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The 17 SDGs, as agreed upon by the international community, are designed to be implemented across all levels of human activity. Alongside the level of international politics, this also includes the local levels, national politics, wider society, and the economic sphere. Many channels are called on to further implementation, including the transfer of technology to developing and emerging countries. As the patent holders, this must include the active participation of companies. While the literature examines the important role of technology transfer in North-South business-to-business (B2B) partnerships, studies on the technology transfer between European and African companies are scarce. Therefore, in this study we use original data from 26 interviews conducted with managers engaged in sales partnerships between German manufacturers and their distributors in African markets to examine the existence and forms of technology transfer. We find that training and marketing excellence are the predominant forms of technology transfer and based on that suggest a refinement of established frameworks on B2B technology transfer.
The dawn of the 21st Century has witnessed a tremendous increase in trade pacts among nations, resulting in renewed hopes for sustainable enterprise development in emerging economies worldwide. Ghana and other sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have signed onto several North-South and South-South free trade agreements with the hope of strengthening their presence in the international trade arena, and to promote economic growth in SSA. For over two decades, however, very little has changed, and many have dashed their high hopes as enterprises continue to struggle in SSA. Not even the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could renew the hopes of sceptics. Several studies opined that enterprises in SSA could improve their domestic and international competitiveness by establishing mutually beneficial partnerships with their counterparts from the Global North and South. This study delved into the issues that affect North-South and South-South business collaborations and recommends key success factors that could help promote mutually beneficial cross-border business partnerships. The research includes both literature and empirical information on the key success factors of business partnerships between African enterprises as well as between African enterprises and firms from the Global North. We approached the study qualitatively using a phenomenological research design. Research participants included important stakeholders in Africa and Europe's international trade and sustainable enterprise development ecosystem. The study identified several challenges with the current business collaborations and recommended new ways of making such partnerships more beneficial.
Internet of things innovations and the industrial internet these days become more and more decisive factors of future success for companies. Especially manufacturing oriented SME will face the challenge to develop innovative technology driven business models alongside technology innovations in this field which will be essential for future competitiveness. Failing in developing these technology driven business models in an internationally highly competitive environment will have a serious impact both on companies and on the society. Hence, securing economic stability and success of these technology driven business models is an indispensable task. To identify challenges for innovative industrial internet business models first it is necessary to understand what the industrial internet means to the leading parties and applying companies and start-ups in the field. Second, challenges from general business model development will be outlined. In a third step risks and challenges in business model development will be discussed with regard to the special characteristics of technology driven business models in the context of the industrial internet and the important role of the technological key component of the business model. Especially the capability to deal with an integrated consideration of the indivisible linked dimensions of economic and technological aspects of these business models is questioned. In the fourth place the specific challenges for industrial internet business models are derived. On the basis of these results it is also discussed what might be done to handle these challenges successfully with the goal to turn them into chances. The need for future research on the integration of the risk management perspective into the development of these technology driven business models is derived. This will help established companies and start-ups to realize great technological innovations for the industrial internet in sound and successful innovative business models.
The financial crisis of 2007-2010 was probably one of the greatest, most lustrous black-swan events that people of our generation(s) will experience – and at its heart, it was a dynamic phenomenon. It is stated in the vision of the System Dynamics Society that we aspire to transform society by influencing decision-making. Yet, it seems as if system dynamics did not play any significant role in this crisis: we did not examine the markets, we did not provide insights to banks, and we did not warn governments or the people. In our presentation we describe the dynamics involved in a housing bubble, and describe what made the last one different. With the insights gained from this exercise we conclude that, from a system dynamics perspective, the dimension of the financial crisis of 2007-2009 was eminently foreseeable, which will lead us to pose the following question: where were we as a field while this crisis was unfolding, why were we not active players? We present a range of potential answers to this question, hoping to provoke some reflection… and maybe some (re)action.
Increasing flexibility, greater transparency and faster adaptability play a key role in the development of future intralogistics. Ever-changing environmental conditions require easy extensibility and modifiability of existing bin systems. This research project explores approaches to transfer the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm to intralogistics. This allows a synchronization of the material and information flow. The bin is enabled by the implementation of adequate hardware and software components to capture, store, process and forward data to selected system subscribers. Monitoring the processes in the intralogistics by means of the smart bin system ensures the implementation of appropriate actions in case of defined deviations. By using explorative expert interviews with representatives from the automotive and pharmaceutical industries, seven practical application scenarios were defined. On this basis, the requirements of smart bin systems were examined. For each individual case of application, a system model was created in order to obtain an overview of the system components and thus reveal similarities and differences. Based on the similarities of the system models, a general requirement profile was derived. After the hardware components of the bin system had been determined, a utility analysis was carried out to find the adequate IoT software. The utility analysis was conducted with a focus on data acquisition and data transfer, data storage, data analysis, data presentation as well as authorization management and data security. The results show that there is great interest in easily expandable and modifiable bin systems, as in all cases, the necessary information flow in the existing bin system has to be improved by means of new IoT hardware and software components.
Reacting to ever-changing business environments, in the last decade complex systems of systems accomplished giant leaps forward leading to great technological flexibility. However, this dimension of flexibility is often limited by the rigidity of super-ordinated planning systems. Especially when hybrid teams of automated and human resources are in place, the dynamic assignment of tasks taking into account ergonomics remains a challenge. After exposing a gap in the state of the art on the topic, this paper presents an approach to include ergonomics in dynamic resource allocation models. Combining and complementing existing approaches, the presented method monitors the actual ergonomic burden of the resources during a shift and it provides a linear optimization model to steer the resource allocation process.
Ambitious goals set by the European Union strategy towards the emission reduction of multimodal logistic chains and new requirements for intermodal terminals set by the evolution of customer needs, contribute to a shift in the driver for the infrastructure development: from economy of scale to economy of density. This paper aims to present an innovative method for designing a process oriented technology chain for intermodal terminals in order to fulfill these new demanding requirements. The results of the case study of the Zero Emission Logistic Terminal Reutlingen are presented, highlighting how this particular context enables the design and development of a modular concept, paving the way for the generalization of the findings towards the transfer to similar contexts of other European cities.
Rapidly growing population and increasing amount of shipments induced by the e-commerce are two of the main reasons for the constantly rising urban freight traffic. Cities are therefore overwhelmed by a growing stream of goods and the available infrastructure, shared between people and goods traffic, often reached its maximum capacity. Phenomena such as traffic congestion, pollution and lack of space are direct consequences of this trend and their impact on the quality of life in the city is not negligible. City administrations are keen to evaluate innovative city logistics concepts and adopt alternative solutions, to overcome the challenges posed by such a dynamic environment, constrained in existing infrastructure. In this paper, a heuristic method based on the utility analysis is presented. Thanks to a modular approach accounting for stakeholders´ requirements, possible different scenarios and available technologies, the development of new city logistic concepts is supported. The proposed method is then applied to a case study concerning the city of Reutlingen (Germany). Results are presented and a brief discussion leads to the conclusion.
The success of an autonomous robotic system is influenced by several interdependent factors not easily identifiable. This paper is set to lay the foundation of a new integrated approach in order to deeply examine all the parameters and understand their contribution to success. After introducing the problem, two cutting edge autonomous systems for the process of unloading of containers will be presented. Then the STIC analysis, a recently developed method for modelling and interpreting all the parameters, will be introduced. The preliminary results of applying such a methodology to a first study case, based on one of the two systems available to the authors, will be shortly presented. Future research is in the end recommended in order to prove that this methodology is the only way to efficiently and effectively mitigate the risk that stops potential users from investing in autonomous systems in the logistics sector.
