosystems, where companies can – with minimal investment – innovate by creating new Systems-of- Systems (SoS) platforms for connected smart objects.

BEACONING stands for Breaking Educational Barriers with Contextualised, Pervasive and Gameful Learning and will focus on ‘anytime anywhere’ learning by exploiting pervasive, context-aware and gamified techniques and technologies, framed under the Problem-Based Learning approach. For this the project will

 

1. Integrate technologies, pedagogical and social perspectives using pervasive, context-aware and gamified approaches ensuring that the BEACONING platform is innovative while also extending our scientific understanding and practice-based experiments of engaging a community of learners including those with disabilities with a more inclusive, connected and contextualised learning process.

 

2.Develop, implement and validate the BEACONING platform that: leverages cutting-edge approaches including the Future Internet technology, mobile, gamification, pervasive gaming, procedural game content generation, game authoring, human-computer interfaces, learning analytics and problem-based learning model; is usable, adaptable, extendable and sustainable.

3.Explore and measure the level of engagement, effectiveness and Impact that is enabled by the BEACONING platform towards incentivising learners and fostering acquisition and transfer of knowledge and skills, validate this through large scale pilots involving a community of stakeholders and practitioners in Europe, and provide an exploitation and business plan for the platform adoption.

Motivation

Der Übergang zwischen verschiedenen Verkehrsmitteln ist oft mit Herausforderungen verbunden, bspw. bei der Mitnahme von Gepäck beim Umsteigen von der Bahn in den Bus. Mobilitätslösungen, die individuell den Übergang zwischen verschiedenen Verkehrsmitteln unterstützen, versprechen eine passgenaue Mobilität und somit höhere Lebensqualität.

Ziele und Vorgehen

Im Projekt soll ein Mobilitätskonzept für die intermodale Mobilität von Personen mit körperlichen Einschränkungen erstellt werden, dessen Hauptgegenstand autonome miniaturisierte Fahrzeuge sind, die während intermodaler Reisen intelligent unterstützen. Für eine effektive Unterstützung (Ein-, Ausstiegs- oder Gehhilfen und Personen- sowie Gepäcktransport), erfolgt eine Kommunikation und Interaktion mit anderen Fahrzeugen (Bahnen, Bussen etc.) und der Infrastruktur (Haltestellen, Aufzügen etc.). Ferner soll eine selbstlernende, adaptive Steuerung und ein modulares Sensorframework konzipiert und so ein teil- und vollautonomes Fahren in konfliktären Verkehrsräumen möglich werden. Außerdem sollen adaptive altersgerechte Benutzerschnittstellen partizipativ gestaltet und das Konzept benutzerseitig evaluiert werden.

Innovationen und Perspektiven

Die Fahrzeuge verbinden Verkehrsmittel intelligent und unterstützen so Übergänge. Durch adaptive Interaktionsschnittstellen und eine intelligente Steuerung für Verkehrsräume mit unterschiedlichen Nutzungen werden Benutzerfreundlichkeit und Effizienz gesteigert.

Im vorliegenden Projekt soll eine IT-gestützte Cowarehousing-Plattform sowie ein entsprechendes Geschäftsmodell konzipiert, implementiert, erprobt und evaluiert werden, so dass geteilte, kleinteilige und kurzfristige Lagernutzungen möglich werden. Das sogenannte Cowarehousing stellt einen äquivalenten Ansatz zum Teilen von Wohnraum (airbnb) in der Logistik dar und sorgt für eine bessere Balance zwischen Auslastung und Überkapazität. Anbieter könnten ungenutzte Lagerflächen über die Plattform kleinteilig und kurzfristig an entsprechende Nachfrager vermieten und so ihre Wertschöpfung steigern. Über die Plattform soll mittels Ansätzen des maschinellen Lernens ein automatisierter Abgleich von Angebot und Nachfrage erfolgen. Ebenfalls soll die Plattform die verschiedenen Parteien bei der Vertragsgestaltung und nutzungsbasierten Abrechnung sowie dem verteilten Bestandsmanagement unterstützen.

The project “MESA – Media Applications in Welding Training” focuses on the application of digital media for training purposes within the welding sector. As a new key development in the welding sector, welding trainer simulators are expected to greatly improve the learning process. Towards this goal, MESA strives to integrate digital media in basic and advanced training situations in regard of industrial and didactic requirements. The project deeply analyses all welding trainer simulators that are present on the German market. MESA examines the content of industry-wide training as well as possible adaptions towards specific training requirements of individual corporations.

Partners in MESA are the Institut Technik und Bildung of the University of Bremen, the Gesellschaft für Schweißtechnik International mbH, Bildungszentren Rhein-Ruhr, and C+P Bildung GmbH. Further associated partners are DVS - Deutscher Verband für Schweißen und verwandte Verfahren e.V., DVS Media GmbH, Volkswagen AG, Alexander Binzel Schweisstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, and Schweißtechnische Lehr- und Versuchsanstalt Nord gGmbH

Online sales of fresh and frozen food (E-Food) requires a specialized packaging solution. Thereby, specific technical, economic and environmental requirements as well as the user experience have to be considered. Usually, this packaging is made of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and Styrofoam. The storage and disposal of these, comparably bulky EPS packaging is very difficult for private households and reduces the acceptance of E-Food. Therefore, the objective of this project is to the adaptation of the EPS packaging in order to increase its crushability and render it easier to store and dispose, while retaining its thermodynamic properties. The task of the BIBA focusses on the theoretical and simulative development of a product and process model for the integrated simulation and optimization of the manufacturing process.

The competition for offshore wind energy maintenance services is steadily increasing. The quality of the service represents the decisive differentiation feature in the industry. In addition, public requirements lead to the necessity of constant further development and training of the employees. As a result of the decentralized service stations, further trainings are characterized by high logistics costs due to the transfer of employees to central qualification measures. At the same time, the weather conditions at sea, for example, frequently lead to temporal free spaces, which could potentially be used for qualification measures.

The aim of the project is to improve competitiveness through the considerably more effective training of the staff. On the one hand, e-Learning enables the aspect of decentralised and temporally flexible mediation of learning contents. On the other hand, the gamification approach is designed to increase the acceptance and motivation of the staff. Results gained from the analysis of service logs are serving as input for the overall solution, in order to develop a comprehensive and useful application.

To cope with the increasingly demanding competitive environment, companies have to strengthen their innovative powers and intelligently merge quality aims and domain knowledge. They have to develop new capabilities, both resource and knowledge wise, and find effective possibilities of delivering the right products.

The “Innovativ Kraft” project will develop methods and tools to enable companies to collaborate and harness their joint innovative powers. iKraft will foster effective innovation processes and thus the improvements of the companies’ products. The collaborative use will also yield a much better return-on-investment, e.g. on testing-facilities, equipment, know-how and the pursuit of further initiatives.

Innovativ Kraft will focus on the utilisation of Meta data and have a modular approach for the collaborative development of capabilities at its core. The project is based on the needs of the involved companies to find joint solutions and has a special focus on the development and use of testing facilities and the connected know-how.

Each accident at work is a personal fate and at the same time an economic loss for the employer and for society. The application range of powered industrial vehicles within intralogistics offers a high risk potential. Driver assistance systems for industrial vehicles such as forklifts can be used here in order to increase the attention of potentially affected employees at the crucial moment and warn the people involved.

The project aims at both researching general methods to improve work safety at motor-powered ground conveyors and specifically applying 2D/3D image processing methods in a demonstrator system to prove this method effective in increasing work safety in such an environment. The developed demonstrator can serve as a basis to engineer a system for ground conveyors to notify the driver of potential hazards, which then could be integrated and retrofitted into ground conveyors independent of the manufacturer.

The Manutelligence project aims to close the gap between product and service development. For this purpose, a cross-disciplinary collaborative management environment for Product-Service engineering has to be created. The integration of product and service development is based on a combined lifecycle model that includes both perspectives.

Besides common PLM tools, such as CAD and production planning, two existing simulation tools have to be adapted, enabling lifecycle assessment and lifecycle costing of Product-Services. The collaborative management environment will be evaluated in four use cases: automotive, cruise ships, modular houses and additive manufacturing.

PSYMBIOSYS aims at improving the competitiveness of European Manufacturing industries by developing an innovative product-service engineering environment, symbolized by a five-pointed symbiosis star – design-production, product-service, knowledge-sentiment, EDA-SOA, business-innovation – and able to dramatically reduce the time-to-market of more attractive and sustainable product-service solutions.

Success in the market is not only determined by the product itself, but also by its service extensions. BIBA established the term “Extended Products” for such Product-Service-Systems and can look back upon a long history on research in this field. BIBA is the coordinator the project FALCON, which consists of 13 partners from 8 European countries. Its core research focusses on the acquisition und application of product usage information for product and service design. To achieve this goal FALCON exploits novel sensor technologies, information and communication technologies and additional information from the Internet for gathering feedback during the usage phase of a product.

The objective: to develop knowledge based engineering and innovative tools for product development.

The main objective of "STEVE" aims in the development of an environmentally friendly air traffic system. Here, two strategic objectives are pursued. The first objective focuses on the development of environmentally friendly system technologies. Examples include inter alia lighter components or new power supplies (fuel cells) and their input into the aircraft. The second objective addresses the improving of development efficiency and thus is an essential precursor for the development of environmentally friendly systems - especially against the background of increasing system complexities in shorter development times.

Within the collaborative project JobNet 4.0 the BIBA developed a decision-making software tool. It especially helps small and medium-sized aviation enterprises to find the right methods of production planning and control (PPS) for alternating order situations. This tool is compatible with existing software systems, thus, it can be quickly integrated into the PPS processes, and it is transferable to other industries such as mechanical engineering or the automotive industry. Project partners were Quast Praezisionstechnik GmbH and FMM Finkenwerder Metall- und Maschinenbau OHG operating in Hamburg.

Omnidirectional drives are very common in the robotics area. They enable a robot to move on a plane completely free and thus an excellent maneuverability. But they also impose high demands on the evenness and cleanliness of the roadway.

The construction machinery market constantly calls for improvements in maneuverability of the machinery. Omnidirectional drive technology can meet such requirements. However a direct transfer from the omnidirectional technology commonly used for robot applications is not possible due to the work environment found at construction sites.

The Bremen Institute for Production and Logistics (BIBA) developed in collaboration with the Company IVA Johann Construction GmbH an innovative omnidirectional track system for applications involving construction equipment in the harshest environments.

The system will be designed, simulated and the finally constructed. The interaction of the system elements with the surface are of great interest due to the challenges imposed by the new kind of tracking system.

For the efficient operation of an offshore wind park it requires well-balanced and cost-efficient logistics. The joint project IeK aims at the development of a real-time planning and control system through the connection of forecast data and real weather data, data of the sea, data of ship movement and order data. Due to the steady expansion of offshore wind energy and the resulting need for maintenance of such facilities, the number of supply tours increases significantly. The great number of facilities, high costs for transport, material and personnel and the rising complexity of the planning lead to a need for a comprehensive information system for planning and control as well as for the support of operational logistics processes. The aim of this research project, which BIBA Institute conducts together with the project partners cluetec, energy&meteo and Jade University of Applied Sciences, is the development of a system, which offers actors from the offshore wind energy service logistics a well-founded source of information for operational decision-making processes. This includes the current and future situation of weather and sea conditions and the individual performance of used transport ships. Furthermore, the system is supposed to provide the basis for efficient and high-quality pre-planning of resource allocation at sea. Additionally, a low-cost system for wave measurement will be developed.

