Open Access Articles

Dashboards play a key role in informed business decisions. Based on findings from an action research process, this article shows how company-specific solutions can be systematically developed and bad investments avoided. The provision of IT capacities, securing data access, formulating requirements, and developing the data model prove to be particularly critical.

Personnel deployment planning in industrial maintenance is a complex challenge, as dispatchers often have to match incomplete customer requests with the appropriate employee skills. An AI-based assistance system can help by automatically analyzing relevant data and providing well-founded suggestions for employee selection. This article describes the user-centered development and introduction of such a system as part of a pilot project at a medium-sized service provider. The user-centered design ensures that dispatchers retain their autonomy. Involving employees from the outset creates acceptance and promotes a deeper understanding of the system’s advantages.

In engineer-to-order production systems, design and production processes are often carried out simultaneously to achieve shorter throughput times. Shipbuilding frequently adopts this approach. In practice, whilst this may lead to time savings, it can also result in efficiency losses. This article analyzes the causes of these inefficiencies and, as a counteractive measure, develops digital assistance systems for integration in the shipbuilding process chain. Digital assistance systems are based on a digital shadow of the shipbuilding process.

How can artificial intelligence (AI) automate production planning and control? This study examines its potential to enhance efficiency in modern production environments. The focus is on establishing a robust data infrastructure that integrates real-time, historical, and contextual data to create a solid basis for AI models. Reinforcement learning (RL) is applied to aid automation. A roadmap for implementation, focusing on practical application, is presented. This roadmap incorporates simulation-based training methods and outlines strategies for continuous improvement and adaptation of production processes.

Manual picking remains common due to the high initial cost of support systems. This paper reviews existing technologies, presents an exploratory vision-based prototype, and examines existing literature that explores how combining object detection with language systems could enhance manual workflows. The findings suggest a promising, low-cost direction for worker support in logistics.

For a successful implementation as well as sustainable use and maintenance of digital twins for production and logistics systems, it is necessary to identify relevant use cases and master the associated challenges. This paper analyzes scientific literature on common applications and challenges in the implementation of digital twins for the planning and operation of production and logistics systems. To confirm the practical relevance of the results, the results of an empirical survey have also been included. The findings are used to derive key focus areas for the successful implementation and long-term use of digital twins in production and logistics.

Companies face a variety of challenges when optimizing global supply chains. Economic interests must be balanced with legal requirements, such as the German Supply Chain Due Diligence Act (SCDDA) and the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). A digital supply chain twin (DSCT) enables the visualization of value creation networks and supports key business functions, such as purchasing, supply chain management, distribution, service, and sales. By leveraging immersive technologies, the DSCT helps generate sustainable competitive advantages across the entire supply network.

In today’s manufacturing industry, digital twins are a key enabler for optimizing production processes and efficient resource use. However, creating digital twins is often associated with high or difficult-to-estimate costs and typically requires unknown characteristic values, such as material parameters, making practical implementation challenging. With RAPIDZ, we present a tool for creating and using digital twins that overcomes these barriers through its modular structure. The virtual modeling of physical systems enables comprehensive analysis and real-time forecasting of material flows, energy consumption and machine performance. The use of RAPIDZ increases production line efficiency, enhances flexibility and response time, and enables proactive maintenance to minimize downtime.

Collecting data from different sources on the shop floor and making it accessible to different IT systems is one of the core tasks during the process of factory digitization. Due to the different protocols and interfaces, the data collection task comes with unique challenges. With the Sensor Technology Adapter Gateway (STAG), we present a solution that closes the gap between the shop floor and the IT system’s backend. STAG is an industry-grade middleware that automates translations between data models and protocols.

Strategic Product Planning must adapt to current challenges such as circular economy, digital business models and interdisciplinarity. Established process models, for example, can only be applied to Product-Service Systems to a limited extent. This article presents a new SPP model developed through an analysis of 230 existing approaches and enhanced by the integration of digital twins, enabling continuous feedback throughout the entire product life cycle. This allows product monitoring and dynamic adjustments to the SPP. The model adopts an agile, iterative framework consisting of five cyclical key activities, guided by five control points aligned with increasing levels of maturity. By factoring in circularity from the outset, the model promotes resource-efficient products and production processes. Its emphasis on flexibility, information circularity and sustainability ensures future value and adaptability across industries of the proposed SPP model.