Latest advancements in new technologies have made it possible to fully automate the in-plant material flow of small load carriers between the warehouse and the production or assembly line. However, none of methods available in literature fully addresses the planning and dimensioning problem of a logistic system based on these new autonomous technologies. This paper is set to present a method to estimate the fleet size of the new logistic system. After an overview on the state of the art, the method based on combinatorics and probability theory will be explained. A short discussion and suggestions for forthcoming research will conclude the paper.
Milk-run systems are becoming more and more popular when it comes to in-plant material supply. Planning and dimensioning such a system poses challenges, which are difficult to overcome, especially in scenarios characterized by a large number of hard constraints and by well-established processes. This paper is set to ease the task of the planner by presenting an innovative flexible method for the planning and dimensioning of in-plant milk-run systems in high constrained scenarios. After an overview on tugger train systems and existing planning methods, an extensive description of the new method will be given. The new method proposed will be critically analyzed and discussed before suggesting forthcoming research.
The EU funded project RobLog recently developed a system able to autonomously unload coffee sacks from a standard container. Being the first of its kind, a further development is needed in order for the system to be competitive against manual labor. Financing this development entails a risk, hence a justified skepticism, which can be overcome by the longsighted view of the existing market potential. This paper presents a method to estimate the market potential of autonomous unloading systems for heavy deformable goods. Starting from the analysis of the coffee trade, first the current coffee traffic is investigated in order to calculate the number of autonomous systems needed to handle the imported sacks; Results are validated and the method is extended for the calculation of the potential of other market segments, where the same unloading technology can be applied.
The seamless fusion of the virtual world of information with the real physical world of things is considered the key for mastering the increasing complexity of production networks in the context of Industry 4.0. This fusion, widely referred to as the Internet of Things (IoT), is primarily enabled through the use of automatic identification (Auto-ID) technologies as an interface between the two worlds. Existing Auto-ID technologies almost exclusively rely on artificial features or identifiers that are attached to an object for the sole purpose of identification. In fact, using artificial features for the purpose of identification causes additional efforts and is not even always applicable. This paper, therefore, follows an approach of using multiple natural object features defined by the technical product information from computer-aided design (CAD) models for direct identification. By extending optical instance-level 3D-Object recognition by means of additional non-optical sensors, a multi-sensor automatic identification system (AIS) is realised, capable of identifying unpackaged piece goods without the need for artificial identifiers. While the implementation of a prototype confirms the feasibility of the approach, first experiments show improved accuracy and distinctiveness in identification compared to optical instance-level 3D-Object recognition. This paper aims to introduce the concept of multisensor identification and to present the prototype multi-sensor AIS.
Veränderungen der Rolle von Controllern in Großkonzernen - Ergebnisse einer empirischen Erhebung
(2021)
Die anhaltende Diskussion über die Rolle von Management Accountants (MA) führt häufig dazu, dass die Rolle des Business Partners (BP) als die Rolle der Wahl angesehen wird. Dennoch scheinen viele Wissenschaftler und Praktiker davon auszugehen, dass diese Rolle den Managern und MA klar ist, dass sie für sie sinnvoll ist und alle Manager und MA ihr zustimmen und sie umsetzen. Unstimmigkeiten zwischen der tatsächlichen Rolle, der wahrgenommenen und der erwarteten Rolle könnten zu Identitäts- und Rollenkonflikten führen. Dieser Beitrag basiert auf einer quantitativen empirischen Studie in einem großen deutschen High-Tech-Unternehmen im Jahr 2019, dessen Top-Management sich für die Einführung der BP-Rolle entschied.
So-called cloud-based management information systems are a fairly new phenomenon in management accounting in recent years. Quite a few companies (and especially their business managers and management accountants) do not always work via the cloud, but with hybrid solutions or on-premise solutions of ERP software such as SAP or Oracle, but often still with "manual" solutions such as Microsoft Excel.
Early exposure makes the entrepreneur: how economics education in school influences entrepreneurship
(2022)
Many countries that seek to boost their economy share the goal of promoting entrepreneurship. Whereas there is ample research on the predictors of entrepreneurship during adulthood, we know little about how pre-adulthood experience influences entrepreneurship later in life. Using a natural experiment, this paper examines whether introducing economics classes in school enhances entrepreneurial behavior in adulthood. Our difference-in-differences approach exploits curricula reforms across German states that introduced compulsory economics education classes in secondary schools. Using information on school and labor market careers for more than 10,000 individuals from 1984 to 2019, we find that the reform increases students’ entrepreneurial activities by three percentage points. Examining gender differences, we find that economics classes equally benefit female and male students. Our results advance our understanding of how pre-adulthood experiences shape individuals’ entrepreneurial behavior.
Lean Management hat in viele Unternehmen Einzug gehalten. Lean Konzepte stellen neue Anforderungen an die Art und Struktur der benötigten Kosteninformation, welche von traditionallen Kostenrechnungssystemen nicht unmittelbar erfüllt werden. Vertreter eines „Lean Accounting“ schlagen deshalb teils radikale Änderungen und eine Vereinfachung der Kostenrechnung vor. Der Beitrag diskutiert die Beschränkungen der traditionellen Kostenrechnung bei der Umsetzung von Lean Management und stellt ausgewählte Ansätze eines „Accounting for Lean“ vor. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Ansätze des Lean Accounting zu eng fokussiert sind und die in der Praxis vorhandene Pluralität der Kostenrechnungsfunktionen nicht adäquat abbilden können. Eine radikale Neugestaltung bestehender Kostenrechnungssysteme wird deshalb als unrealistisch und unbegründet verworfen. Der Beitrag entwickelt alternative Vorschläge, wie Konzepte des Lean Managements und die dafür benötigte Kosteninformation in traditionellen Kostenrechnungssystemen integriert werden können.
Im Fokus der AG stand in erster Linie die Auseinandersetzung mit Konzepten und Praxismodellen aus den Lehrangeboten der Sprachzentren ... Es ging ... um Themen und Aspekte, die noch nicht in den GER aufgenommen und beschrieben sind, um die Grenzen und Lücken des GER; die das Thema des 6. Bremer Symposiums waren : interkulturelle, soziale, strategische und mediatorische Kompetenzen.
In a recently developed study programme at Reutlingen University, which focuses on practical orientations, an innovative product with solid company references is to be defined and realised by student teams. On the basis of this product, all subjects of the business engineering study programme “Sustainable Production and Business” are taught. By focusing on three main paths of future skills that have been developed by NextSkills to analyse upcoming social changes, global challenges and fields of work that are innovation-driven and agile, the new study programme aims to create responsible leaders who will shape global businesses respectfully. Thereby, different TRIZ tools help to support students in developing their own products with a focus on sustainability and pay off on the future skills enhancement. Further, students get to know TRIZ tools in an unbiased way, unburdened by too much theory, and are thus continuously supported in the progressing product development process that accompanies their studies. Hence, students perceive TRIZ on the one hand as a method to develop sustainable products and, on the other hand, to find sustainable solutions for everyday problems. The knowledge and positive experiences gained in this way should then arouse curiosity for the TRIZ class at the end of the study programme. The students can graduate with a TRIZ Level 1 certificate. Thereby, as many students as possible are introduced to the TRIZ methods, and the TRIZ tool is spread widely.
Governments and public institutions increasingly embrace digital opportunities to involve citizens in public issues and decision making. While public participation is generally seen as an important and promising venture, the design of the participation processes and the utilized digital infrastructure poses challenges, especially to the public sector. Instead of limiting conceptual guidance and exchange to one domain, we therefore develop a taxonomy for digital involvement projects that unites the domains of e-participation, citizen science and crowd-X. Embedded in a design science research approach, we follow an iterative design process to elaborate the key characteristics of a digital involvement project based on the participation process, its individuals and digital infrastructure. Through evaluating the artifact in a focus group with domain practitioners, we find support for the usefulness of our taxonomy and its ability to provide guidance and a basis for discussion of digital involvement projects across domains.