In the project AR maintenance system an assistance system for service technicians of wind turbines has been developed. The system supports the service technician - that is equipped with data glasses - by providing information for the execution of service orders and by documenting the relevant data. Within the project the system development has been divided in three subsystems: navigation, work instruction and life-time documentation. The subsystem navigation comprises the support of orientation and working sequence of the service technicians by applying methods of indoor localization and positioning. Within the subsystem work instruction a user-friendly interaction between data glasses and service technicians has been developed that includes, amongst others, the visualization of working instructions in the field of view. Documentation, data security and data storage have been work contents of the subsystem life-time documentation.

The Cellular Conveyor, abbreviated Celluveyor, is a highly flexible modular conveying and positioning system that is based on the approach of cellular conveying technology. Small hexagonal modules contain specially arranged omnidirectional wheels, which are individually and selectively controlled. This enables the logistics operator to move and to position several objects simultaneously and independently on any track. The Celluveyor covers complex material handling tasks in a minimum of space.

<p>Companies today face the challenge of the tension between cost pressures, conservation and promotion of the employability and skills development of their employees not only to solve, but to solve it innovatively. Exacerbation is added through consideration of demographic trends. Recent studies confirm the necessary shift from a deficit perspective, according to which older workers due to an increased disease risk, both physically and mentally to lose employability and instead emphasize the role of experience-based knowledge and its innovation potential. Therefore, the three inter-related factors of occupational structure, competence development and design of work need to be aligned in organization through operations in line.</p>

<p>As there is not "the one right way" in terms of designing demographically fair labor, regional as well as business and industry-specific aspects need to be taken into account. Therefore, the joint project ArKoH analyses the future of technology, age structures, work organization and skills necessary. The future development in the production and installation of offshore components and other port-related activities is anticipated and investigated.</p>

<p>The aim of the project is in close connection to technological and operational development processes to determine the changing work processes in order to derive appropriate training concepts. Since, in particular in small and medium-sized companies the financial and time budget for training and development is very tight, the learning is not done at work in the sense of traditional approaches such as seminar phases, but through the use of playful methods that can be used in addition to the actual work process (serious gaming). Together with the companies in the offshore industry, an approach for workflow-integrated skills development will be developed, tested and evaluated in the operational environment.</p>

<p>The project has a duration of three years and three months (12/2013 - 02/2017) and is founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the reference number 01FK13058.</p>

<b>Transfer Project T3 - Microcavity</b><br><br>

Realizing 100% quality inspection of micro parts requires an interplay between fast measurement and evaluation techniques. The aim of transfer project T3 is to achieve this goal in cooperation with the partner institute BIAS and the industry partner Hubert Stüken GmbH & Co. KG. Within this project BIBA develops fast and reliable evaluation algorithms, particularly suited for the digital holography developed at BIAS and the high production rates at Hubert Stüken GmbH & Co. KG.

In the project „preInO“ tools and methods for the realisation of a preacting maintenance were developed by means of artificial intelligence. These have been validated by means of a demonstrator. Great optimisation potentials concerning the deployment of personnel, spare parts and transport were pointed out. The project has been implemented in cooperation with the turbine manufacturer SENVION from Hamburg and the software developer SWMS from Oldenburg.

The HighSea experiment is part of the Fortissimo project. It will improve the design process of leisure boats by incorporating real usage data. For this purpose, the collected usage data are analyzed. The gained knowledge is used to adapt the boat structure. Newly generated structures are tested through fluid dynamics simulation. The simulation is done using the high performance computing infrastructure provided through Fortissimo.

BIBA will support the collection of real usage data by applying its Universal Marine Gateway (UMG) on several leisure boats. The UMG is device developed in the BOMA project. It is used to collect data about, e.g. temperature and humidity. The UMGs will be connected to the ICT infrastructure of the remaining project partners.

The use of forklift trucks implies a high risk of accidents in intra-logistics. Due to the demographic change and the forthcoming skilled worker shortage, it becomes more and more important for logistics companies to preserve the health of their workers, since the loss of know-how can often not be compensated especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, the development of new technologies, that raise safety and efficiency and that support cognitive ability in working environments, will become increasingly important in the future. Therefore, the project IntraSafe concerns the development of an assistance system for forklift trucks. It is based on a linkage of workers and forklifts via infrared technology that enables a combination of collision avoidance and intelligent routing of forklift trucks for increasing safety and efficiency of logistics processes.

The process of production planning and control contributes significantly to the efficiency of modern production systems. However, common central planning methods in industrial application show deficits in complex and dynamic production environments. In contrast to prevailing central control methods, approaches of autonomous control offer the chance to cope with these dynamic conditions more efficiently. An interlinking of central planning with autonomous control methods promises the advantages of both approaches. Nevertheless, there is currently a lack of knowledge concerning the interlinking of central production planning with autonomous production control. Therefore, the interdependencies have to be analysed in order to combine both approaches efficiently. The project developed efficient methods for the combination of central production planning with autonomous production control. This promises an improvement both of the logistical performance as well as the degree of production plan fulfilment.

While airfreight accounts for only one percent of total freight traffi c, the actual value of the goods transported by airfreight equates to 40 per cent. In addition, around

60 per cent of the freight is transported in passenger aircraft. For this reason, airfreight supply chains are regulated by strict security requirements.

BIBA‘s involvement in the project included analysing existing logistics processes and regulations governing the handling of airfreight. BIBA designed new logistics process

es based on the functions of the solutions that had been developed. It is hoped that these processes will lead to more automation and digitisation. The new processes were evaluated in test series at Bremen Airport.

founded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with the reference number 13N12640.

Passenger and cargo security at airports is a current and complex issue, particularly determined by the quality of the security checks conducted by people. The overall goal of the RISKLES project is the conception and exemplary implementation of a standardized personnel management process for minimizing risk when deploying experts in airport security.

To this end, practices in aviation security should be improved through effective hiring of new employees as well as the continuous competence development of current staff. This particularly concerns topics in the areas of risk awareness and management, and improvement or exchange of know-how. Researching both current practices and future methods and processes to support the selection and development of personnel in a security-critical area are key contents of the RISKLES project.

The joint project is divided into various sub-projects and, within the scope of the sub-project of the University of Bremen, the BIK is concerned with identifying existing methods and tools in the area of knowledge management, recording the existing requirements and current practices in the field of aviation security, and developing an IT-supported, metrics-based system which will be embedded in the overarching RISKLES personnel and security management reference process.

This aims to clearly demonstrate that processes in a security-relevant environment can be supported and standards can be sustainably increased. For example, knowledge-based systems should help to archive existing knowledge within a workflow and to distribute it during the training phase of new employees and in the further education of corresponding professionals.

The project Next Generation Thermopack developed an innovative packaging system for the

distribution of frozen goods. Compared to conventional solutions a longer period of refrigeration

can be realized with the same amount of dry ice. This saves costs and reduces the environmental

impact. The prequalified packaging system is exclusively distributed by the K+S (Kühlund

Spezialtransporte GmbH) from Bremerhaven, which developed the solution of insulated

container and cooling element together with the BIBA.

The mission of the FITMAN (Future Internet Technologies for MANufacturing industries) project is to provide the FI PPP Core Platform with 10 industry-led use case trials in the domains of Smart, Digital and Virtual Factories of the Future.FITMAN Trials will test and assess the suitability, openness and flexibility of FI-WARE Generic Enablers while contributing to the STEEP (social-technological-economical-environmental-political) sustainability of EU Manufacturing Industries.

The use case trials belong to several manufacturing sectors such as automotive, aeronautics, white goods, furniture, textile/clothing, LED lighting, plastic, construction, and manufacturing assets management.

Goods, such as perishables, pharmaceutical

and chemical products or electronic articles,

which are sensitive to ambient influences,

such as temperature fluctuations, high humidity

or shocks, quality deficiencies occur

frequently during transport. Nowadays,

data loggers are used to measure ambient

conditions during transport. Thus, faults

caused by the transporters can be identified

and proofed only afterwards. On the one

hand the consequences are waste of highquality

goods as well as financial losses and

on the other hand time losses (replenishment

time) that may lead to delays and customer

dissatisfaction.

Researches of BIBA had invented and patented

the “adaptable telematics”. Based on

this knowledge a prototype of the adaptable

telematics was developed and tested within

this projetct. In addition to a conventional

GPRS gateway with GPS module, this unit

consists of wireless sensor cubes. Hereby it

is possible to measure ambient conditions in

real time such as temperature, humidity,

shock and light directly at the goods during

transport and storage. Online monitoring

enables logistics provider to react promptly

to faults in order to reduce product losses.

Furthermore, the created transparency

makes it possible to detect possible faults at

an early stage to avoid these faults. In addition,

the transparency is used for tour planning,

thus, the efficiency of logistics can be

increased. Another advantage of the adaptable

telematics is the detection of an unauthorized

use of the load carrier and thus

provide information to the user about the

progress and the current location (e.g. for

theft protection).

In addition to the telematics system, a web

portal was developed within the project as

well. The applicability of both systems has

been tested and proven in several field tests

in cooperation with the HOYER Multilog.

By using the system, the load carriers were

monitored energy-efficiently as well as online,

and the transparency was used to optimize

logistic processes.

The research project CyProS acquired methods for developing Cyber-Physical Systems

(CPS) which contribute to a higher transparency and a better control of the complex production process. For this purpose the BIBA analyzed the manufacturing logistics‘ requirements of the gear factory Wittenstein AG and determined potential improvements. In order to make those capabilities accessible, the BIBA developed a concept for a Cyber-Physical logistics system called <a href="www.youtube.com/watch" target="_blank">“Milkrun 4.0”</a> and validated it by means of a simulation study. The simulation disclosed that the “Milkrun 4.0” reduces the material consumption by 30 percent while responsiveness is increased. The prototypical implementation in the company of Wittenstein AG fell to the project partner aio IT for Logistics GmbH.

<br /><br />

Furthermore, a <a href="www.biba.uni-bremen.de/industrie4.html" target="_blank">competence and transfer centre</a> has been initiated. On the one hand, CPS (-applications) are developed and tested in this centre. On the other hand, the wide range of CPS applications is presented to promote an acquisition of research findings into industry.

The European Project LinkedDesign will boost the productivity of today‘s engineers by providing an integrated, holistic view on data, persons and processes across the full product lifecycle as a vital resource for the outstanding competitive design of novel products and manufacturing processes. To achieve this goal the project will develop the Linked Engineering and mAnufacturing Platform (LEAP) as an integrated information system for manufacturing design. LEAP federates all product lifecycle information relevant to drive engineering and manufacturing processes.

Besides the unified access to the integrated information, LEAP will provide specific knowledge exploitation solutions like sentiment analysis and design decision support systems to analyze the integrated information.

(EU, FP7 NMP, 09/2011-2/2015).

The aim of the SaMSys-project is to provide a tool to the hand to the aviation safety officer , which is assisting him in assessing the security situation in the airline and allowing him a proactive safety management.

Existing approaches are limited only to evaluate the various data of an airline with statistical methods in order to identify trends and respond accordingly. These instruments can be used but are only conditionally effective because of the prevailing security situation measurable events gets so rare that the available records of a single airline are no longer sufficient to form meaningful statistics. Furthermore, not all possible sources of errors (eg. anthropogenic sources of errors) were recognized in data sources so that the existing systems have reached their limits.

The project addresses this issues by developing a holistic methodology that incorporates beside the directly measurable data also other safety factors such as the reaction of pilots in stressful situations or the business of the airline to calculate ratios.

Several prototypea has been implemented with which the feasibility of the proposed methodology could be verified.

