Design

The development of textile products is associated with high material, time, personnel and cost expenditure. The paper describes the digital twinning for materials and processes and their application in a digital product development process, which can accelerate the ramp-up phase and thus reduce development costs by up to 60%.

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is an additive manufacturing process which produces metallic components on the basis of arc welding. ISO/ASTM 52900 describes additive manufacturing as a process that creates components layer by layer from 3D model data. The basic equipment required includes a welding device, introducing the energy necessary for melting the metal wire, and a guiding machine, which traces the specified geometry of the component. Applications for WAAM include rapid prototyping and tooling, direct manufacturing and additive repair. The greatest advantages the process offers are low-cost system technology and a high deposition rate. The disadvantages of the process are the lack of process stability and exact repeatability. This article is intended to provide a clear overview of the WAAM manufacturing process, and to address its complex interactions.

The paper analyzes the improvement of resilience in logistics in contrast to lean management. First, possible success factors of resilience will be identified, including agility, redundancy in the form of capacity reserves, process transparency, management of personnel and risk, supply chain management and the formation of liquidity reserves. Eight face-to-face interviews with leading logistics companies will be conducted to examine these success factors. The aim is to identify best practice approaches for improving resilience and to examine possible conflicts of objectives with lean management.

Production automation is well established in large companies for high volume products. But robot-based assembly automation in mid-sized companies is still in its infancy. This study uses results from 19 expert interviews and a survey to identify obstacles to and drivers of automation in this field. Among the obstacles is the low flexibility of the robotic systems. One driver for automation is the increasing shortage of skilled workers. Based on the empirical findings, the study proposes options to increase the use of automation.