Production systems are becoming increasingly complex, which means that the main task of industrial maintenance, ensuring the technical availability of a production system, is also becoming increasingly difficult. The previous focus of maintenance efforts on individual machines must give way to a holistic view encompassing the whole production system. Against this background, the technical availability of a production system must be redefined. The aim of this publication is to present different definition approaches of production systems’ availability and to demonstrate the effects of random machine failures on the key figures considering the complexity of the production system using a discrete event simulation.
It has been recognized that to increase the competetitiveness of international higher education institutions in the global education market, their international graduates' employability must be enhanced. The present paper investigates, from the employers' perspective, the possibilities of international graduates with domestic degrees in Russia and Germany to find jobs in the Russian and German labor market. It uses qualitative open-ended interviews at 12 companies in St. Petersburg, Russia and Germany, which are engaged with International Business activities. The investigation concentrates on the employment opportunities and barriers of international graduates from an individual, organizational and an institutional perspective.
The research highlighted the main differences and similarities in the perception of the HR managers in both countries. In the German labor market, companies have a high demand for international graduates, especially those operating internationally, highly demand international graduates, emphasizing the existence of international trainee programs and the need to reflect the diversity of their business in the diversity of their staff. In contrast, Russian companies showed a positive predisposition for international graduates but no demand. Domestic firms focus their efforts on expatriate programs and/or highly-qualified specialists rather than trainee programs to hire internationals. On the other hand, insitutional barriers exist, as well as a lack of support with regards to regulations and requirements for entering both Russian and German markets. The national language requirement was stressed as the major barrier towards hiring internationals in both countries. The investigation from an organizational point of view revealed that interviewers showed a positive predisposition towards international graduates in both countries, focusing on the graduate's skill set rather than their nationality. This research explores the opportunities and barriers and discusses the implications for students and universities.
In this paper, research projects with 30 meter balanced cabling and data rates up to 25 Gbps over one single pair are described. The project aim is to achieve 100 Gbps via a four pair balanced cabling channel. In the following, spectral characteristics of the used prototype twisted pair are presented. Therefore, the insertion loss of the single cable in comparison to the insertion loss of the cable in combination with an equalizing amplifier, as well as the group delay of the cable and the cable connected to the equalizing amplifier is shown. Furthermore, a carrierless Pulse Amplitude Modulation with 32 different levels (PAM-32) as an approach for a possible line encoding is presented. Finally, research measurements of the data transmission with a data rate up to 25 Gbps via shielded twisted pair is shown.
Die Wahl einer Klinik ist typischerweise dem stellvertretenden Kaufverhalten zuzuordnen – Kunden suchen vertrauenswürdige, persönliche Quellen zur Unterstützung der Entscheidung. Weiterempfehlungsverhalten kann durch Anreize unterstützt werden – grundlegende Voraussetzung für ehrliche Weiterempfehlung ist jedoch Kundenzufriedenheit. Kundenzufriedenheit entsteht durch den Abgleich zwischen erwarteter und empfundener Leistung – das erwartete Leistungsniveau wird häufig durch Unternehmen anderer Branchen determiniert. Individuen sind nicht in der Lage, die Bestandteile einer Erfahrung isoliert zu bewerten, sondern vermengen sie (Halo-Effekt) - Inkonsistenzen führen zu einer Abwertung der Gesamterfahrung. Darum ist im ersten Schritt die Identifikation der Gesamterfahrung (Kundenreise) erforderlich – diese beginnt vor und endet nach der unmittelbaren Interaktion des Kunden mit dem Unternehmen / der Klinik. Im zweiten Schritt sind die Zufriedenheitstreiber und die Interdependenzen zwischen den Einzelerfahrungen zu ermitteln um dann die Optimierung der Kundenreise zu planen und umzusetzen.
The planning and control of intralogistics systems in line with versatile production systems of smart factories requires new approaches and methods to cope with changing requirements within future factories. The planning of intralogistics can no longer follow a static, sequential approach as in the past since the planning assumptions are going to change in a high frequency. Reasons for these constant changes are amongst others external turbulences like rapidly changing market conditions, decreasing batch sizes down to customer-specific products with a batch size of one and on the other hand internal turbulences (like production and logistic resource breakdowns) affecting the production system. This paper gives an insight into research approaches and results how capabilities of intelligent logistical objects (intelligent bins, autonomous transport systems etc.) can be used to achieve a self-organized, cost and performance optimized intralogistics system with autonomously controlled process execution within versatile production environments. A first consistent method has been developed which has been validated and implemented within a scenario at the pilot factory Werk150 at the ESB Business School (Reutlingen University). Based on the incoming production orders, the method of the Extended Profitability Appraisal (EPA) covering the work system value to define the most effective work system for order fulfilment is applied. To derive the appropriate intralogistics processes, an autonomous control method involving principles of decentralized and target-oriented decision-making (e.g. intelligent bins are interacting with autonomously controlled transport systems to fulfil material orders of assembly workstations) has been developed and applied to achieve a target-optimized process execution. The results of the first stage research using predefined material sources and sinks described in this paper is going to set the basis for the further development of a self-organized and autonomously controlled method for intralogistics systems considering dynamic source and sink relations. By allowing dynamic shifts of production orders in the sense of dynamic source and sink relations the cost and performance aims of the intralogistics system can be directly aligned with the aims of the entire versatile production system in the sense of self-organized and autonomously controlled systems.
Die zunehmende Durchdringung von cyber-physischen Systemen und deren Vernetzung zu cyberphysischen Produktionssystemen (CPPS) führt zu fundamentalen Veränderungen von zukünftigen Montage-, Fertigungs- und Logistiksystemen, welche innovative Methoden zur Planung, Steuerung und Kontrolle von wandlungsfähigen Produktionssystemen erfordern. Zukünftige logistische Systeme werden dabei den Anforderungen einer hochfrequenten Veränderung und Re-Konfiguration ausgelöst durch wandlungsfähige Produktionssysteme für individualisierte Produkte und kleinen Losgrößen unterliegen. Der Einsatz dezentraler Steuerungssysteme, bei denen die komplexen Planungs-, Steuerungs- und Kontrollprozesse auf zahlreiche Knoten und Entitäten des entstehenden Steuerungssystems verteilt werden, bietet ein großes Potential, den Anforderungen in cyber-physischen Logistiksystemen gerecht zu werden. Eine zentrale Herausforderung ist dabei die echtzeitfähige Steuerung und Re-Konfiguration von sogenannten hybriden Logistiksystemen, welche u.a. durch die Kollaboration von Mensch und Maschine, der Kombination verschiedenartiger Fördermittel sowie verschiedenartiger Steuerungsarchitekturen geprägt sind und darüber hinaus auf hybriden Entscheidungsfindungsprozessen beruhen, welche die Fähigkeiten von Menschen und (cyber-physischen) Systemen synergetisch nutzen.
Lernfabriken, wie die ESB Logistik-Lernfabrik an der ESB Business School (Hochschule Reutlingen), bieten dabei weitreichende Möglichkeiten, diese innovativen Methoden, Systeme und technischen Lösungen in einer industrienahen und risikofreien Fabrikumgebung zu entwickeln sowie in die Ausbildung von Studierenden und Weiterbildung von Teilnehmern aus der Industrie zu transferieren. Um die Forschung, Lehre sowie Aus- und Weiterbildung im Bereich zukünftiger Montage-, Fertigungs- und Logistiksysteme auszuweiten, wird das bestehende Produktionssystem der ESB Logistik-Lernfabrik im Rahmen verschiedenster Forschungs- und Studentenprojekte schrittweise in ein dezentral gesteuertes cyber-physisches Produktionssystem, basierend auf einer ereignisorientierten, cloud-basierten und dezentralen Steuerungsarchitektur, überführt.