In this research project a planning method for the integrated production and outbound distribution planning problem was developed. Most of the existing planning methods in this research field are production or transport oriented with a low integration level of these two sub-problems. Thus, the overall goal of this project was the development of a conceptual and methodological support for solving the integrated planning problem. The goal of this research proposal was the development of a heuristic integrated planning method for the focused part of the supply chain with a high integration level and an improved performance. To reach this goal, on the one hand an evolutionary algorithm was used to iteratively improve a starting solution throughout several generations in order to balance the production and the transport schedules. On the other hand, a new structuring method for a multi-step decomposition and integration of the overall planning problem was developed.

The project aims to support, develop and promote the creation of a Roadmap to facilitate the uptake of ICT innovations in European transport with regards to freight and passenger transport.

The issue of transport and logistics is in fact a key priority in the framework of this new EU programming period 2014-2020, which intends to shape sustainable, integrated and „intelligent‟ transport systems by 2050. The transport sector has entered a period of mature technology offer that needs to be taken to the market, most of which is based on ICT. In addition, the issue of different standards and regulations set by each state amplify the lack of a common regulatory system that leads to major difficulties when it comes to data transmission and compatibility of systems. Finally, another important challenge refers to the poor cooperation among transport chain actors; while users are reluctant to accept new technologies and services that are rarely easy to uptake.

These main shortcomings and challenges will be addressed by the MAPDRIVER project by: 1) supporting the creation of a Roadmap to increase the market uptake of innovations through demand-side innovation policies; 2) promoting demand-side measures to complement many other European initiatives in the framework of achieving wider goals set by the EC such as Horizon 2020, TEN-T and Connecting Europe Facility; 3) boosting demand for European innovations by involving key stakeholders from the private and public sector while fostering the private-public partnership with a market-oriented purpose.

jasimaSolutions offers simulation-based optimization for production and logistic processes. Using our own, very efficient, and highly flexible simulation library jasima (Java Simulator for Manufacturing and Logistics, jasima.googlecode.com) enterprise processes can be modelled realistically and evaluated quantitatively. The high simulation speed of jasima allows to evaluate a large number of decision alternatives in real-time. This allows to always choose the best alternative and thus reduce costs and improve logistic quality considerably (reduce flowtimes, increase delivery performance).

The project aims at commercializing results from very successful fundamental research on real-time/online scheduling. For this project we were able to raise funding from the German Ministry of Economics and Technology (EXIST Gründerstipendium, www.exist.de).

Development of an expert system for the support of an energy-efficient compound feed production

In general, production processes are said to be energy-intensive. Varying quality aspects of input products cause the necessity to alter both processing and refining. The input of energy for compound feed production changes according to the level of refining between 45 and 120 kWh/t. 21,3 million tons per anno of produced compound feed refer to a total energy demand of 1,5 billion kWh per anno. Therefore, our focus is to improve the energy efficiency. An essential condition is the prevention of any loss in product quality, preferably yet achieve an even higher quality level by an improved process control. Furthermore, we focus on tools to increase process safety and, in so doing, preserve constant product quality.

Within the PaTRo project a demonstrator of the patent pending Pallet-Tagging-Robot was built. The robot can automatically attach RFID transponders to flat wooden pallets. The innovative aspect of the robot relies on its ability to directly affix RFID transponders on stacked pallets. The device can be used at every facility where wooden pallets are stacked. The whole robot consists only of a few components, thus enabling easy movement between different facilities. Furthermore, the robot uses only the pallet stack to climb upwards. The machine stops at each pallet, mills a groove into it and fixes a RFID transponder with brackets. The demonstrator shows the potential of the Pallet-Tagging-Robot to interested partners from industry.

The goal of the RobLog project was the development of methods and technologies for unloading of universal logistics goods from intermodal containers with a cognitive and autonomous system. Two demonstrators have been built to be able to integrate and validate the developed methods and technologies in different scenarios. The first scientific motivated scenario covered the unloading of unordered and heterogeneous goods whereas the second scenario considered the unloading of heavy coffee sacks in a real industrial environment. For recognition, classification and localisation of the goods in both scenarios, a universal object recognition software component has been developed. For the actual object handling two special robots with scenario specific manipulators and control software have been developed. By testing and evaluation of both systems successful fulfilment of the project requirements have been proved.

RFID-technology is used more frequently in the development of new license plates. The RFID-technology offers new possibilities for public authorities and vehicle owners. Among other advantages, these new kind of license plates are more difficult to counterfeit and work even in difficult environmental conditions. This new technology offers even more comfort for the vehicle owner, such as an automatic barrier control or an improved vehicle fleet management based on continuous inventory monitoring.

The performance of smart labels was evaluated within the tests using windshield labels fixed within the vehicles. For studying the performance of those passive UHF RFID-components different tests were performed up to a speed of 250 km/h. The tests proved, that it is possible to identify vehicles reliably with smart labels attached to the windshield.

The objective of the project is to build a service-oriented ICT platform for the promotion of Business Innovation in Virtual Enterprise Environments. Innovation and continuous production improvement are tightly connected. For this reason both spaces will be integrated within existing enterprise systems, aiming at providing an integrated view of the value production activities.

To this end, a set of main concepts, methods and views on the area of innovation are structured and key performance indicators are determined to transform them into a systematic Virtual Enterprise Modeling Framework enabling Business Innovation.

The INTRAREGIO project is a coordination action that aims to enhance the integration process and the capacity of the five European regions Canary Islands (ES), Bremen (DE), Marmara (TR), Calabria (IT) and Ruse (BG) towards their development of regional RTD and economic policies and research strategies related to transport concerns, in particular to intermodal freight and passenger transport. Through mutual learning processes and collaborative relationships among regional research-driven clusters, represented by 18 partners coming from governmental, research and industrial side, a transnational cooperation strategy will be established. This framework shall generate new transport-related collaboration among regional players.

Within the research study project, the BIBA at the University of Bremen and the Institut für Textiltechnik (ITA) at RWTH Aachen University examined the potential contribution of Wearable Computing and ‘Smart Textiles’ to enable participation of aging employees, particularly in production and logistics oriented branches. To examine the acceptance, current status and future role of these technologies and identify potential applications, both technology appliers in industry as well as specialised mobile ICT developers and providers were interrogatedin explorative workshops and personal interviews with selected experts. The results were further validated based on online questionnaires.

As a result, the project has shown that the aging work force has been clearly recognised as a challenge particularly in large production oriented companies, e.g. the automotive industry. In general, the industry is open minded regarding innovative technologies. However, knowledge concerning their specific capabilities and most useful applications is still lacking.

These project results were documented in form of a vision paper and a short movie on the potential of Wearable Computing for an aging work force.

Im Rahmen des Projektes wurde ein Arbeitsorganisationskonzepts für die Substitution eines Fertigungsprozessschritts in der Luftfahrtindustrie entwickelt. Dabei wurde die Fertigungstechnologie des Reibrührschweißens (FSW) unter dem Aspekt der Serientauglichkeit mit dem Ziel TRL5/6 betrachtet. Hierzu wurde ein Fachkonzept erstellt, das die fertigungs- und logistikgerechte Implementierung des neuen Fertigungsprozessschritts unter Beachtung der für das FSW erforderlichen Infrastruktur beschreibt. Im Rahmen der Spezifikation des Konzeptes wurden zudem die relevanten Qualitätssicherungssysteme berücksichtigt.

The Octopus Gripper is an innovative, new grip-

ping system based on a bionic approach. It combines a

force-locked and a form-locked gripping principle.

The core of the invention are fi nger-like fringes

mounted onto a rotating circular belt. The fringes are

designed as limp fi ngers which are integrated into a

narrow channel leading to a vacuum conduit. The

rigidity of the fi ngers increases when the vacuum is

turned on and establishes a form-fi t but non-perma-

nent connection with the packing pieces.

Since a reliable handling cannot be ascertained by

means of this principle alone, it is supported by a

force-locked connection. The tips of the fringes dis-

play additional apertures through which the vacuum

is capable of att racting objects.

The combination of these two action principles makes

it possible to grip objects just like an octopus takes

hold of his prey. In this regard, the unloading a chaoti-

cally loaded container is mostly anticipated as the case

of application. In the event of unloading, the objects

are drawn by the rotatory movement of the belts.

The project aimed at the systematic development and implementation of a postgraduate training that focuses on specific target groups and therefore follows a module-based approach. That way the technological awareness of small and medium sized enterprises has been increased by improving decision-making competence and professional expertise in robotic in logistics. The postgraduate training offered six modules that included e.g. potentials, possible apllications and basic knowledge about robotics in logistics. The executed training equally refered to target groups as managing experts, technical management professionals and skilled manual workers.

Since 2007, BIBA successfully conducts a series of studies every two to three years that identify the Status Quo of robotics-logistics in Germany and adjacent fields. In 2014, it was about robotics in logistics in general and included the special field man-robot interaction.

GaLA - Games and Learning Alliance is the Network of Excellence (NoE) on Serious Games funded by the European Union in FP7 – IST ICT, Technology Enhanced Learning.

GaLA gathers the cutting-the-edge European Research & Development organizations on Serious Games, involving 31 partners from 14 countries. Partnership involves universities, research centers, and developer and education industries.

The NoE organizations aim to integrate their activities and resources in a long-term view structuring the activities along 3 major axes:

Research integration and harmonization

Joint research activities

Spreading of excellence

<p><i>"By 2015, novel service-oriented management methodologies and the Future Internet universal business infrastructure will enable European virtual factories and enterprises to self-organize in distributed, autonomous, interoperable, non-hierarchical innovation ecosystems of tangible and intangible manufacturing assets, to be virtually described, on-the-fly composed and dynamically delivered as a Service, end-to-end along the globalised value chain."</i></p>

<p>This MSEE 2015 Vision stems upon two complementary pillars, which have characterized the last 10 years of research about Virtual Organizations, Factories and Enterprises: Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Digital Business Ecosystems (DBE).</p>

<p>BIBA will lead a WP on Methodology for requirements engineering & evaluation and a second WP on Virtual Factories & Enterprises Business & Industrial Models. It will also lead the work on the Reference Framework for Innovation Ecosystems. Beyond that BIBA will contribute to and support activities on MSEE Services Performance Assessment, Maturity Models and Change Management, Service-based Innovation Ecosystems as well as in Service Life Cycle Management.</p>

InnoMatNet aims to advance the goal of an innovation society by developing a flexible approach that establishes

teams of innovators, which link materials labs with industry, (particularly the creative industry) as well as

other innovation actors providing support to help them bring new products and processes to market. Through

conducting a needs assessment and mapping support required against support available an understanding of

the support different actors would benefit from will be obtained and best practices identified. This will allow the

design and implementation of support actions that will promote open innovation approaches and the use of new

innovative support tools. The networking activities and interactive approach will allow the creation of the new

alliances required for improving the coordination of high quality research.

In order to accomplish a well-founded production planning and control, manufacturing companies need to forecast future customer demands as precisely as possible. Different studies have shown that no single forecasting method is applicable to achieve accurate forecasts for every considered time series. Hence, this project developed an automatic forecasting system, which is able to select a suitable forecasting method, configure its parameters and compute forecasts of future values. By applying a meta-learning approach, the automatic forecasting system achieves more accurate forecasts than established industrial best practice methods.

In present manufacturing systems, information concerning logistic capabilities and employment level are not appropriately utilised to determine most effective production plans. Therefore, cost and lead-time savings obtained with new global manufacturing strategies might be impaired due to the unbal-anced, unsynchronised and unstable integration of production and logistic flows. The research focuses on improving informational interfaces between distributed manufacturing and logistic systems along global supply chains. Within the framework of project LogGlobal two German research subprojects on complementary aspects of production and logistics integration were pursued. In the socope of the first subproject a heuristic scheduling scheme was developed that is applicable for a supply chain comprising several production facilities in a row and takes the current production and transportation capabilities as well as employment level into account. The second subproject investigated inter-functional, inter-organisational and cross-national barriers for the efficient and sustainable integration of manufacturing and logistic systems along global supply chains.

