Automation

Automation is an interdisciplinary technology which has a significant impact on the industry in Germany. Especially in micro-production as a niche market, there are numerous applications that require highly automated production technologies. The biggest challenge is the control of size effects. Size effects occur in the production of micro components because the ratio of volume to surface forces shifts and adhesion appears. Furthermore, micro forming has batches with high volume, which require high flexible and ideally universal automated handling systems for efficient multi-stage manufacturing processes. This paper deals with the adhesion forces and their reduction by minimizing the contact surface. In addition, requirements and approaches to automated allocation of micro-components are discussed.

Particularly the logistics branch is subject to constant change - the competitive pressure is steadily increasing. The prevailing challenge for research and development in the area of logistics is to detect and satisfy potentials of improvement regarding long-sighted and long-lasting aspects. The concept of the Logistic Factory of the Future includes needs and major fields of action for the development of innovative product solutions. The area Automation as part of the Logistic Factory of the Future and the implementation using the example of the Parcel Robot are presented in this paper.

The manufacturing and production industry will only survive in a more and more globalized word if they react fast and flexible to new market and customer demands. In order to achieve the required flexibility, technically support for reconfiguration both on the machine (physical) and on the control technical (logical) level is necessary. From the technological point of view a shift from central control and rigidly coupled production systems to distributed, modular and cooperating automation components is essential. An important role of such proposed productions systems plays the automation and control concept.

Assembly of micro mechatronical systems in small to medium volumes is missing economical solutions for automation. Due to a great variety of processes characterized by high requirements and complexity automation is realized only in specialized manufacturing lines for mass production. As a result an automated micro-assembly is usually capital intensive. Considering a mechatronical actuator as an example an approach is described which enables an initial assembly in small volumes at a small space. Due to the modular design a reduction of investment cost and the demand on economic entry in micro-assembly is accomplished.

The ultra-precise surface structuring by means of single crystal diamond tools can be applied for the flexible machining of optical components used in display or reflector-technologies, for light guiding elements or even for high precision mechanical or fluidical applications. By means of a sophisticated tuning of the machine, the tool and the process itself, an extreme precision in the sub-micron range, which is requested on behave of the applications, can be achieved on work pieces with a size of one square meter and more.

CRM manages customer interactions in marketing, sales and service. Based on an empirical survey the barriers for product configuration software to support the sales process in the automation industry are presented. In this industry, CRM systems are currently primarily employed for the optimization of after-sales services.