Manufacturing companies are confronted with external (e.g. short-term change of product configuration by the customer) and internal (e.g. production process deviations) turbulences which are affecting the performance of production. Predefined, centrally controlled logistics processes are limiting the possibilities of production to initiate countermeasures to react in an optimized way to these turbulences. The autonomous control of intralogistics offers a great potential to cope with these turbulences by using the respective flexibility corridors of production systems and applying intelligent logistic objects with decentralized decision and process execution capabilities to maintain a target-optimized production. A method for AI-based storage-location- and material-handling-optimization to achieve performance-optimized intralogistics system through continuous monitoring of performance-relevant parameters and influencing factors by using AI (e.g. for pattern recognition) has been developed. To provide the basis to investigate and demonstrate the potentials of autonomously controlled intralogistics in connection with turbulences of production and in combination with AI, an intelligent warehouse involving an indoor localization system, smart bins, manual, semi-automated/collaborative and autonomous transport systems has been developed and implemented at Werk150, the factory on campus of ESB Business School (Reutlingen University). This scenario, which has been integrated into graduate training modules, allows the analysis and demonstration of different measures of intralogistics to cope with turbulences in production involving amongst others storage and material provision processes. The target fulfilment of the applied intralogistics measures to master arising turbulences is assessed based on the overall performance of production considering lead times and adherence to delivery dates. By applying artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms the intelligent logistical objects (smart bin, transport systems, etc.) as well as the entire logistics system should be enabled to improve their decision and process execution capabilities to master short-term turbulences in the production system autonomously.
Industrial practice is characterized by random events, also referred to as internal and external turbulences, which disturb the target-oriented planning and execution of production and logistics processes. Methods of probabilistic forecasting, in contrast to single value predictions, allow an estimation of the probability of various future outcomes of a random variable in the form of a probability density function instead of predicting the probability of a specific single outcome. Probabilistic forecasting methods, which are embedded into the analytics process to gain insights for the future based on historical data, therefore offer great potential for incorporating uncertainty into planning and control in industrial environments. In order to familiarize students with these potentials, a training module on the application of probabilistic forecasting methods in production and intralogistics was developed in the learning factory 'Werk150' of the ESB Business School (Reutlingen University). The theoretical introduction to the topic of analytics, probabilistic forecasting methods and the transition to the application domain of intralogistics is done based on examples from other disciplines such as weather forecasting and energy consumption forecasting. In addition, data sets of the learning factory are used to familiarize the students with the steps of the analytics process in a practice-oriented manner. After this, the students are given the task of identifying the influencing factors and required information to capture intralogistics turbulences based on defined turbulence scenarios (e.g. failure of a logistical resource) in the learning factory. Within practical production scenario runs, the students apply probabilistic forecasting using and comparing different probabilistic forecasting methods. The graduate training module allows the students to experience the potentials of using probabilistic forecasting methods to improve production and intralogistics processes in context with turbulences and to build up corresponding professional and methodological competencies.
The global demand for individualized products leading to decreasing production batch sizes requires innovative approaches how to organize production and logistics systems in a dynamic manner. Current material flow systems mainly rely on predefined system structures and processes, which result in a huge increase of complexity and effort for system and process changes to realize an optimized production and material provision of individualized products. Autonomous production and logistics entities in combination with intelligent products or logistic load carriers following the vision of the “Internet of Things” offer a promising solution for mastering this complexity based on autonomous, decentralized and target size-optimized decision making and structure formation without the need for predefined processes and central decision-making bodies. Customer orders are going to prioritize themselves and communicate directly with the required production and logistics resources. Bins containing the required materials are going to communicate with the conveyors or workers of the respective intralogistics system organizing and controlling the material flow to the autonomously selected workstation. A current research project is the development of a collaborative tugger train combing the potential of automation and human-robot collaboration in intralogistics. This tugger train is going to be integrated into a self organized intralogistics scenario involving individualized customer orders (low to high batch sizes). To classify the application of self-organization within intralogistics systems, a criteria catalogue has been developed. The application of this criteria catalogue will be demonstrated on the example of a self-organization scenario involving the collaborative tugger train and an intelligent bin system.
Production planning and control are characterized by unplanned events or so-called turbulences. Turbulences can be external, originating outside the company (e.g., delayed delivery by a supplier), or internal, originating within the company (e.g., failures of production and intralogistics resources). Turbulences can have far reaching consequences for companies and their customers, such as delivery delays due to process delays. For target-optimized handling of turbulences in production, forecasting methods incorporating process data in combination with the use of existing flexibility corridors of flexible production systems offer great potential. Probabilistic, data-driven forecasting methods allow determining the corresponding probabilities of potential turbulences. However, a parallel application of different forecasting methods is required to identify an appropriate one for the specific application. This requires a large database, which often is unavailable and, therefore, must be created first. A simulation-based approach to generate synthetic data is used and validated to create the necessary database of input parameters for the prediction of internal turbulences. To this end, a minimal system for conducting simulation experiments on turbulence scenarios was developed and implemented. A multi-method simulation of the minimal system synthetically generates the required process data, using agent-based modeling for the autonomously controlled system elements and event-based modeling for the stochastic turbulence events. Based on this generated synthetic data and the variation of the input parameters in the forecast, a comparative study of data-driven probabilistic forecasting methods was conducted using a data analytics tool. Forecasting methods of different types (including regression, Bayesian models, nonlinear models, decision trees, ensemble, deep learning) were analyzed in terms of prediction quality, standard deviation, and computation time. This resulted in the identification ofappropriate forecasting methods, and required input parameters for the considered turbulences.
Circular economy aims to support reuse and extends the product life cycles through repair, remanufacturing, upgrades and retrofits, as well as closing material cycles through recycling. To successfully manage the necessary transformation processes to circular economy, manufacturing enterprises rely on the competency of their employees. The definition of competency requirements for circular economy-oriented production networks will contribute to the operationalization of circular economy. The International Association of Learning Factories (IALF) statesin its mission the development of learning systems addressing these challenges for training of students and further education of industry employees. To identify the required competencies for circular economy, the major changes of the product life cycle phases have been investigated based on the state of the science and compared to the socio-technical infrastructure and thematic fields of the learning factories considered in this paper. To operationalize the circular economy approach in the product design and production phase in learning factories, an approach for a cross learning factory network (so called "Cross Learning Factory Product Production System (CLFPPS)") has been developed. The proposed CLFPPS represents a network on the design dimensions of learning factories. This approach contributes to the promotion of circular economy in learning factories as it makes use of and combines the focus areas of different learning factories. This enables the CLFPPS to offer a holistic view on the product life cycle in production networks.
Einpaarige Verkabelungssysteme gewinnen aufgrund des Internets der Dinge und aufgrund deren Einsatz im Automobil- bzw. Industriebereich zunehmend an Bedeutung. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wird gezeigt, wie bei der Übertragung über ein einpaariges Kabel die Bitrate bei gleichbleibender Übertragungsbandbreite durch Nutzung des Phantomkreises erhöht werden kann. Als Übertragungsverfahren kommt jeweils eine 16-stufige Pulsamplitudenmodulation zum Einsatz. Die Ergebnisse werden durch Augendiagramme qualitativ und durch die Messung der Symbolfehler bzw. der Bitfehler quantitativ untersucht.
Product engineering and subsequent phases of product lifecycles are predominantly managed in isolation. Companies therefore do not fully exploit potentials through using data from smart factories and product usage. The novel intelligent and integrated Product Lifecycle Management (i²PLM) describes an approach that uses these data for product engineering. This paper describes the i²PLM, shows the cause-and-effect relationships in this context and presents in detail the validation of the approach. The i²PLM is applied and validated on a smart product in an industrial research environment. Here, the subsequent generation of a smart lunchbox is developed based on production and sensor data. The results of the validation give indications for further improvements of the i²PLM. This paper describes how to integrate the i²PLM into a learning factory.