The developed framework was presented at the BRAGECRIM Annual Conference 2013 in São Carlos (Brazil) and were ranked 2nd in the category "Most Convincing Presentation".

The main objective of the “ThroughLife“ project is to develop and prove new approaches for through-life asset management for selected technologies and application scenarios in the area of ship building. This will be done by considering all life cycle phases of the technologies concerned in view of their cost efficiency, environmental performance and safety. Special emphasis will be given to the identification, elaboration and demonstration of innovative joint services of the main actors in the life cycle. In detail, ThroughLife addresses efficient and environmentally friendly techniques and materials, condition monitoring and assessment, strategies and tools for predictive, condition and risk based maintenance and repair, innovative design strategies, new business models for used products and concepts and ideas for innovative joint life cycle services.

The cellular conveyor – “Celluveyor“ for short –

is a modular conveyor and positioning system based

on a novel concept of conveyor technology. The pat-

ented system developed at BIBA consists of numerous

small hexagonal conveyor modules equipped with

omnidirectional wheels, each powered by its own

electric drive. The special arrangement of the wheels

and the targeted activation of the engines make it

possible to move objects independently on any desir-

able track.

The modules can be assembled without much ado to

yield universally applicable conveying surfaces of any

desirable dimension and geometry. Only one single

system accomplishes all tasks essential in conveyor

technology on a small surface, e.g. moving, segregat-

ing and reuniting, changing the transport direction

and orientation, or clustering of packing units. The

modular construction principle and the omnidirec-

tional conveyor modules replace almost all types of

intralogistic systems, even if they are characterized by

very complex forms and functions.

The management of hire equipment within the event industry focusses on the dynamic disposal and control of event related orders in closed logistic systems. At this, heterogeneous loads of equipment, reaching from chairs up to complex stage machinery, circulate between central warehouses and one or more venues. distribution and handling both underlie a large time pressure. Customer requirements, such as a strict adherence to schedules, a high degree of flexibility and an attractive price-performance ratio additionally increase the complexity and dynamics. Thefts, technical problems and the requirements of possible subsequent orders further complicate the order picking and often result in reduced and inefficient transport volumes.

Methods of autonomous control are suitable to handle conflicting goals in a dynamic logistic environment. Since January 2012, the project T6 “Autonomous controlled distribution of hire equipment“ addresses the design and evaluation of an autonomously controlled disposition system with integrated route planning for hire equipment. The project takes place in cooperation with the Joke Event AG, a full-service agency for event marketing and management with headquarters in Bremen.

Major goal is to elaborate particular requirements when introducing electric mobility in rural parts of the model region Bremen –Oldenburg. Different types of electric cars are tested within the region and integration of renewable energies into operation of an electric car fleet is simulated. BIBA contributes to the project by development of business models and product life-cycle management. Concepts for allocation of services are considered separately. Different ways to handle electric cars and their influence on the product life cycle are elaborated.

<br/>

<br/>

<a href="homepage">http://www.modellregion-bremen-oldenburg.de/">homepage of the model region</a>

Im Projekt Mon²Sea wurden Prozesse und Infrastrukturen entwickelt sowie validiert, welche die Produktions- und Logistikprozesse bei der industriellen Serienfertigung und der Errichtung von Offshore-Windkraftanlagen in informationstechnischer und technologischer Hinsicht unterstützen. Es wurde die Entwicklung einer IT-Forschungsplattform vorangetrieben, die eine ganzheitliche, akteursübergreifende Planung und Steuerung der logistischen Prozesse in der Errichtungsphase ermöglicht. Das System umfasst das Prozessdesign, den innovativen Einsatz von IuK-Technologie und IT-Funktionalitäten. In umfangreichen Simulationsstudien wurden die dynamischen Wetter- und Seegangeinflüsse auf die aktuellen Prozesse untersucht und nachfolgend die Prozesse für das betrachtete Netzwerk neugestaltet.

After years of focusing on products quality, leisure boat builders have realized the need to emphasize the after-sales market and their customers’ demands for products that are both easy in upkeep and environmentally friendly. To apply concepts of Product Lifecycle Management and Intelligent Maintenance to fulfill such requirements was the aim of BOMA. The project was driven by the commercial needs of the European Leisure Boat building SMEs and aimed to increase their international competitiveness by establishing Intelligent Products and Service Extensions for the marine sector. The BOMA results benefit not only the boat manufacturers and their immediate customers, but the entire value network.

BOMA has both conceptually developed and successfully realized and implemented a Product Lifecycle Management concept for the European leisure boat industry, providing new services to the marine sector, addressing Intelligent Maintenance, Sustainability, Upgrades and the used boat market. Besides the conceptual development, BIBA has developed and implemented a modular concept for sensor data gathering and integration, providing uniform access to the boats data through a Universal Marine Gateway (UMG). BIBA also has put much emphasis on the development and use of the OpenGroup Quantum Lifecycle Management (QLM) standard.

Modern logistic networks are increasingly faced with dynamical changing parameters in their internal and external environment. In order to coping with these volatile trends, flexible adaptations with a short term horizon are often not sufficient. In this context the project POWer.net aimed at developing methods for quick and efficient adaptations of the networks structure. These methods for evaluating different network alternatives, which were developed in the project, have been implemented to a software prototype. Moreover, this prototype comprises an approach for the real time measurement of the major driving forces.

AET aims at developing a tool to support the development of systems and components in the aviation industry. The AET maps the development and certification processes software-based in consideration of international standards, like e.g. DO-178B (Software Development) and DO-254 (Hardware Development). Aviation-specific processes are safety critical processes, which are subject to strict requirements by the approval and licensing authorities. The project, process and document management turn out to be correspondingly extensive. The AET supports the user by providing all relevant information, templates and instructions and by guiding the user through the development process.

Development of an intelligent and mobile quality testing facility for largescale composite structures.

Within the project a mobile and nearly autonomously acting system will be developed in order to check and evaluate potential defects in the structure of large components, which are made of composite materials such as glass fibre or carbon fibre. For this purpose an appropriate kinematics will be developed. The kinematic system will be equipped with various sensors in order to provide information relating to the current position and orientation. By a continuous monitoring the alignment to the workpiece can be ensured as well as the safety at work. Additional sensors will be used for conducting quality inspection and system control. This way the system is enabled to work in a realistic environment and performs the quality control of the composites under various conditions.

The project aims to deploy and evaluate a fully functional prototype for usage under realistic working conditions.

Intelligent and linked goods, loading devices and means of transportation are able to monitor themselves and their transport. Those objects have the ability of autonomous control and therefore can control and solve complex logistics tasks robust as well as reliably. Sensors for transport requirements and condition of goods allow realising “dynamic FEFO” (First Expire, First Out) for logistics processes. To control the logistics supply chain the actual condition of goods, e.g. the degree of ripeness of fruits, is a criterion. This new principle of logistics allows autonomous control of objects and at the same time innovative logistics processes. For further information please visit <a href="www.intelligentcontainer.com" target="_blank">www.intelligentcontainer.com</a>.

BreTeCe focuses on providing services and developing solutions in the area of functional testing. In the face of growing competition, many system suppliers are required to differentiate their product portfolio by incorporating individual customer requirements. In order to achieve this, new technologies and innovations are integrated into the product, e.g. by using mechatronic components. However, the usage of mechatronic components proportionally increases the complexity of the products, e.g. in aerospace and automobile industries. This, in turn, increases the effort required to test and ensure the correct functioning of products. The aim of BreTeCe is to improve the overall efficiency of the testing of complex mechatronic products. The key areas for improvement in this field are commencement of the test phase at an earlier stage, improved compatibility of test equipment and optimisation of the test process. BreTeCe facilitates these key improvements by networking the distributed test systems, standardizing the test system interfaces and semi-automating the generation of test cases.

The objective of PERIPHÈRIA is to deploy convergent Future Internet (FI) platforms and services for the promotion of sustainable lifestyles in and across emergent networks of “smart” peripheral cities in Europe, dynamic realities with a specific vocation for green creativity. Its Open Service Convergence Platform, an “Internet by and for the People”, extends and enhances the Save Energy project’s Social Information Architecture, integrating key new components – sensor networks, real time 3D and mobile location-based services – with the FI paradigms of Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Services (IoS) and Internet of People (IoP).

In Bremen pilot applications for "Smart Streets" are developed and tested. For this purpose a collaboration with Brepark GmbH was established. Potential applications will make use of Smartphones (with Near Field Communication), "Internet of Things"-technologies and existing web-services like Foursquare or Layar.

<br/><br/>

<a href="de-de.facebook.com/pages/Periph%C3%A8ria-Smart-Street-Bremen/163346533729014"> Facebook page</a>

The needs of people with physical/sensory impairments are generally not well considered well when designing user interfaces (UIs) to access and interact with consumer products. Therefore current consumer products rarely fulfill the real-time interaction and accessibility needs of users suffering from visual, hearing, and dexterity impairments. The aim of VICON is to support the design process of user interfaces of consumer products, in order to guarantee that consumer products are designed inclusively. This is achieved in VICON through the development of an advanced “Virtual User Model” in an environment that enables the specification, building, and evaluation of user interfaces for controlling and interacting with consumer products. The audiences addressed in VICON are those with mild to moderate, impairments, like age-related hearing loss, macular degeneration, etc., rather than those with profound impairments.<br>

Currently user tests are performed with real users to evaluate the quality of the VICON approach.

'OpenInn2.0 - A Knowledge Generating House and e-Assessment Model' aims at developing an innovative learning paradigm and a website (the Knowledge Generating House) that enhances creativity and innovation by a set of tools that can be used for distributed and collaborative idea generation on a social networking basis, designed according to the Open Innovation concept.

The e-Assessment Model is an e-learning material, a comprehensive pedagogical background, that can be applied also as a guide for using the Knowledge Generating House for lifelong learning and innovation purposes. These results will be on the OpenInn portal in 9 languages (EN, DE, SK, PT, IT, HU, ES, DA, BG).

The project is funded under der Lifelong Learning Programme, Transversal Programme, Key Activity 3 ICT (Promotion of ICT for learning).

To raise the performance of maintenance actions in the field of offshore wind energy is a particular challenge because the accessibility of wind turbines is very limited for service technician. Therefore, both the planning and the full documentation of the performed service activities are very important. Within this project, offshore-service processes has been analyzed and as well as a Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) were specified with special consideration of mobile technologies.

The project “ELLIOT” (Experiential Living Lab for the Internet of Things) aims to develop an experiential IT platform where users/citizens will be directly involved in co-creating, exploring and experimenting new ideas, concepts and technological artiefacts related to applications and services in the Internet of Things (IOT). The ELLIOT Experiential approach will be explored and its technology platform experimented within different use cases belonging to three different sectors, namely Logistics, Wellbeing and Environment, in order to validate the capacity for users/citizens to co-create IoT based services. BIBA – Bremer Institut für Produktion und Logistik GmbH is associated with the logistic use case and will develop and build a demonstrator in this field.

Due to the effects of globalization, the general conditions of the automotive industry have changed. Individual customer demands, new drive technologies, and innovations lead to a continuously growing number of product variants. Therefore, automotive manufacturers focus on their key competences and expertise and reduce their vertical integration of manufacture. Consequently the complexity of production and logistic networks of the automotive industry increases and necessarily have to be controlled.

