Autor: Tobias Heinen

Due to a lack of energy consumption transparency, manufacturing companies are struggling to identify the energetic cost drivers within a factory. Energy transparency can be reached through the aid of suitable measuring technologies. However, the gained transparency must be used intelligently to obtain economic benefits. One possible solution is the use of modern information technologies that are provided by the Industry 4.0. Maximum synergies can only be achieved through a holistic implementation of Industry 4.0, by taking the business model, the operational processes, the technology and the employees into account. A corresponding strategy for the implementation of Industry 4.0 in the context of energy transparency is introduced in this article.

Due to increased customer requirements the product quality has become a precondition for the competitiveness of manufacturers. Fundamental for the production of top-quality products are stable and error-free processes. The basic process configuration takes place during the factory planning. If substantial quality related standards are not taken into account at this time, essential modifications could only be realized during the subsequent factory operations with a significant additional effort. Therefore a methodical approach for the planning of quality supportive factories which early integrates the relevant requests in the planning processes is developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) of the Leibniz University of Hannover.

Companies nowadays face a plethora of challenges such as ever increasing customer requirements, globally distributes production networks or changing product life cycles. In order to react appropriately to these turbulences, production systems can be designed changeable. Today’s solutions often do not suffice. In particular, the needed time and the necessary extent of change are identified only intuitively. In this paper is presented a control-loop-based synchronization approach, which allows carrying out the change in the right quantity at the right time. An application example will further the theoretical bases.

Enterprises face a plethora of outside influences. Examples include shortening product life cycles, rising cost pressure or increasing number of variants. In order to make arrangements for their factories to remain future-robust, many companies strive for a transformable factory. In order to fully use the change-potential installed, a methodology that allows integrating an employee-oriented view, is indispensable. This contribution presents an approach which renders possible the coordination of employee skills and factory transformability.