Electronic word-of-mouth (eWoM) communication plays an increasingly important role in modern business. The underlying concept of word-of-mouth (WoM) communication is well researched and has proved highly significant in respect of its impact on customers purchase behavior. However, due to the advent of digital technologies, decision-making among customers is progressively shifting to the online world. Consequently, eWoM has received a lot of attention from the academic community. As multiple research papers focus on specific facets of eWoM, there is a need to integrate current research results systematically. Thus, this paper presents a scientific literature analysis in order to determine the current state-of-the-art in the field of eWoM. Five main research areas were analyzed, supporting the need for further eWoM studies and providing a structured overview of existing results.
Digitization will require companies to fundamentally reengineer their sales processes. Adapting the concept of value selling to the digital age will enable them to deliver superior value to their customers. Specifically, social selling will provide them with an answer to the ever-increasing complexity of customer journeys. This article, based on a survey among 235 German companies, assesses the status quo and outlines opportunities. Moreover, it introduces a novel approach for developing well-grounded social selling metrics.
Es wird gezeigt, wie bei Fernspeisung die Vorhersage der Erwärmung mit entsprechender Modellierung verbessert werden kann und wie der Einfluss von Material und Form des Kabelkanals die Erwärmung und das das Temperaturprofil des Bündels beeinflusst. Es wird auch vorgestellt, dass die erhöhte Erwärmung von Metallkabelkanälen auf die geringere Emissivität zurückzuführen ist und wie das verbessert werden kann.
Recent digital technologies like the Internet of Things and Augmented Reality have brought IT into companies’ core products. What were previously purely physical products are becoming hybrid or digitized. Despite receiving a lot of recent attention, digitized products have only seen a slow uptake in businesses so far. In this paper, we study the challenges that keep companies from realizing the desired impacts of digitized products and the practices they employ to address these challenges. To do so, we looked at companies from a set of industries that are highly affected by digital transformation, but at the same time hesitant to move to a more digitized world: the creative industries. Based on a literature review and twelve interviews in creative industries, we developed a conceptual model that can serve as a basis for formulating testable hypotheses for further research in this area.
The digital economy poses existential threats to — and game-changing opportunities for — companies that were successful in the pre-digital economy. What will distinguish those companies that successfully transform from those that become historical footnotes? This is the question a group of six researchers and consultants from Boston Consulting Group set out to examine. The team conducted in-depth interviews with senior executives at twenty-seven companies in different industries to explore the strategies and organizational initiatives they relied on to seize the opportunities associated with new, readily accessible digital technologies. This paper summarizes findings from this research and offers recommendations to business leaders responsible for digital business success.
The increase in product variance and shorter product lifecycles result in higher production ramp-up frequencies and promote the usage of mixed-model lines. The ramp-up is considered a critical step in the product life cycle and in the automotive industry phases of the ramp-up are often executed on separated production lines (pilot lines) or factories (pilot plants) to verify processes and to qualify employees without affecting the production of other products in the mixed-model line. The required financial funds for planning and maintaining dedicated pilot lines prevent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the application. Hence, SMEs require different tools for piloting and training during the production ramp-up. Learning islands on which employees can be trained through induced and autonomous learning propose a solution. In this work, a concept for the development and application which contains the required organization, activities, and materials is developed through expert interviews. The results of a case study application with a medium-sized automotive manufacturer show that learning islands are a viable tool for employee qualification and process verification during the ramp-up of mixed-model lines.
Stellenausschreibungen sind ein wichtiges Mittel, um Rollen von Controllern auf dem Arbeitsmarkt zu kommunizieren. Stellenanzeigen öffnen ein Fenster zu dem, was Firmen als Rollen für ihre Controller wahrnehmen. Welche Rollen Stellenanzeigen kommunizieren, ist bisher nicht bekannt. Unter Verwendung einer großen Stichprobe von 889 Stellenanzeigen und eines Text-Mining-Ansatzes zeigen wir, dass es offenbar eine Mischung verschiedener Rollentypen mit einem starken Fokus auf einen eher klassischen Rollentyp gibt, die Watchdog-Rolle. Personen mit Business-Partner-Eigenschaften werden dagegen häufiger für Führungspositionen oder in Familienunternehmen und kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen (KMU) gesucht. Die Ergebnisse stellen die derzeitige Rollen-diskussion für Controller als Business Partner in der Praxis und in einigen Bereichen der Wissenschaft in Frage.
Job advertisements are important means of communicating role expectations for management accountants to the labor market. They provide information about which roles of management accountants are sought by companies or which roles are expected. However, which roles are communicated in job advertisements is unknown so far. Using a large sample of 889 job ads and a text-mining approach, we show an apparent mix of different role types with a strong focus on a rather classic role: the watchdog role. However, individuals with business partner characteristics are more often sought for leadership positions or in family businesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The results challenge the current role discussion for management accountants as business partners in practice and some academic fields.
Evaluation of human-robot order picking systems considering the evolution of object detection
(2022)
The automation of intralogistic processes is a major trend, but order picking, one of the core and most cost-intensive tasks in this field, remains mostly manual due to the flexibility required during picking. Reacting to its hard physical and ergonomic strain, the automation of this process is however highly relevant. Robotic picking system would enable the automation of this process from a technical point of view, but the necessity for the system to evolve in time, due to dynamics of logistic environments, faces operations with new challenges that are hardly treated in literature. This unknown scares potential investors, hindering the application of technically feasible solutions. In this paper, a model for the evaluation of the additional cost of training of automated systems during operations is presented, that also considers the savings enabled by the system after its evolution. The proposed approach, that considers different parameters such as capacity, ergonomics and cost, is validated with a case study and discussed.
Today's logistics systems are characterized by uncertainty and constantly changing requirements. Rising demand for customized products, short product life cycles and a large number of variants increases the complexity of these systems enormously. In particular, intralogistics material flow systems must be able to adapt to changing conditions at short notice, with little effort and at low cost. To fulfil these requirements, the material flow system needs to be flexible in three important parameters, namely layout, throughput and product. While the scope of the flexibility parameters is described in literature, the respective effects on an intralogistics material flow system and the influencing factors are mostly unknown. This paper describes how flexibility parameters of an intralogistics system can be determined using a multi-method simulation. The study was conducted in the learning factory “Werk150” on the campus of Reutlingen University with its different means of transport and processes and validated in terms of practical experiments.
System- und Schnittstellenbeherrschung, Ideen- und Innovationsmanagement sowie die virtuell integrierte Produkt- und Prozessplanung sind zu entwickelnde Kompetenzen, die der veränderten Rolle des Menschen in der Industrie 4.0 Rechnung tragen. Dezidiert adressiert werden können diese in zukunftsweisend ausgerüsteten Lernfabriken.
Shorter product life cycles and emerging technologies are changing the circumstances under which the design of assembly and logistics systems has to be carried out. Engineers are in charge of adapting the production in accordance with the underlying product at a higher pace, oversee a more complex system and find the ideal solution for a functional work system design as well as social interactions between humans and machines in cyber-physical systems. Such collaborative work systems consider the individual capabilities and potentials of humans and machines to combine them in a manner that assists the operator during his daily work routine. To be able to design such work systems, specific competences such as the ability of integrated process and product planning as well as systems and interface competence are required. Learning factories train students as well as professionals to gain such qualifications by providing a close-to-reality learning environment based on a didactical concept which covers all relevant methods for ergonomic work system design and a state-of-the-art infrastructure. Group-based, activity oriented scenarios enable the participants to put the learnings into their everyday work life. Thereby, learning factories have an indirect impact on the transfer of proven best practices to the industry.
