industrial engineering

In view of global competition, companies need to respond flexibly to market requirement and customer demand. Key factors in this challenge are the efficient operation of production facilities and the ability to manufacture in small batches. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) often do not have sufficient personnel and methodical resources for a systematic and sustainable improvement of manufacturing processes. The standard program “management of manufacturing resources” provides structural and methodical support in order to be able to meet these challenges.

At present, the industry has to face various challenges due to the needs of customers for individualized products and the related increasing number of product variants. Furthermore, the increasing complexity of the value added process and the demographic change with the related increasing average age of the employees as well as the growing shortage of skilled professionals negatively influence the situation. This article deals with assistance systems as a potential tool to meet these new demands and demonstrates successful implementations of these systems that have been already realized.