Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology
Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology

Production management

Planning, controlling and linking the factory of the future

We develop implementable solutions for factories to increase efficiency and added value. Our solutions result from a combination of information technology, business organization and mechanical engineering. In order to achieve the best benefits for our clients, we apply our competences and experience from local, national and international projects and offer support from the first idea up to realization. Sustainable solutions and services address the main topics of industrial production in Germany: Our research focuses on efficient use of energy as the main factor of production and on approaches “related to Industry 4.0” to acquire, process, link and use data in production. Moreover, we research active (re)integration of humans into production systems where humans play a central role.

Industry 4.0

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Resulting from advanced technological developments, manufacturing processes and production systems are characterized by increasing complexity. At the same time, more and more modern components of information and communication technology are integrated into production technology, which implies that a great amount of various data is already collected today in direct or indirect relation to production. How can this data be processed and made available as specific information to support complex production scenarios?

Resource-efficient production

Resource efficiency is required in production not only due to high energy cost. The new energy policy also raises issues of resource availability and security of resource supply.  In order to optimize resource and energy efficiency, we analyze and evaluate value added chains, processes, production plants, infrastructure and industrial facilities. Moreover, we determine energy potentials and point out possible improvements, we provide energy-oriented approaches for production planning and controlling. In addition, we support our clients by offering customized solutions for sustainable, economical and energy-efficient production.

Human integration

In the factory of the future, humans play a more central and responsible role than before. New technologies enable an entirely new way of working. The processes in which humans are involved have to be planned efficiently in order to support them in executing their new tasks. Thus, manual processes and workplaces can be designed efficiently and ergonomically by applying established methods (e.g. MTM) and tools for workplace design (tools of the digital factory). Furthermore, our research focuses on novel concepts for IT assistance systems to achieve greater autonomy in decision making.