Online-Portal "MINTFabrik"
(2023)
Das browserbasierte Online-Portal "MINTFabrik" entstand im Zuge der Maßnahmen zur Minderung von Lernrückständen mit der Idee, eine Lücke zu schließen, die es oft bei großen Online-Brückenkursen gibt: Ein Mangel an Übungsaufgaben, die schnell zugänglich sind, einfach ausgesucht werden können und gut auf bestimmte Lehrveranstaltungen und deren Anforderungen zugeschnitten sind. Die Entwicklung erfolgte in einer Kooperation der Hochschule Reutlingen mit der Tübinger Softwarefirma "Let´s Make Sense GmbH". Das Portal verzichtet bewusst auf eine Lektionsstruktur und besteht ausschließlich aus einzelnen Lernbausteinen (Items), d.h. Video-Tutorials, VisuApps und Aufgaben, die über eine komfortable Suche mit Filtern erreichbar sind und direkt bearbeitet werden können. Ein besonderes Merkmal der MINTFabrik sind Mikrokurse, die von Lehrenden und Studierenden erstellt werden können. Das sind kleine Einheiten aus einigen wenigen Items, die beliebig miteinander kombinierbar sind.
The promise of the EVs is twofold. First, rejuvenating a transport sector that still heavily depends on fossil fuels and second, integrating intermittent renewable energies into the power mix. However, it is still not clear how electricity networks will cope with the predicted increase in EVs and their charging demand, especially in combination with conventional energy demand. This paper proposes a methodology which allows to predict the impact of EV charging behavior on the electricity grid. Moreover, this model simulates the driving and charging behavior of heterogeneous EV drivers which differ in their mobility pattern, decision-making heuristics and charging strategies. The simulations show that uncoordinated charging results in charging load clustering. In contrast, decentralized coordination allows to fill the valleys of the conventional load curve and to integrate EVs without the need of a costly expansion of the electricity grid.
Efficiency in supply chain risk management (SCRM) is a major topic in industries with serial production and a complex supply chain due to limited management and financial resources. A high number of possible risk situations and intertwined processes create a more challenging environment for resource allocation. Managers cannot perform SCRM in all possible supply chain areas and hence have to decide where available resources should be utilised for highest possible risk reduction. This makes it important to quickly and systematically evaluate input and output relationships among risk mitigation actions to determine which actions are deployed first for efficient risk level reduction. This paper introduces a new SCRM method based on the failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) in order to perform an efficiency-oriented risk action prioritisation. By considering the cost-benefit evaluation of identified risk mitigation actions for each assessed risk and by determining the implementation effort for risk mitigation actions, also considered as the cost for realising a specific risk action the method allows finding those risk and risk mitigation actions, which are most efficient for risk reduction and should be implemented first in the process of risk steering.
Because of saturated markets and of the low profit margins in the sales of cars, car manufacturers focus more and more on profitable product related services. This paper deals with the question how to classify product related services in the automotive industry and which characteristic product related services are offered to the end-users (consumers) in a standardized format. Two research studies on the provided product related services in 2010 und 2017 by 15 car manufacturers and 20 exemplary automotive brands in Germany revealed that the application degree by the OEM (original equipment manufacturers) in these years increased considerably. While in 2010, the average range of services only amounted to 33%, the value in the automotive industry increased until 2017 to 57%.
Today 40 Gbps is in development at IEEE 802.3bq over four pair balanced cabling. In this paper, we describe a transmission experiment of 25 Gbps enabling either a single pair transmission of 25 Gbps over a 30 meter balanced cabling channel, or a 100 Gbps transmission via a four-pair balanced channel. A scalable matrix modeling tool is introduced which allows the prediction of transmission characteristics of a channel taking mode conversion into account . We applied this tool to characterize PCB-channels including the magnetics and PCB for a four-pair 100 Gbps transmission. We evaluated prototype cables and connecting hardware for frequencies up to 2 GHz and beyond. Finally we investigated possible line encoding schemes and provide measurement results of a transmission over 30 m with a data rate of 25 Gbps per twisted pair.
Imagine a world in which the search for tomorrow's trends is not subject to a long and laborious data search but is possible with a single mouse click. Through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), this reality is made possible and is to be further advanced through research. The study therefore aims to provide an initial overview of the young research field. Based on research, expert interviews, company and student surveys, current application possibilities of AI in the innovation process (defined as Smart Innovation), existing challenges that slow down the further development are discussed in more detail and future application possibilities are presented. Finally, a recommendation for action is made for business, politics and science to help overcome the current obstacles together and thus drive the future of Smart Innovation.
Der relative Vorteil von Heim- gegenüber Auswärtsteams im Sport - der sogenannte Heimvorteil - ist in mehreren Studien belegt (z.B. Nevill et al., 2002; Jamieson, 2010). Als theoretisch dem Heimvorteil zugrundeliegende Faktoren gelten u.a. folgende: die Zuschauer (durch ihre motivierende Wirkung auf Spieler oder beeinflussende Wirkung auf Schiedsrichter), Reisefaktoren (z.B. die Entfernung bzw. Dauer der Reise und die damit einhergehende Erschöpfung der Spieler) und die Vertrautheit der Heimmannschaft mit der Umgebung (z.B. die Vertrautheit mit dem Stadion und dem Spieluntergrund) (Courneya & Carron, 1992; Nevill et al., 2002). Durch die während der COVID-19-Pandemie stattfindenden Spiele ohne Zuschauer (Geisterspiele) lässt sich erstmals durch ein natürliches Experiment der Einfluss von Zuschauern auf den Heimvorteil betrachten. Ein Überblick über die Studien, die den Heimvorteil in verschiedenen Fußballligen während der pandemiebedingten Geisterspiele untersuchen, findet sich in Leitner et al. (2022).
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in der Markenführung: Künstliche Neuronale Netze zur Markenimagemessung
(2023)
Da Künstliche Neuronale Netze die Modellierung nichtlinearer und vielschichtiger Beziehungen ermöglichen, befasst sich dieser Beitrag mit deren Einsatzmöglichkeiten für die methodisch anspruchsvolle Analyse und Messung des Markenimages. Zur Veranschaulichung des konzeptionellen Ansatzes wird am empirischen Beispiel des Sportartikelherstellers adidas ein mehrschichtiges Künstliches Neuronales Netz zwischen den Bewertungen spezifischer Markenattribute und der Gesamtbewertung der Marke erzeugt. Auf der Grundlage einer Analyse der Verbindungsgewichte des Künstliches Neuronales Netzes wird die Bedeutung verschiedener Markenattribute für die Markenbewertung gemessen, wodurch sich konkrete Implikationen für die Praxis der Markenführung ableiten lassen.
The use of digital, IT-based components in physical products is becoming increasingly relevant in practice. Surprisingly, the strategic impact of these "digitized products" has not received a lot of attention in IS research so far. Extant papers on the topic rely on ambiguous terminology (e.g., "smart products", "cyber-physical systems", "digital product-service systems") and underlying concepts differ widely. Based on an extensive literature review, this article provides an overview of the different terms and identifies five conceptual elements that form the building blocks of digitized products in research: "hybridity" (i.e., the combination of digital and physical components), connectivity, smartness, digitized product-service bundles (servitization of digitized products), and digitized product ecosystems. The implication for practitioners is that each element comes with different managerial challenges that companies need to address when incorporating the respective element in their products. The research implication is that each conceptual element is supported by different theoretical streams.
Digital technologies are moving into physical products. Smart cars, connected lightbulbs and data-generating tennis rackets are examples of previously “pure” physical products that turned into “digitized products”. Digitizing products offers many use cases for consumers that will hopefully persuade them to buy these products. Yet, as revenues from selling digitized products will remain small in the near future, digitized product manufacturers have to look for other sources of benefits. Producer-side use cases describe how manufacturers can benefit internally from the digitized products they produce. Our article identifies three categories of such use cases: product-, service-, and process-related ones.
