Smart Factory

Automation technology moved into factories by the end of last century. Since then, production processes have changed dramatically worldwide. While companies first focused on optimizing interdepartmental collaboration, today the cross-company collaboration increasingly comes into focus. After all, in a globalized economy companies need to operate in networks. In order to cooperate efficiently and effectively in global supply chains, transparent structures and standards are indispensable. This applies first and foremost to the logistics.

The proliferation of small mobile devices and everyday objects with integrated sensors and actuators provides the basis for a large variety of novel applications. With capabilities for wireless communication and determining the own position, these devices are ideally suited for location- and context-a-ware systems that are the focus of research in the Nexus project at the University of Stuttgart. The use of these technologies in a factory environment, e.g. a decentralized manufacturing resource management system as presented in this article, opens up a totally new application area.