The objective of this research project was on the one hand the improvement of information transparency in the networks and on the other hand the optimization of process control. Thus the development of a procedure to integrate logistical and product specific information in inter and intra tools for job control is necessary. Hence, a standard for exchanging process relevant information, to optimize the supply chain in real time, was developed. Based on this, a hybrid framework for utilizing central and local process control was designed. This approach enables a fast and flexible reaction on alerting situations in the network.

PEOPLE aims at speeding up the uptake of smart cities through the rapid implementation, deployment and uptake of innovative internet-based services in order to allow facing the main challenges of developed cities at present and towards their future quality of life. This will be enabled by designing and implementating user-driven open innovation methodologies and process.

Development and implementation of internet-based services (for Smartphones) at Technology Park Bremen is a major goal of this project. The project is realized through collaboration with the Technologie-Zentrum Informatik und Informationstechnik (TZI).

<br/><br/>

<a href="de-de.facebook.com/eStudentBremen"> Facebook page</a>

<p>The global competition for highly skilled people has led to increasing acceptance by organizations, as a key business strategy, of the need to retain and re-train their existing staff through some kind of tailored competence development that reduces the lead-time for a learner to achieve target productivity: the “time-to-competence” (TTC). Today, the main route to shorten TTC is a bespoke (hand-crafted) face-to-face or blended course, which tends to be resource-intensive (expensive to create and deliver). The main aim of the TARGET Project was to research, analyse, and develop a new genre of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) environment that supports rapid competence development of individuals, namely knowledge workers within the domains of living labs (innovation) and project management.</p>

<p>The TARGET environment is conceived as a complex learning process supported by the TARGET platform, which consists of a set of innovative and advanced tools and services. Here, the learner is presented with complex situations in the form of game scenarios: interacting with the game results into enriched experiences that are gradually leading to knowledge acquisition.

With the aforementioned focus, the TARGET Project has explored and integrated five relevant research fields:</p>

<ul>

<li>Threshold Concepts, resembling knowledge gateways that transform a person’s understanding of a knowledge domain

<li>Knowledge Ecology, which defines knowledge as a “living organism”

<li>Cognitive Load Theory, according to which a learner’s attention and working memory is limited and therefore learning processes must be designed to allow effective internalization without overload

<li>Learning Communities, where members of a community develop their competences by leveraging the experience of their peers

<li>Experience Management, to allow learners to accumulate lessons learned through real and theoretical situations.

</ul>

Since 2007, BIBA successfully conducts a series of studies every two to three years that identify the Status Quo of robotics-logistics in Germany and adjacent fields. In 2012, it was about robotics in logistics in general and included the special field intuitive robot-programming.

Please find the results in the attached document.

The aim of this research project was to develop a method to detect universal cargo units. This method defines the location and position of cargo units inside a container, so that an automatic unloading by a manipulator is possible. The core of the research project was the design and implementation of this method, which was tested with simulated and real sensor data. To find out the possibilities and limits of the applicability of the method for evaluating the automatic unloading process of cargo units, a realistic test setup was finally installed.

In order to ensure a well-founded production planning and scheduling, a company has to predict its future sales precisely. However, customer demands are often highly volatile. Classical statistical prediction methods are often easy to apply but they are not able to react on dynamic structures within order data. In contrast, methods of nonlinear dynamics consider qualitative information in addition to quantitative, in order to identify possible deterministic structures within the time series and thus to achieve better forecasts into the future. In this project, methods of nonlinear dynamics were adapted to forecast regular as well as intermittent time series of customer demands. Evaluation studies showed particular potential of these methods to forecast complex, dynamic time series.

Fibre-reinforced composites are light and robust. That’s why they can found today within various products (cars, boats, aircrafts and even road bridges). However, the production process comprises several uncertainties. As a result the scrap rate during production is comparatively high. In addition the design of products is affected by safety margins. Objective of iREMO is the development of a sensor-based environment for the monitoring and control of an important step in the production: The curing of the resin which is brought into mouldings. The aim is to derive corrective actions (e.g. cooling of certain areas of a moulding) through the measurement of the temperature and viscosity of the resin.

The handling of steel sheets is dominated by classical, mechanical load handling attachments which usually consist of hooks, chains, ropes and belts. These attachments are comparatively heavy and unwieldy but are convincing regarding design, quality and reliability. However, this technology offers very little potential for innovation and process optimisation. The research focuses on the development of innovative magnet systems regarding the above mentioned boundaries, restrictions and requirements. Typical handling problems will be solved and the necessity of permanent maintenance will be reduced. Altogether, the handling of steel products will be faster, safer and gentle to material.

The transparency of location and status of loadings and load carriers is particularly important for efficient warehouse management on seaport (RoRo) terminals. Often, monitoring of load carrier movement processes and modified status information is still insufficiently supported by software systems. An automated IT-based load carrier management system offers a wide range of opportunities for tracking and tracing positions and status information of loadings and load carriers.

As a step towards such a system, the project developed an automated system for detection, identification, positioning and status recording of roll-trailers in seaport terminals by combining innovative information and communication technologies like RFID and GPS satellite positioning for identifying, tracking and communications. The technical feasibility of the proposed system was shown by a demonstrator.

Project examinations showed that continuous monitoring of the location and status changes allows search time reduction, decrease of relocation processes and overall an improvement of the traffic flow on the seaport terminal area.

The dynamic and structural complexity of logistics networks makes it very difficult to provide all information necessary for a central planning and control instance. It requires, therefore, adaptive logistic processes including autonomous capabilities for the decentralised coordination of autonomous logistic objects in a heterarchical structure. The autonomy of the logistic objects such as cargo, transit equipment and transportation systems can be realised by novel communication technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and wireless communication networks. These and others permit and require new control strategies and autonomous decentralised control systems for logistic processes. In this setting, aspects like flexibility, adaptivity and reactivity to dynamically changing external influences while maintaining the global goals are of central interest.

<p>Motivation</br>

The paradigm of autonomously controlled logistic business processes aims to increase the flexibility and robustness of logistic systems in case of fluctuations in capacity supply or demand. Thereto, logistic objects will be equipped with specific capabilities for local decision making and execution. However, there are no dedicated methods for the modelling of such processes available. Classic modeling methods lack to support modeling of the decentralized characteristics of autonomous business processes, while modeling methods for multi-agent-systems exclude the logistics perspective. </p>

<p>Approach</br>

This project aimed to fill this gap by developing methods and tools which enable logistic process experts to model and analyze this new process generation. The Autonomous Logistics Engineering Methodology (ALEM) has been developed and consists of a procedure model, a view concept, and an UML-based graphical notation. It enables logistic process experts to specify and analyze autonomous logistic business processes. All three methodology elements are integrated into a prototype modeling software.</p>

<p>Results</br>

The ALEM methodology includes methods for the configuration of the infrastructure of autonomous logistic processes and for purposes of simulation and evaluation of ALEM models. In the context of simulation, a three-stage, model driven architecture based method has been developed to analyze the logistic performance of modeled business processes. Thereto, ALEM models are transformed (semi-) automatic in to the external multi-agent-simulation PlaSMA. This method enables process experts to determine performance indicators and behavioral information about single logistic objects or an overall logistic system. Additionally, the simulation results can be used to tailor or improve the modeled business process.</p>

To put fundamental research coherently across is often an underestimated intention. Especially for this purpose, a central subproject application platform was set up by the CRC 637. The technical subproject Z2 realised a common application and demonstration platform for the CRC 637. From the contents’ point of view, the platform aimed on the one hand the clear and vivid demonstration of autonomous logistics concepts, and on the other hand it validated newly developed autonomous control methods in a straightforward environment. The prototypical application of the developed autonomy concepts was realised on a common application platform in order to ensure its suitability for practical use and to make the idea of autonomy in logistics tangible.</br>

The represented subprojects of the CRC 637 aspired to implement the prototypical methods and concepts. The application platform accommodated both the implementation of the software and the assay of hardware for developed methods. The different subprojects had the potential to realise special assays in a collective context to identify and to solve problems between different methods and models. The application platform also represented the demonstrator of the CRC 637.</br>

For further information see: <a href="www.sfb637.uni-bremen.de/341.html" target="_blank">www.sfb637.uni-bremen.de/341.html?&L=2</a>

</br>

<b>Motivation</b></br>

Due to the size of communication networks (e.g. the internet or networks for mobile communication), any kind of central control of these networks cannot be realised. This is why self-organizing concepts have been successfully developed and used for communication networks since their beginning. Similarities between communication and logistics networks lead to the idea to adapt approved algorithms from data communication to logistics processes.

The implicitly existing property of reactivity is also an essential property in logistics networks, due to the bad predictability of dynamics therein. This reactivity concept is extended by general methods of reactive planning and control. These methods come from the field of artificial intelligence and are characterised by permanent information gathering and processing during process runtime.</br>

</br>

<b>Results Phase 1 (2004-2007)</b></br>

Basis of this work is an analysis of elements and processes in logistics networks which was done in the first steps. From this, transport scenarios were developed on which the adapted algorithms were tested and compared.

A C++ -simulation environment for transport networks, based on the scenario descriptions, was implemented. In addition, the multi-agent-platform "PlaSMA", developed within and especially for the CRC, was used to implement a second simulation environment, in order to keep the compatibility to other subprojects.

These simulation environments were used to show the portability of algorithms, which was documented in publications. The previous development of these autonomous control concepts led to the "Distributed Logistic Routing Protocol - DLRP", which has been proved suitable in selected scenarios.</br>

</br>

<b>Objectives Phase 2 (2008-2011)</b></br>

In this subproject's continuation, it will be investigated how the autonomously controlled routing of goods and means of transport is to be adapted under extended close-to-reality requirements. These requirements concern practically relevant restrictions and complex structures. Further, the potentials and limits of the basic concepts, developed in the first project phase, will be explored. These consist of three main points: consideration of load carrier hierarchies, routing methods for large networks, and informational barriers that exist in practice.

Another important aspect, especially for the recognition and evaluation of limitations, is the creation of realistic benchmark scenarios. The concepts for autonomous logistics are so different from the traditional transport logistic approaches that established benchmarks (such as Solomon's scenarios) cannot be applied here.

The objective of the sub-project is the research and development of concepts and procedures of data integration, which provide persistent and platform independent access to and exchange of data on the basis of generic services within autonomous cooperating logistics systems. Such mechanisms are not yet available. On the other hand there exist different approaches (e.g. mediators, Web Services or ontologies) all of which can be used for a system independent data access. The main focus of work carried out in the sub-project in 2009 was placed on the development of a prototypical mediator as well as on the analysis of service-oriented architectures.

The aim of the SaMSys-project is to provide a tool to the hand to the aviation safety officer , which is assisting him in assessing the security situation in the airline and allowing him a proactive safety management.

<br/>

Existing approaches are limited only to evaluate the various data of an airline with statistical methods in order to identify trends and respond accordingly. These instruments can be used but are only conditionally effective because of the prevailing security situation measurable events gets so rare that the available records of a single airline are no longer sufficient to form meaningful statistics. Furthermore, not all possible sources of errors (eg. anthropogenic sources of errors) were recognized in data sources so that the existing systems have reached their limits.

<br/>

The project addresses this issues by developing a holistic methodology that incorporates beside the directly measurable data also other safety factors such as the reaction of pilots in stressful situations or the business of the airline to calculate ratios.

<br/>

Several prototypea has been implemented with which the feasibility of the proposed methodology could be verified.