According to several surveys and statistics, the great majority of companies previously not accustomed to automation are piloting solutions to automate business processes. Those accustomed to automation also attempt to introduce more of it, focusing on automation-unfriendly processes that remained manual. However, when the decision on what and whether to automate is not trivial for evident reasons, even industry leaders may get stuck on an overwhelming question: where to begin automating? The question remains too often unanswered as state-of-the-art methods fail to consider the whole picture. This paper introduces a holistic approach to the decision-making for investments in automation. The method supports the iterative analysis and evaluation of operative processes, providing tools for a quantitative approach to the decision-making. Thanks to the method, a large pool of processes can be first considered and then filtered out in order to select the one that yields the best value for the automation in the specific context. After introducing the method, a case study is reported for validation before the discussion.
There are indicators we are entering a new era for MTM research, by moving beyond the structural approach that has characterized MTM research to date, to focus on important and under-researched issues, such as the nature of employees’ experiences in an MTM context. Although team research suggests that the experiences of members impact team functioning, these lines of reasoning have not, until recently, made their way to MTM research. To overcome this limitation, this symposium showcases five papers that use a variety of theoretical perspectives, research designs (i.e., qualitative, quantitative), contexts (e.g., healthcare, automotive manufacturer, online panels), methodologies, and analytical methods (i.e., meta-analysis, content/thematic analysis). The symposium focuses on surfacing and advancing unanswered questions that extend theory and can offer fruitful directions for MTM research by examining critical individual and team level outcomes (e.g., individual/team performance, individual counterproductive and organizational citizenship behavior, individual learning, individual turnover intentions, organizational commitment) in the experiences of MTM employees across their teams (e.g., goals, functions, roles). We hope to provide a forum to advance unanswered questions that offer fruitful directions for MTM research.
In its 100+ years of company history, IBM reinvented itself multiple times. In the last 20 years, IBM had shifted from individual products to integrated solutions and moved to become a globally integrated enterprise with standardized processes. In 2014, the expanding adoption of social, mobile, analytics, and cloud (SMAC) technologies generated excitement in the industry. IBM believed these technologies presented a huge growth opportunity. Simultaneously, management viewed SMAC technologies as disruptive forces demanding transformative changes to how IBM worked. And introducing new ways of working to 400,000 employees in 175 countries was a daunting task.
Based on personal interviews with 17 IBM business and IT executives, the case illustrates organizational challenges of introducing current technologies that even providers of these technologies face – in other words, when they “eat their own cooking.” It demonstrates the difficulties large companies face when implementing technologies that students use daily and take for granted.
As "the most international company on earth", DHL Express promised to deliver packages between almost any pair of countries within a defined time-frame. To fulfill this promise, the company had introduced a set of global business and technology standards. While standardization had many advantages (improving service for multinational customers, faster response to changes in import/export regulations, sharing of best practices etc.), it created impediments to local innovation and responsiveness in DHL Express' network of 220 countries/territories. Reconciling standardization-innovation tradeoffs is a critical management issue for global companies in the digital economy.
This case describes one large, successful company's approach to the tradeoff of standardization versus innovation.
In 2017, Philips' goal was to use innovation to improve the lives of three billion people a year by 2025. To achieve that, the company was shifting from selling medical products in a transactional manner to providing integrated healthcare solutions based on digital health technology. Based on our interviews with 23 executives at Philips, the case examines the two directions of the transformation required by this shift: externally, Philips worked on transforming how healthcare was conducted. Healthcare professionals would have to change the way they worked and reimbursement schemes needed to change to incentivize payers, providers, and patients in vastly different ways. Internally, Philips needed to redesign how its employees worked. The company componentized its business, introduced digital platforms, and co-created integrated solutions with the various stakeholders of the healthcare industry. In other words: Philips was transforming itself in order the reinvent healthcare in the digital age.
Started as a mono-line focused purely on savings, in late 2012 ING Direct Spain was becoming a full-service bank. To this end, the bank had substantially increased its product- and channel-portfolio. ING Direct Spain originally provided "simple", "good value for money" products in an "easy to deal with" way at low cost supported by a direct model. But with the growth in its product portfolio during the previous decade and the ambitious goal of becoming a full-service bank, an increase in complexity seemed inevitable. Like many businesses in the global, digital economy, ING Direct Spain found it needed to decide which complexity created value for its customers and which one not. It also learned that IT can contribute to complexity and/or help manage complexity.
This case offers a close look at challenges of growing a company by increasing product complexity to provide comprehensive yet simple services.
By 2019, Germany-based Kärcher, “the world’s leading provider of cleaning technology,” had turned its professional cleaning devices into IoT products. The data generated by these IoT-connected cleaning devices formed a key ingredient in the company’s ongoing strategic shift in its B2B business: Kärcher was transforming from a seller of cleaning devices to a provider of consulting services in order to help professional cleaning companies improve their cleaning processes. Based on interviews with seven IT- and non-IT executives, the case illustrates how the company learned to generate value from IoT products. And it demonstrates how a family-owned company transformed its organization in order to be able to more effectively develop and provide IoT products, while adding roles, developing technology platforms, and changing organizational structures and ways of working.
In 2013, Royal Philips was two years into a daunting transformation. Following declining financial performance, CEO Frans van Houten aimed to turn the Dutch icon into a "high-performing Company" by 2017. This case study examines the challenges of the business-driven IT transformation at Royal Philips, a diversified technology company. The case discusses three crucial issues. First, the case reflects on Philips’ aim at creating value from combining locally relevant products and services while also leveraging its global scale and scope. Rewarded and unrewarded business complexity is analyzed. Second, the case identifies the need to design and align multiple elements of an enterprise (organizational, cultural, technical) to balance local responsiveness with global scale. Third, the case explains the role of IT (as an asset instead of a liability) in Philips’ transformation and discusses the new IT landscape with its digital platforms, and the new practices to create effective business-IT partnerships.
In 2016, German car manufacturer the Audi Group (AUDI AG) was working on an expanding array of digital innovations. The goals of these innovations varied, and included strengthening customer- and employee-facing processes, digitally enhancing existing products, and developing new, potentially disruptive business models. Audi’s IT unit was critical to each of these efforts. Based on personal interviews with 11 IT- and non-IT executives at Audi, this case examines the different ways in which digitization can help to enhance and transform an organization’s processes, products, and business models. The case also highlights the challenges that arise as large companies “digitize.”
IT platforms as the foundation of digitized processes and products are vital in a digital economy. However, many companies’ platforms are liabilities, not strategic assets because of their complexity. Consequently, companies initiate IT complexity reduction programs. But these technology-centric programs at best provide temporary relief. Soon after, companies’ platforms become just as complex as before. Based on four case studies, we identify three non-technical drivers of platform complexity: (1) Lacking awareness of consequences business decisions have on platform complexity, (2) Lacking motivation to avoid platform complexity, (3) Lacking authority to protect platforms from complexity. We propose measures to address these drivers that can help achieve more sustainable impact on platform complexity: (1) Removing information asymmetries between those creating complexity and those dealing with complexity, (2) Redefining incentives to include long-term effects on platform complexity, (3) Redressing power imbalances between those who create complexity and those who have to manage it.
During the first years of their employment, the graduates are a liability to industry. The employer goes an extra mile to bridge the gap between university-exiting and profitable employment of engineering graduates. Unfortunately some cannot take this risk. Given this scenario, this paper presents a learning factory approach as a platform for the application of knowledge so as to develop the required engineering competences in South African engineering graduates before they enter the labour market. It spells out the components of a Stellenbosch University Learning Factory geared towards production of engineering graduates with the required industrial skills. It elaborates on the didactics embedded in the learning factory environment, tailor-made to produce engineers who can productively contribute to the growth of the industry upon exiting the university.
