Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming TechnologyIn 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.
Human integration
Tabbed contents
Main research topics
Design of work stations and processes
Humans will remain an integral part in production despite increasing applications of solutions provided by IT and automation technology. Based on this assumption we research innovative approaches for designing manual work stations and processes. During the planning stage we already use methods and software for this purpose, for example the editor for human work (ema), to predict ergonomic, economic and humane working conditions. Moreover, our developments are characterized by applying intuitive IT solutions for ideal information supply to staff in production processes. We create progressive ideas for our clients by working in an interdisciplinary team, by benefiting from our experts’ certified training in MTM and REFA, and by applying our insights gained with various companies.
Planning of capacity and orders
Dimensioning of production capacities and order control are mandatory for successful production plants. Based on our extensive knowledge derived from experience, we design customized planning solutions for the spatial configuration of factories and their processes. Here we closely work together with our clients. We apply established methods of factory planning, lean management and production planning and control.
Production assistance
Processing and supply of information gains more and more importance in addition to data evaluation and generation of production-relevant information. Context-based concepts ensure that the employees only receive the information required to fulfill their task. Knowledge of the process in question is the key factor for both data evaluation and information supply. Thus it is and remains necessary to actively integrate humans as creative problem solvers and to adequately consider natural human competences such as intelligence and creativity. In this context we use state-of-the-art web technologies and platform-independent solutions that can be optimally integrated into existing company networks.
Reference projects
- SmARPro: virtual technologies for the factory of the future
- Humans in production supported by MOBILE-IT
- Twittering machine tools: predictive maintenance of industrial plants
- Green Factory Bavaria
Trends
- Linking of work processes
- Digitalization of work
- Personalized production
- Ergonomic process design and process control
Portfolio
Factory organization
- Simulation studies on material flow (also including energy flow)
- Analyses of value streams
- Planning of logistics / production system
- Analysis of capacity and bottlenecks, optimization
Energy and resource efficiency
- Consultations on energy / resource efficiency
- Design of energy-efficient processes
- Energy supply concepts
- Visualization of energy data
Data and information in production
- SmartData – acquisition, management and evaluation of large data volumes
- Software engineering in industrial quality (Java, .NET, etc.)
- Solutions for determining indicators (TEEP, OEE, etc.) and condition-oriented maintenance
- Product tracking, use of auto-ID solutions
Human-centered production
- Assistance systems/mobile IT
- Studies on ergonomics and time management (MTM, REFA)
- Customer specific trainings
- Web-based development of apps