Logistics for LIFE is a two years 1.5 M€ project aimed at drive European ICT for Transport research in the direction of making logistic operations more efficient, and thus more environmentally friendly, financially and socially sustainable on the long term. The following results will be achieved: 1) a multi-disciplinary network pursuing efficiency-related initiatives within EU, international or industrial programs, and attracting key stakeholders through a dedicated Forum; 2) a reference framework linking the stakeholders’ efficiency requirements to sustainability strategic objectives and to relevant ICT solutions; 3) a strategic roadmap including concrete actions and strategies for ICT solutions implementation; 4) coordinated dissemination activities and 5) a common working platform aimed at the community of users and researchers pursuing ICT-based logistics sustainability. The Logistics for LIFE Consortium includes global leaders in logistics (e.g., DHL, COSCO, BLG), vehicle and technology manufacturing (e.g., Volvo, Intel), ICT companies and research organizations representing some of the major initiatives and research projects in the field. International Cooperation partners from China, US and Eastern Europe are also involved.

Bremerhaven entwickelt sich zu einem bedeuten Standort für die Offshore-Windenergie-Branche. Diese Relevanz wird unter anderem auch durch den geplanten Offshore-Terminal-Bremerhaven deutlich, der ab dem Jahr 2015 seinen Betrieb aufnehmen soll. Im Rahmen des Projekts OT-B wird eine Vorstudie durchgeführt, welche die Bedarfe an die Logistik und an die nötigen Ressourcen des geplanten Offshore-Terminals untersucht. Der Betrachtungszeitraum der Vorstudie umfasst die Jahre 2015 bis 2045.

The goal of this research project is to explore new ways to utilize self-organization in production and in-house logistics, allowing on-line adaptation to stochastic events such as varying processing times, new job arrivals, or machine breakdowns. Three main avenues towards this goal shall be examined:

 

1. Evolve and continuously adapt local control rules, tailored to the specific situation in the production system.
2. Provide the local agents with additional global information and globally derived solutions

   to enhance coordination and achievement of global goals.

3. Develop means to monitor and control self-organizing production systems.

 

EURIDICE aims to create necessary concepts, technological solutions and business models in order to establish an advanced information services for freight transportation in Europe. It is based upon the intelligent cargo concept, defined by the vision statement: “In five years time, most of the goods flowing through European freight corridors will be "intelligent". The goods will be connected through a global telecommunication network to support several information services for logistic operators, industrial users and public authorities”

The full realization will have significant impact in terms of diffusion and effectiveness of ICT support to freight transportation. It will strengthen the competitiveness and the environment-friendliness of logistics.

Since container handling will increase in the future, the capacity of straddle carriers will increase as well. This leads to shorter time frames for maintenance of the straddle carriers. Thus the service life between maintenance operations has to increase. Within the project a system was developed, with which specific and crucial components of the straddle carrier could be monitored (equipment and condition monitoring). Main focus was placed on the shift from preventive maintenance to an actual condition based maintenance.

Different types of RFID transponders and readers for vehicle identification will be evaluated. Transponders and readers that are available on the market as well as specific test arrangements are used for diverse series of tests. First, a list of scenario-dependent requirements for radio-based vehicle identification is compiled. After that, corresponding test scenarios are conceived and conducted based on existing standards and recommendations. The project aims to ascertain the applicability of passive UHF transponders and reading systems for toll systems as well as car registration by static and dynamic tests.

The dynamics of complex, large-scale networks of interacting dynamical systems are hard to analyze and in many aspects methods and tools for the analysis are missing. In this project we will study such networks from the point of view of stability and approximation theory and investigate applications in logistics. To this end criteria for stability of nominal and perturbed networks will be developed. Furthermore, we will study the robustness of such networks with respect to perturbation of the dynamics in the vertices and of network structure. To obtain approximation techniques that retain structural properties of networks we propose an approach based on separation of time scales and on ranking schemes for the vertices of the network. This approach is motivated by a real-world logistic scenario in which different time scales occur in a natural manner. The theoretical results will be used to obtain further insight into the dynamics of logistic networks and to derive logistics management principles.

“By 2020 enterprise collaboration and interoperability services will become an invisible,

pervasive and self-adaptive knowledge and business utility at disposal of the European

networked enterprises from any industrial sector and domain in order to rapidly set-up,

efficiently manage and effectively operate different forms of business collaborations, from the

most traditional supply chains to the most advanced and dynamic business ecosystems.”<p>

<p>

The mission of the COIN IP is to study, design, develop and prototype an open, self-adaptive,

generic ICT integrated solution to support the above 2020 vision, starting from notable existing

research results in the field of Enterprise Interoperability (and made available by the whole

Enterprise Interoperability DG INFSO D4 Cluster and specifically by the projects ATHENA,

INTEROP, ABILITIES, SATINE, TRUSTCOM) and Enterprise Collaboration (and made

available by the projects ECOLEAD, DBE, E4 and ECOSPACE).

In particular, a COIN business-pervasive open-source service platform will be able to expose,

integrate, compose and mash-up in a secure and adaptive way existing and innovative to-bedeveloped

Enterprise Interoperability and Enterprise Collaboration services, by applying

intelligent maturity models, business rules and self-adaptive decision-support guidelines to

guarantee the best combination of the needed services in dependence of the business context, as

industrial sector and domain, size of the companies involved, openness and dynamics of

collaboration.

<p>

This way, the Information Technology vision of Software as a Service (SaaS) will find its

implementation in the field of interoperability among collaborative enterprises, supporting the

various collaborative business forms, from supply chains to business ecosystems, and becoming

for them like a utility, a commodity, the so-called Interoperability Service Utility (ISU).

<p>

The COIN project will finally develop an original business model based on the SaaS-U

(Software as a Service-Utility) paradigm where the open-source COIN service platform will be

able to integrate both free-of-charge and chargeable, open and proprietary services depending on

the case and business policies.

The joint research project SIMKAB is supposed to react to the future challenge of strongly growing passenger and cargo traffic in the domain of aviation. Concepts for a simplified and flexible standardized passenger and cargo cabin have to be developed to handle the future demand of transport performance in an economic and ecological way. The subproject “cargo system” explores the feasibility of new technologies in loading systems in aircrafts.

The aim of this subproject is to analyse a worldwide applicability of active RFID in order to identify ULDs (unit load devices) such as containers or pallets while loading and unloading aircrafts.

Current research projects demonstrated the efficiency of neural networks as a method for production control. The ability to learn continuously from experience gained through operation, the resulting flexibility in control and a small effort in calculation and modeling are the main vantages compared to classic methods for production control. This research project aims to the simulation of different net types over a long time period. Based on the gained data about the efficiency in learning, the life cycle and the amount of maintenance a hybrid solution with optimal quality for production control is developed.

<p>Motivation</br>

The electronic industry is a fast developing market segment. To stay competitive, European companies have to respond with improved flexibility to changing requirements. To increase flexibility, companies must operate in non-hierarchical networks of trusted suppliers to short cut decision making processes, in particular on tactical and strategic levels. Today, existing decision flows within and across companies are well structured at the level of operational management and shop floor coordination. In contrast, at the strategic and tactical levels, inter-organizational decision flows are not well formalized. Several aspects, like missing rules for transactions impede with shared decision-making, resulting in a lack of confidentiality or of knowledge about the network partners’ goals and activities.</p>

<p>Approach</br>

An European consortium of ten partners from five European countries has been formed. The scientific partners supported the project with their expertise in process and decision modelling and analysis. The IT focused partners contribute their advanced knowledge in CRM and SRM solutions as on ERP Systems. The application partners provided necessary information for the development of the ODM as focal companies and were the prototype’s first end users.</p>

<p>Results</br>

The project developed a collaboration framework for the strategic and tactical management levels, called Open Decision Framework. It consists of three main components: First, a reference model for collaboration on the management levels in non-hierarchical networks. Second, a deployment process that describes the reference model’s application at the different usage levels. The project’s last result was a prototype, which makes use of existing CRM/SRM-Tools, and extends and adapts them to the new reference model.</p>

Once it has been fully established, the Personal Mobility Center (PMC) will function as the core establishment of the Model Region coordinating the introduction of electro mobility in the Metropolitan Area of Bremen-Oldenburg. It will not only oversee the different steps of the process but will also seek to increase the cooperation with other German model regions concerning electro mobility in the medium term. The funds for PMC that come from the German Economic Stimulus Package are supposed to set the incentive to integrate electro mobility concepts into the existing transportation structures. The goal is to integrate more than 100 electric vehicles within two years of the project’s initial phase, thus proving their functionality. To do so, PMC’s partners will establish both the required infrastructure and an adequate vehicle fleet.

PMC’s aim is to integrate electro mobility into individual transportation structures as well as into public transport. Therefore, the manifold fleet is supposed to include vehicles ranging from electric bicycles to four-seater cars for carpooling. To be able to provide these different vehicle types, PMC will make use of both prototypes and commercialized vehicles. Moreover, the introduction of electro mobility will be supported by supplying several sorts of recharging facilities. The latter will not be limited to strategically wellplaced public service stations, but will also take into account the demand of companies and private consumers wishing to recharge their vehicles on a more individual basis. At the same time, specific business strategies will be designed to compensate the high expenses of investing in electric vehicles. This way, the PMC will fulfil its credo “Providing electro mobility efficiently”.

A significant portion of sea containers turned over by German harbours is deconsolidated/ consolidated in the harbour. Especially the deconsolidation of consumer goods and textiles, which is done manually, is extensive as a result of the high quantity and of the missing use of pallets. This manual consolidation of bulky goods is complex because of the difficult handling by a fork lift in the container. The first objective of this project is the development of a robot system which deconsolidates inhomogeneous parcels autonomous and fast. The second objective is the development of a stuffer system and a dynamic load planning method for consolidation inhomogeneous goods. As a result of this project, the quality of the process and the turnover of goods will increase. In addition the competitiveness oft german harbours will be straightened

IDS is a research project funded by german aircraft industry. The system will assist developers at their daily work by determining the context gathered from desktop applications (e.g. MS Office) to proactively provide semantically similar Documents.

The semantic enrichment is made by combination of several techniques like filtering of paragraphs to remove not relevant text paragraphs, or usage of lexical scanners, to extract key words from artifacts. Clustering algorithms enable recognition of semantic linkages between extracted key words. Thus Documents can be grouped and prioritized. In the year 2009 selected Frameworks were analysed and evaluated concerning their applicability.

Mit einer lückenlosen Identifizierung und Verfolgung des Materialflusses, sowie einem elektronischen Datenaustausch zielt dieses Projekt auf die Verbesserung und Flexibilisierung der Produktionsplanung in der Herstellung von qualitativ hochwertigem Stahl ab. Durch geeignete Technologien wird der Produktionsprozess über auftretende Medienbrüche hinweg unterstützt und so eine gleichmäßige Bearbeitung ohne Staubildung realisiert. Die Herausforderung in der Gestaltung des Systems liegt in den vergleichsweise harten Umweltbedingungen, welche beispielsweise eine automatische Identifikation durch klassische Technologien erschweren oder gar ausschließen.

The logistic system in workshop systems is faced with high requirements due to repeated transportation processes to the same working systems as well as different transportation quanti-ties. This situation is additionally strengthened by dynamic effects, which affect the system performance. While by this an "external-driven" dynamics is usually understood, which is caused by changes of demand and order alterations, also an "internal-driven" dynamics can be observed in systems with a complex material flow (for example re-entrant systems) caused by nonlinear effects. This internal-driven dynamics can affect the logistic performance of the whole system negatively (varying stock-levels, rising cycle times, decreasing workload).

It is the aim of the presented research project to analyze and control the effects of the internal-driven dynamics on the mid- and long-range facility planning process. This will lead to an ad-justment of existing or the development of new methods for the organization of the logistic system in workshop systems, whereas the focus will be on the planning subtasks dimensioning and structuring.

Proper instruments for the description and control of the described internal-driven system dy-namics and its causes are the models and methods of the nonlinear dynamics. It is intended to use these also in this research project for the structuring and dimensioning of logistic systems. The verification of the obtained results will take place via the investigation and if necessary re-planning of real-world systems using the derived procedures and methods.

