standardisation

Interoperable automation can benefit cybersecurity certification processes that result from the EU Cybersecurity Act (e.g. EUCS) so that they represent less overhead for the stakeholders involved. The development of key standardization efforts involving relevant stakeholders (e.g. regulators) is needed to fully realize these benefits. EU projects like H2020 MEDINA, HEU COBALT and communities such as EUROSCAL are well on the way to achieving this goal. However, more practical experience is needed to make continuous certification with automation a reality.

The decentralized data ecosystem Gaia-X, which is currently under development, supports the future viability of the digital data economy in Europe. But how can relevant use cases be realized in Gaia-X from a service-oriented perspective? To answer this question, this article presents a methodology that describes a structured and interdisciplinary approach to service development in the ongoing Gaia-X 4 ROMS consortium research project [1]. In this project, federated services are realized in five processing steps on the basis of use cases. IT experts, software developers and industry users can leverage the model to efficiently coordinate the joint realization of use cases with Gaia-X and the goal of sovereign data exchange.

Standardisation of industrial solutions is a crucial factor for the competitiveness of whole industry sectors. Especially young and immature industries, like the offshore wind energy sector, may benefit from standardised processes. Several research and development projects address information flow and the planning in this field. The standardisation of the projects results may improve the performance of the whole supply chain. However, the transfer of research and development results to standardisation processes is a challenging task. Thus, this paper introduces a procedure model for the identification and evaluation of research and development results for standardisation.

Load carriers as an essential part of the whole supply chain concern suppliers, manufacturers and retailers. In spite of the management of load carriers is still an unattended area within companies, although a holistic regulation and monitoring can gain access to substantial quantitative and qualitative capabilities. The article describes the term of a holistic management of load carriers und presents a framework and levers for an increased capability and a more efficient handling of load carriers.

In efficient process chains, economic advantages can be accomplished by the use of reusable loading devices. Due to their outer shape they allow a standardized handling of different goods using the already available equipment. Adequate design and a modular structure provide the opportunity for efficient loading and unloading processes of various goods. Keeping in mind the amount of loading devices currently in use (a few million), their economic relevance becomes apparent. The Institute for Mechanical Handling and Logistics (IFT) at the University of Stuttgart is currently working on two different research projects that involve the construction and thus optimisation of standardized loading devices for different industries and purposes.

With Standardised Processes on the Right Track to Customised Factories The approaches of factory planning that have been developed many years ago have to be adjusted to today’s challenges. Therefore the basic systematics of the Supply Chain Operations Reference- Model (SCOR-Model) are consulted and transferred to the processes of factory planning. The aim is to accelerate the planning process and to generate planning results in a higher quality while decreasing the planning effort. This will be achieved by use of a consistent process orientation which bases on standardised processes, field-tested methods, models and tools and on best-practice examples. This article explains the system and contents of the Process Model of Factory Planning and will give an impression of the first software-based prototype.