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Designing and simulating complex mechatronic and distributed intelligent systems requires a unified system modeling and programming language. This paper presents JavaScript as a unified modeling and programming language by extending JavaScript with a semantic type system JST to bridge the gap between models and implementations. The result is the JS+ Superset language, which combines typing, modeling and programming. Different model domains and their relation to the JS+ programming model including some generic transformation rules are shown using the example of a sensory material. Finally, the multidomain simulation tool SEJAM is introduced, which combines physical and data processing simulation with agents.

In terms of Industrie 4.0, especially SMEs are facing the challenge of integrating data both vertically and horizontally. To achieve this task, common solutions such as ERP are increasingly replaced by manufacturing executions systems (MES). Due to the direct connection in production, MES allow a production control and serve as bridge between planning and manufacturing level. Data integration is furthermore the basis for an automated risk management in production. The research project quadrika develops an MES module that predictively recognizes risks and thus prevents faults.

A powerful cross-organizational collaboration within the global value chain will continue to be a major competitive advantage in the future. The way supply chains are managed today will no longer be sufficient tomorrow. Blockchain technology makes it possible to technologically map intermediary functions without manifesting the market power of just one central platform (intermediary). On the basis of Blockchain-technology, trusting (data-) networks are created across company boundaries. The technology will not solve all operational problems; however, it may help to secure processes and simplify communication.

The positive benefits of decentralized decisionmaking structures in production systems were already discussed in the 1990s. But it is only in recent years that the technologies required for implementation have reached sufficient market maturity to be able to implement corresponding concepts efficiently. In this way, the units involved can be enabled to participate “intelligently” in processes by means of autonomous technologies. The question of the actors actively involved in decentralised decisionmaking and implementation as well as the concrete design of decentralised production structures is of great importance. This article illustrates the importance of autonomy for decentralised production control and shows which performance actors involved in the process have the necessary capabilities to act autonomously.

Unmanned systems have evolved significantly on a technological level over the past few years, while prices of such systems shrank constantly. These developments led to that fact that the industry as well as small- and medium sized companies began considering the application of unmanned systems and thus gaining initial operative experience. This article describes the operative usage of drones in critical, industrial infrastructures given the example of port facilities. It introduces initial qualitative frameworks highlighting the operative potentials of the technology. The article is structured as it begins with a general and legal introduction of the drone topic, followed by application in the area of safety and security and concluding with general operative barriers. The outcome is not necessarily limited to the maritime sector but can be applied in other critical infrastructures (e.g. offshore- or chemical industries). This article introduces the topic in general as an extract from ...

Machine learning is the key technology of almost every instance of modern Artificial Intelligence. Enormous datasets are produced in digitized industrial processes and in the Internet of Things, which can well be exploited by learning in deep artificial neural networks. Standard machine learning algorithms require these datasets to be centralized before learning a model. Several good reasons - ranging from data privacy over latency to economic efficiency - favor learning at the edge so that reasoning is fast and no local data is transferred. The article shows how decentralized learning works and how to evaluate it. Moreover, we point to special resource-efficient learning algorithms and discuss small remaining risks of data reconstruction.

The present paper develops a process model that enables the user to derive companyspecific implementation sequences for Industry 4.0-Methods. The model is based on input parameters. They ensure a realistic simulation and relate the resulting implementation sequence of the Industry 4.0-Methods specifically to the applying company. By applying the developed process model, the uncertainty for companies regarding Industry 4.0 is reduced and a possibility to successfully implement Industry 4.0-Methods is created.

Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) combined with a dynamically interconnected assembly system promise high flexibility and transformability to cope with an increasingly dynamic and complex business environment. Existing approaches for planning AGVs operate on a high level of aggregation so that they do not address the transformability of the transport system itself. Therefore, this article introduces a planning approach that explicitly addresses the transformability of the system by planning on component level. The application is demonstrated within a Greenfield project of the worldwide active pump manufacturer WILO SE.

Companies are increasingly acquiring new technologies that enable higher quality and efficiency. Every technology adoption is also a change process which affects the employees and their work and thus needs to be managed in an optimal way. This article is focused on the importance of goal definition during a change process. To facilitate this process, a checklist with 81 goals is presented. The checklist was developed based on scientific literature and practice-oriented tools and can be used by project teams to focus their activities on a holistic change process and track the goal progress.

German sea and inland ports are of outstanding importance for Germany as a base for manufacturing and logistics. In the last decades, the port sector underwent several structural changes. Currently, the expected autonomation and digitalization of the entire supply chain create entirely new challenges for the port industry. In this context, the present article describes a planning approach for the development of an automated straddle carrier in northern German seaports. To evaluate both the reliability and the profitability of such an automated system, a planning approach, consisting of two fundamental steps, was chosen: (1) At first, in order to perform prototypical experiments, a pilot installation will be established in the area of the container terminal in Wilhelmshaven (CTW). (2) Based on this, the system’s suitability for the operative conditions in a mega container terminal is evaluated using a simulation and emulationbased planning approach.