Containers are transported to terminals with specific vehicles. Handling of cargo, which is transported in special carriers, is done by using overheight-frames. Testing of the locking state is sometimes wrong between overheight-frame and container. This causes accidents and damage to cargo and carriers. Therefore, an electronic device was developed to detect the safety of the locking states. The developed system is currently used on the terminal.

The coordination between collaborating partners in the automotive logistics in a sea port is characterised by a short term planning period, because no participant has access to all relevant planning information. The object of investigation in this project is the comprehensive planning and scheduling of the order processing of terminal and transportation services in the automotive logistics of a sea port-automobile-terminal. The goal of this project is the optimization of the planning and scheduling processes of the automotive logistics by developing a common, prototypic it-based control centre, which will be used by terminal and transportation services. With this control centre the transparency of the relevant planning information should be increased for all process partners enabling them to communicate their requirements to each other. As a result every partner can increase its individual benefit and consequently the whole logistic chain can be improved. The continuous and frequently updated view over all activities of the processes allows an improved utilization of the resources of all process partners. The main tasks are the development of an integrated planning and scheduling concept for terminal and transportation services and the accomplishment of a simulation study to validate this concept.

The competence atlas for education and training in the field of logistics is an innovative application, designed for the Logistikfabriktisch and to inform about education and training possibilites in this promising branch in the Bremen region.

The planning and operation of maintenance in the offshore wind energy sector presents a particular challenge. Due to the restricted access to the facilities, maintenance planning and implementation is very complex and costly. Accordingly, maintenance and repair have to be very well prepared to ensure accurate planning of the resources which are required. Within the project a framework for recording and processing of data concerning a life cycle analysis of the failure characteristics was examined in order to optimize the maintenance work.

The Virtual Global University (VGU) was a private initiative of professors of business informatics and related disciplines in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to implement a globalized approach to education, based on state-of-the-art multi-media, and distance learning technologies and the Internet.

The VGU established the School of Business Informatics (SBI), which offered as the first worldwide business-oriented master's degree, with the title "International Master of Business Informatics" (MBI) based on an online study programme. The MBI programme comprised relevant IT topics from applied computer science, combined with management-oriented courses such as e-business and enterprise resource planning. The total duration of the program was two years and included producing a master's thesis (three-month) and gaining practical experience. The program ran from 2001 to 2014.

The „Logistikfabriktisch“ (logistics factory table)is cooperation project between BIBA as well as the media agency eventfive. The developed table is a multimedia tool, which shows processes in logistics and makes them experience-able. The complex content can be presented in an easy way by defining different detailing levels. Each level contains several media-objects, like videos, photos or text. In this context, different logistics companies of the logistics process are shown, their role in the logistics chain as well as their interplay are visualized. Furthermore, the user gets the possibility gather information about the displayed companies.

The projects aim is to let wearable computing been accepted in manufacture industry and subsequent after-sales-services. Computer systems which are carried near the human body, equal to wristwatches, allow information technologies to get closer to working processes without breaking the infrastructure.

The aim of wearable and mobile computing in this context is to make informations and processes available on any place and at any time without drawing off the attention by the computer system (Analogy: GPS navigation systems compared to fixed routing systems).

Unreadiness and low user acceptance of wearable technology, by reason of security worries, low process integration and hardware technology are the main obstacles to resource the height potential of wearable technologies. Therefore one aim of this project is to integrate COTS- components (commercial-off-the-shelf) in backend systems by the use of usability studies to increase the user acceptance and actual usage of these systems in industrial applications. The project will show how wearable computing can effective support the focused areas picking and diagnostic, maintenance and repair by developing of a safety-related and organizational effective wearable computing solution

Im Frühjahr starteten das BIBA und die Jacobs University, Systems Management, in Kooperation mit Logistik

für Unternehmen als Medienpartner zum zweiten Mal eine Online-Umfrage zur Robotik in der Logistik. Nun

liegt die ausgewertete Studie vor und zeigt neben den Entwicklungen der Robotik-Logistik von 2007 bis heute

vor allem künftige Herausforderungen von Robotersystemen für die Optimierung von Logistikprozessen.

Die Ergebnisse der Studie finden Sie auf dialog.jacobs-university.de und www.robotik-logistik.de

Weitere Information finden Sie unter www.logistik-fuer-unternehmen.de

The over-all objective of the CO-LLABS Thematic Network is to achieve a European-wide adoption of ICT-based Living lab services and practices to allow SMEs to improve their innovation capabilities and processes and become part of “open innovation” environments. To that end CO-LLABS Thematic Network brings together a selection of Europe’s most advanced Living Labs on the one hand and regional SME-innovation oriented organisations on the other to exchange practices of LL support services, and identify and develop specific pilots in domains such as e-health, e-business and e-inclusion. The work will be grounded in thorough understanding of current Living labs practices and experiences and strengthened by creating better insight in successful business models of future SME-oriented Living labs.

Innovation has become the main source of competitive advantage for European companies in the globalised economy. Existing collaborative working environments (CWEs) mainly focus on supporting traditional working paradigms of linear workflows by providing IT-based platforms for planning, scheduling and executing tasks. However, in order to achieve continuous strategic innovation and thus create persistent competitive advantage, organisations need to increase their capacity for carrying out open-ended and nonlinear problem solving involving a wide participation of people in knowledge-rich environments. This must be supported by the next generation CWE’s, which in turn, requires new paradigms for managing the knowledge transfer, the social dynamics, and the decision processes involved in the front-end of innovation.

The goal of Laboranova is to create this next generation Collaborative Tools which will change existing technological and social infrastructures for collaborating and support knowledge workers and eProfessionals in sharing, improving and evaluating ideas systematically across teams, companies and networks. Laboranova will do research to develop and integrate models and tools in three specific areas, the three pillars in the project: ideation, connection and evaluation. These pillars will be leveraged by advanced game methodologies in order to improve collaborative work processes. By integrating these efforts the results will be innovative collaboration approaches and organisational models for managing early innovation processes, software prototypes and the integration of the isolated models and tools into a Collaborative Innovation Platform. This will change the way knowledge work is done and increase the innovative output of companies far beyond performance levels today.

Die Firma Eurogate GmbH betreibt am Standort Hamburg einen der größten Umschlagterminals der Welt für Standard-Seecontainer. Die stetig steigenden Containerumschlagszahlen erfordern eine Erweiterung der Lagerkapazitäten und somit eine Vergrößerung der Standflächen. Aufgrund der Begrenzung der zur Verfügung stehenden Flächen des Eurogate-Terminals durch die Elbe, eine Autobahn und eine Zugtrasse, erfolgt die Zwischenlagerung einer großen Anzahl von Containern derzeit in einem nahe gelegenen Depot (siehe Abb. unten). Der Transport der Container zwischen dem Terminal und dem Depot erfolgt dabei per LKW.

Das Projekt „Seilbahn – Transportsysteme in Hafenterminals“ soll daher in der ersten Phase die Möglichkeiten des Einsatzes von Fördersystemen, die den Luftraum nutzen und in der Lage sind bauliche Hindernisse zu überwinden, untersuchen. Die Prüfung erfolgt in Phase I im Rahmen einer Machbarkeitsstudie und anhand eines realitätsnahen Modells. In der zweiten Phase soll das validierte Konzept in die Realität umgesetzt werden.

Bei der Pilotanlage ist eine Distanz von 280 m (Luftlinie) zu überwinden. Gleichzeitig ist auf dieser Distanz eine Mindesthöhe über Grund von ca. 16 m zu garantieren. Flächen für die Tragwerke und die Ein- und Ausschleusung werden nach Bedarf zur Verfügung gestellt. Rechtliche und betriebliche Sicherheitsanforderungen müssen zunächst ermittelt und später auch von der Anlage erfüllt werden. Um die Wirtschaftlichkeit des Vorhabens sicherzustellen, muss die Gesamtleistung bei ungefähr 60 Einheiten pro Stunde in beide Richtungen (Terminal-Depot-Terminal) liegen, wobei die Anlage im 24h Betrieb arbeiten soll. Eine entsprechende Verfügbarkeit ist zu gewährleisten. Weiterhin soll die Anlage vollautomatisch funktionieren, das heißt neben der eigentlichen Transportstrecke sind folgende Anlagenteile vorzusehen:

 

1. Vollautomatisierte Aufgabe- und Abnahmestationen, die mit Straddle Carrier (SC) oder Reachstacker (RS) beschickt werden können und aufgesetzte Container selbständig an die Anlage weiterleiten bzw. Container aus der Anlage entnehmen und in eine Position bringen, in der sie von SC oder RS aufgenommen werden können.
2. Beidseitige Puffervorrichtungen, die die Container in der vorgegebenen Taktzeit bereithalten und somit die Anlage von der Arbeitsgeschwindigkeit der SC/RS entkoppelt.
3. Übergabestationen, an denen die Container aus dem Puffer an die Förderanlage übergeben werden.

   Die Anlage soll sowohl zum Transport von standardisierten 20 ft. und 40 ft.-Containern (auch High-Cube) dienen. Wünschenswert ist ferner der Transport von 45 ft.-Containern.

 

In Zukunft soll das innovative Produkt „Containerseilbahn“ auch an verschiedenen anderen Orten zum Einsatz kommen; die Anwendbarkeit soll dabei stetig erweitert werden. Denkbar wäre beispielsweise ein Einsatz zur Verbringung von Seecontainern aus einem Hafenterminal ins Hinterland oder zur Überwindung von Gewässern. Durch die Verkehrsvermeidung und Schonung der Infrastruktur werden wichtige Ziele der Ökologistik erreicht.

In logistics networks with close interdependencies and large flexibility requirements still unwanted nonlinear dynamic effects in the development of the inventory numbers arise - in pure delivery networks this effect is called Bullwhip-effect. The research within this range divides into two different approaches. The so called normative research approach looks for the reasons in the system, e.g. in system internal time delays and suggests as counter measures regulation strategies, which are directed toward the overall system and not on individual enterprises, and thus are accompanied by a restriction of the freedom of choice of the individual enterprises.

The descriptive research approach however looks for the reasons for the Bullwhip-effect in the limited rationality of the decision makers. Therefore among other things it comes to an underestimation of the supply lines. As counter measures here different learning strategies were developed. In the long run to the instabilities can only be worked against with by elements of both approaches lastingly. Basic questions with the linkage of both approaches are: which causes can be eliminated with which of the two approaches best or possibly exclusively? A goal of this research project is the development and study of a integrative, holistic and adaptive regulation and learning strategy for the lasting reduction of instabilities in delivery networks.

The objective of the ESKALE project is the development and implementation of innovative methodological and technical solutions dedicated to knowledge-based manufacturing for traditional SMEs in order to enhance competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing companies need to tailor their products to meet individual customer needs mass customisation. The project will directly support the transfer of core research results in the area of enterprise modelling, extended product and business process oriented Knowledge Management and Open Innovation Management to these companies through a concrete technical framework (ICT for product innovation). Indeed, on the one side, the traditional manufacturing SMEs are not yet able to handle all the new knowledge-based manufacturing approaches. On the other side, the software providers and system integrators do not have the necessary background knowledge to provide adapted and sustainable solutions to these manufacturing SMEs based on theses approaches. ESKALE is aiming to facilitate radical ICT-based innovation in the products innovation process and knowledge-based manufacturing.

