Innovation

Production is leaving Earth. As access to space becomes increasingly affordable and reliable, the idea of manufacturing in space is evolving from science fiction to a real industrial strategy. In this interview, Jan Wörner, who has headed not only the German Aerospace Center (DLR) but also the European Space Agency (ESA) for many years, talks about strategic opportunities and regulatory challenges.

Due to its weightlessness, space offers enormous opportunities for production. The unique conditions of microgravity, for example, can simplify the development of organs and tissues from the body's own stem cells, allowing therapies to be developed in a more targeted manner. Even though many independent initiatives are currently emerging to explore this and other potential applications, their success is not a foregone conclusion.

Digital twins connect physical and digital systems, furthering efficiency, enabling predictive maintenance, and allowing the production of more customized products. Despite these advantages, challenges such as high costs, data synchronization, and security risks hinder widespread adoption. This article explores the potential of digital twins and examines key barriers to integration and implementation, also considering some industrial applications including additive manufacturing as a relevant use case.

Transforming formats such as showrooms, laboratories or exhibitions into a virtual presence offers both opportunities and challenges. Particularly with cyber-physical systems (CPS), which rely heavily on user interaction, extensive adaptations must be made in order to maintain their purpose and function virtually. As part of this research project, digital solutions from different technologies and fields of application were transferred to a virtual exhibition. On this basis, the influence of the digital transformation on the interactivity and emulation of the solutions was analyzed. This article presents a framework that supports practitioners in the implementation of virtual representations.

The Länder- und Phasenübergreifende Interface (LPI) (engl. Cross-Regional and Cross-Phase Interface) promotes the sustainable digitalization of vocational and technical education through the systematic provision of expertise and innovative networking formats. The focus is on hybrid learning landscapes (HLL), which interlink physical and digital learning spaces to create individualized, practical learning environments. Innovative approaches such as learning factories, VR/AR and learning analytics are integrated.

Load carriers are essential for transporting manufactured parts in manufacturing companies. Despite their ‘simplicity’, they are usually expensive to purchase as they are manufactured expressly to fit purpose. While tracking methods such as GPS tracking can be used to prevent the loss of load carriers, this is associated with monitoring costs and presents challenges with regard to data protection as soon as the work performance of intralogistics employees is monitored. Assigning load carriers to designated clusters and monitoring these clusters provides an effective solution—without drawing conclusions about employee performance. Furthermore, artificial intelligence can optimize this approach whilst also deterring the theft of load carriers.