The project ProDIAP investigates and develops new procedures for the faster and more sensitive detection of biological impurities in the building and the enamel paint production. Funded by BMBF, the project has a running time of two years. BIBA develops in this project together with Qiagen, a worldwide lea-ding company in the area of molecular diagnostics and sample analysis, and J. W. Ostendorf GmbH & Co. KG, one of the leading paint producers in Europe, a system for faster, more sensitive and automated analysis of paint production samples. Integrated into a knowledge-based expert system analysis results are evaluated and interpreted. The evaluation of the developed qualitative method shows a sensitivity of 99%. Based on this system concepts are developed for the minimisation of biocide application and for a decrease of production waste.

This study focuses on the identification of the requirements arising from the application of the “Internet of Things” in the outbound logistics sector towards vocational training on the medium level of professional qualification. It is funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The objectives of the study are on the one hand to identify which professions are affected by the application of the “Internet of Things”, and on the other hand to analyse in what way the introduction of the new technology changes the requirements towards vocational training for the groups of people in question. The study concentrates on outbound logistics in two areas: the food and automotive industries.

Subject of this tranfer project in the field of the CRC 637 is the development an application of a control method for an autonomously controlled storage management of finished vehicles as well as the conceptual design and implementation of a hard- and software prototype.

In the context of the research work of the subproject A1, several application potentials of autonomous control in the field of storage management of finished vehicles could be verified considering as example the logistic order processing of a typical automobile terminal of the logistic service provider BLG Logistics.

Within this transfer project, the investigated approach of a rule-based, autonomously controlled storage management in automobile logistics shall be enhanced an implemented using available information and communication technologies and sensor systems in the form of a hard- and software prototype.

The transfer project T2 developed a process flow for the allocation of garment products to customer orders. The allocation can be adapted dynamically, and thus allows short term reaction to new customer orders and to changes in the availability of products.

The individual identification of garment products and the allocation of these garment products to customer orders were implemented in a hardware and software demonstrator and tested both for laboratory as well as field trials. The developed method was evaluated by process simulation concerning process improvements and economic impact.

Application of the method allows reduction of inventories and throughput times.

Objective of this project is to develop a scalable ramp-up management process model for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) of the electronic industry. The model will consist of a quality-gate management model, a controlling model to measure the network ability of SMEs, an information flow model and a model for strategies to react to difficulties during ramp-up phases. The primary objective is to increase the efficiency of ramp-up phases in electronic supply chains and to qualify SME to achieve "Ramp-Up ExcellenceES", as evidence for SME´s excellence in regard to its management of ramp-up phases in production networks.

The vision of HIT ProInnWis is to provide an intelligent context based knowledge management system to the group of engineers, designers and areo-physicians, working in the area of Aircraft design.

Users, which have to fulfil a specific task (e.g. a rib creation for A350) will be able to get context specific support for their task in terms of documents, tools, contacts and other knowledge artefacts. This can be achieved by referencing new programs to a generic design process. All existing knowledge artefacts are linked to “activities”, which are the corresponding objects to the concrete tasks, but on a generic level.

Thus the engineering knowledge can be automatically offered, if a user wants to fulfil a specific task in a new development program.

Das BMBF beabsichtigt, im Jahr 2010 ein neues Programm für die Produktionsforschung aufzulegen. Mit einem neu zu entwickelnden Programm „Produktionsforschung 2020“ soll die Motivation und der Rahmen für die künftige öffentliche Förderung der Produktionsforschung in Deutschland dargestellt werden, um vorwettbewerbliche, anwendungsorientierte Forschung zur nachhaltigen Stärkung des produzierenden und verarbeitenden Gewerbes am Standort Deutschland zu fördern. Das BMBF hat ein Kernteam mit Mitgliedern aus Wissenschaft, Industrie und Verbänden definiert. Dieses Kernteam hat die Aufgabe gemeinsam mit einer repräsentativen Auswahl an Experten (Arbeitsgruppen) dieses Programm gemeinsam mit beim BMBF und dem Projektträger PTKA zu erarbeiten. Das BIBA erstellt in der Arbeitsgruppen 5 einen Bericht (themenorientierte Positionspapier), der die langfristigen Trends und Entwicklungen in den Schwerpunkten Textilmaschinen, Energieerzeugung / -speicherung (inkl. Brennstoffzellen), Turbinen, Solar, Windkraftanlagen und Wärmepumpen beschreibt.

In order to realize the automated loading of rollable transport units – a typical transport unit used by DHL – with cubic goods a robot based system has been developed. With a performance of 900 parcels per hour the system works fast and efficient. It picks the parcels from a conveyor belt and transports them into the rollable transport units which are mounted around the robot. The new developed gripping system is able to grip up to three parcels at time. The focus on low-cost-automation resulted in a system with low-level sensor-technologies but with high flexibility and process reliability. It is possible to commission parcels of different size in up to three rollable transport units at the present moment but the system can be enlarged with up to two more transport units. A pilot phase at the company APO-Logistics and in cooperation with ThyssenKrupp Krause GmbH is already accomplished successfully.

The aim of TELL-ME is to provide a methodology and a toolset for the pan-European deployment of Living Labs in the areas of e-Government, e-Democracy and e-Services, thus creating new opportunities for networking and best practice exchange between public entities, citizens, industry and academia.

Wearable mobile computing empowers professionals to higher levels of productivity by providing effective forms of access to knowledge and computing power anywhere and in any situation. Wearable computing will improve productivity because it allows workers to complete more complex tasks in less time and with less effort.<br>

wearIT@work will develop a core technology in the transition of the European economy to a service centred economy, as a result of which new jobs and economic growth in Europe will be generated.<br>

wearIT@work will develop a new paradigm for wearable mobile com-puting that supports complex tasks with a minimum of human-machine interaction and thereby enables mobile professionals to keep their attention focused on the interaction with the work environment. <br>

wearIT@work will deliver a new technology having a long-term impact on the organization of individual and collaborative work and creating new ways to organize work.

The project’s aim was to develop reference solutions based the decentralized data management for intralogistics processes within the clothing industry, which include e. g. article stock control or picking processes.

In particular, the project examined, to what extent relevant product data can be stored directly on articles or packages of articles by use of the transponder or RFID technology. A simple but suitable reference solution for selected decentralized data processing applications was implemented as a pilot application.

In this way the project contributed to the implementation of solutions based on autonomous control of logistic processes within a business environment especially of small and medium enterprises.

The actual challenges of marine industry, which have been identified by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, are the improvement of its profitability, the optimisation of the ecological compatibility, the improvement of safety and the integration of the ships as a carrier into international transportation chains. The MarLife project focuses on a distinct improvement of the reliabil-ity and profitability of shipping business as well as on the protection of the environment. The consortium consists of shipping companies, suppliers, service providers and research institutes. During the three years runtime of the project these partners will analyse the life cycle costs of ships, examine specific scenarios of the shipping business and develop a life cycle management concept as well as life cycle management solutions, which are specified to the demands of the users. In the course of the project an integrated life cycle management system is developed which provides specific information to the shipping companies as a basis of decisions and actions to be initiated.

A new transfer project in collaboration with the beverage industry has been launched at LogDynamics with the objective of exploiting the potential value of RFID technology. The participating industry partners are the packaging company Logipack GmbH, the wholesaler Getränke Nordmann, and the beverage producer and bottler Stralsunder Brauerei.

The local data acquisition along the whole product life cycle is considered an important advantage of RFID technology, accessible to all participants in the supply chain network. The data can be used to generate and realise optimisation potentials in manufacturing and planning as well as in warehouse and transport control. On the other hand, the dissemination and implementation of RFID technology incurs costs, and the people who have to bear these costs are not necessarily the only beneficiaries of the new technology.

Therefore the project objective can be outlined by the question: How should the costs incurred be shared among the beneficiaries in the supply chain? The project results should flow into the Billing Model for RFID technology along the supply chain. The targeted result is: faster dissemination of this innovative solution in order to tap the full optimisation potential with regard to logistics processes.

The objective of E4 is the development of an innovative integrated engineering environment specifically tailored to the needs of the suppliers operating in a design network which involves companies from all over Europe.

The ambition of E4 STREP is to be the catalyst of current and past R&D multi-disciplinary efforts (organisational, managerial, psychological, socio-economical, technical) to finally apply c-business and extended product paradigms to enlarged EU SMEs, irrespective of the sector they belong to and of their geographical location. The method followed will be a holistic multi-dimensional collaborative approach which is able to encompass all stages of collaboration from cradle-to-grave (initiation, management, operational life and dissolution), all phases of extended products’ development (conception, design, prototyping), all forms of collaboration (ad-hoc, mediated and planned) and all enterprise assets in any type of business network (people, ICT-systems, processes and knowledge assets).

This holistic paradigm requires a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector perspective, in which human skills and competencies, heterogeneous knowledge assets, independent business models and proprietary ICT systems have to become cooperative & concurrent working teams, shared & accessible resources, synchronised & interconnected processes, inter-operable & open enterprise applications.

To obtain all this E4 aims at developing and engineering a platform to support project and process management which integrate the tools and functions required by the networks they belong to in a cost-effective way. It will moreover support a seamless data exchange with the different levels: design constraints, partial BOMs (Bill of Materials) from above; partial drawings, BOMs and project KPI (Key Performance Indicators) from below. The project will rely upon ASP concepts to provide the required resources – tools or services in a Web based mode to be paid on a use basis – and will define or complete appropriate ontology.

Process control and quality will be achieved thanks to a unique project management approach based on a library of micro-processes which drive the steps, specify the required resources – data and a variety of tools (Computer Aided Design, Computer Aided Engineering, cost, risk, etc.) and feed into a Product and Collaborative Knowledge Management which will cater for tracing and learning. The progress will be objectively measured using KPIs evaluated by a wizard. .

The project, starting from a basic framework, will develop and integrate services to support program management, KPI management, quality monitoring, knowledge management to leverage past experience.

The innovation will be in the platform concept and underlying business model and in the service oriented architecture, based on Web Services, and in the definition and use of a common ontology to share data and knowledge. A first test case will be implemented in KOGAST and supported by JSI, a second one in Sparky and will be supported by Sofia University, the final test case will be implemented in a cluster of Polish-Ukrainian SMEs in the area of design/production of windows and will be supported by IOS and COGNOVIS.

<br>

<b><i>Project-no.:</b></i><br>

ECOLEAD (FP6.IP506958)<br>

<br><b><i>Project executing organisation:</b></i><br>

EU IST (Information Society Technology) - Program<br>

<br><b><i>Duration:</b></i><br>

36 Months (01.04.2004 - 30.06.2008)<br>

<br><b><i>Consortium:</b></i><br>

20 permanent partners from 11 countries of the EU, Brazil and Mexiko,<br>

additional experts and corporate associations, supporting the project as consultants and multipliers.<br>

<br><b><i>Vision:</b></i><br>

<i>“In ten years, in response to

fast changing market conditions, most

enterprises and specially the SMEs will be

part of some sustainable collaborative

networks that will act as breeding environments

for the formation of dynamic virtual

organizations.“</i><br>

<br><b><i>Objectives:<br></b></i>

ECOLEAD aims to create

strong foundations and mechanisms

needed to establish the most advanced

collaborative and network-based industrial

society in Europe.

The fundamental assumption in ECOLEAD

is that a substantial impact in materializing

networked collaborative business

ecosystems requires a holistic approach.

The complexity of this research-field and

the various inter-dependencies among

the involved business entities, social

actors, and technologies, substantial

breakthroughs cannot be achieved with

incremental innovation in isolated areas.

On the other hand, project plans must

remain manageable. Thus ECOLEAD

addresses the most fundamental and

inter-related focus areas, which form

the basis for dynamic and sustainable

networked organizations: the VO Breeding

Environments, Dynamic Virtual Organizations

and Professional Virtual Communities.

In addition to these three vertical