The 21st century: an era where emojis and hashtags find their way into every sentence, where taking selfies, live tweeting and mining bitcoin are the norm, and where Insta-culture dictates what we say and do. This is the era into which the digital native was born. With so many changes in every aspect of our lives, how is it that one of the most influential aspects, our education, has remained unchanged? Our education system not only fails to appeal to today’s students, but more importantly, it fails to equip them with the skills required in the 21st Century. It is thus of no surprise that industries feel graduates entering the workplace lack skills in critical thinking, problem solving and self-directed learning. AI, machine learning and big data: Tools and mechanisms we so eagerly incorporate to create smart factories yet are hesitant to use elsewhere. Gamification and games have shown great results in education and training; with most research suggesting a stronger focus on personalization and adaptation. When combined with analytics and machine learning, the potential of games is yet to be realized. A real-time adaptive game would not only always present an appropriate degree of challenge for the individual but would allow for a shift in focus from the recitation of facts, to the application of information filtered to solve the particular problem at hand. South Africa, a country faced with a severe skills gap, could benefit greatly from games. If used correctly, they may just offer a desperately needed contribution toward equipping both current and future employees with the skills needed to survive in the 21st century. This paper explores the feasibility of using such games for enhanced knowledge dissemination and the upskilling of the workforce.
Gamification, the use of game elements for non-gaming purposes, may just make a huge impact on education, a contribution the world in general and South Africa in particular, desperately needs. In today’s fast-paced work environment, there is not only a severe skills shortage, but also a great need for graduates with practical knowledge - students that are not purely “book smart”. Didactic teaching habits have created an education realm in which reciting facts is more often than not what gets students to pass. Learning factories are physical, operational factories that serve as exemplary and realistic hands-on learning environments and provide an important step towards more industry-prepared graduates. Top universities around the world are establishing such environments and are showing superb results. This paper explores the potential benefit of applying gamification in such a setting to enhance the learning environment even further, and provide opportunities for training otherwise difficult to teach topics, such as shop floor management.
The fifth generation of mobile communication (5G) is a wireless technology developed to provide reliable, fast data transmission for industrial applications, such as autonomous mobile robots and connect cyber-physical systems using Internet of Things (IoT) sensors. In this context, private 5G networks enable the full performance of industrial applications built on dedicated 5G infrastructures. However, emerging wireless communication technologies such as 5G are a complex and challenging topic for training in learning factories, often lacking physical or visual interaction. Therefore, this paper aims to develop a real-time performance monitoring system of private 5G networks and different industrial 5G devices to visualise the performance and impact factors influencing 5G for students and future connectivity experts. Additionally, this paper presents the first long-term measurements of private 5G networks and shows the performance gap between the actual and targeted performance of private 5G networks.
The world is becoming increasingly digital. People have become used to learning and interacting with the world around them through technology, accelerated even further by the Covid-19 pandemic. This is especially relevant to the generation currently entering education systems and the workforce. Considering digital aids and methods of learning are important for future learning. The increasing online learning needs open the case for integrating digital learning aspects such as serious gaming within education and training systems. Learning factories fall amongst the education and training systems that can benefit from integration with digital learning extensions. Digital capabilities such as digital twins and models further enable the exploration of integrating digital serious games as an extension of learning factories. Since learning factories are meant for a range of different learning, training, and research purposes, such serious games need to be adaptable across stakeholder perspectives to maximize the value gained from the time and cost invested into such design and development. Research into the development of adaptive serious games for multiple stakeholder perspectives must first determine whether such development can be developed that reaches the objectives set for different included stakeholder perspectives. The purpose of this research is to investigate this at the hand of the practical development of a digital adaptive serious game for stakeholder perspectives.
Since its first publication in 2015, the learning factory morphology has been frequently used to design new learning factories and to classify existing ones. The structuring supports the concretization of ideas and promotes exchange between stakeholders.
However, since the implementation of the first learning factories, the learning factory concept has constantly evolved.
Therefore, in the Working Group "Learning Factory Design" of the International Association of Learning Factories, the existing morphology has been revised and extended based on an analysis of the trends observed in the evolution of learning factory concepts. On the one hand, new design elements were complemented to the previous seven design dimensions, and on the other hand, new design dimensions were added. The revised version of the morphology thus provides even more targeted support in the design of new learning factories in the future.
This paper addresses what we call the investment question: under what plausible circumstances, if any, can variable renewable energy (VRE, and solar photovoltaic (PV) in particular) be a good investment? Although VRE has been growing rapidly world-wide, it is generally subsidized. Under what cost and market conditions can solar PV flourish without subsidy? We employ solar insolation and market price data from the U.S. and from Germany to gain insight into the investment question. We find that unsubsidized solar PV is or may soon be a justifiable investment, but that market arrangements may play a crucial role in determining success. We end by sketching a proposal that amounts to a reformed capacity market that would afford participation of solar PV.
The time has come : application of artificial intelligence in small- and medium-sized enterprises
(2022)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is not yet widely used in small- and medium-sized industrial enterprises (SME). The reasons for this are manifold and range from not understanding use cases, not enough trained employees, to too little data. This article presents a successful design-oriented case study at a medium-sized company, where the described reasons are present. In this study, future demand forecasts are generated based on historical demand data for products at a material number level using a gradient boosting machine (GBM). An improvement of 15% on the status quo (i.e. based on the root mean squared error) could be achieved with rather simple techniques. Hence, the motivation, the method, and the first results are presented. Concluding challenges, from which practical users should derive learning experiences and impulses for their own projects, are addressed.
The aim of this paper is to show to what extent Artificial Intelligence can be used to optimize forecasting capability in procurement as well as to compare AI with traditional statistic methods. At the same time this article presents the status quo of the research project ANIMATE. The project applies Artificial Intelligence to forecast customer orders in medium-sized companies.
Precise forecasts are essential for companies. For planning, decision making and controlling. Forecasts are applied, e.g. in the areas of supply chain, production or purchasing. Medium-sized companies have major challenges in using suitable methods to improve their forecasting ability.
Companies often use proven methods such as classical statistics as the ARIMA algorithm. However, simple statistics often fail while applied for complex non-linear predictions.
Initial results show that even a simple MLP ANN produces better results than traditional statistic methods. Furthermore, a baseline (Implicit Sales Expectation) of the company was used to compare the performance. This comparison also shows that the proposed AI method is superior.
Until the developed method becomes part of corporate practice, it must be further optimized. The model has difficulties with strong declines, for example due to holidays. The authors are certain that the model can be further improved. For example, through more advanced methods, such as a FilterNet, but also through more data, such as external data on holiday periods.
Digitalization increases the pressure for companies to innovate. While current research on digital transformation mostly focuses on technological and management aspects, less attention has been paid to organizational culture and its influence on digital innovations. The purpose of this paper is to identify the characteristics of organizational culture that foster digital innovations. Based on a systematic literature review on three scholarly databases, we initially found 778 articles that were then narrowed down to a total number of 23 relevant articles through a methodical approach. After analyzing these articles, we determine nine characteristics of organizational culture that foster digital innovations: corporate entrepreneurship, digital awareness and necessity of innovations, digital skills and resources, ecosystem orientation, employee participation, agility and organizational structures, error culture and risk-taking, internal knowledge sharing and collaboration, customer and market orientation as well as open-mindedness and willingness to learn.
Demand forecasting intermittent time series is a challenging business problem. Companies have difficulties in forecasting this particular form of demand pattern. On the one hand, it is characterized by many non-demand periods and therefore classical statistical forecasting algorithms, such as ARIMA, only work to a limited extent. On the other hand, companies often cannot meet the requirements for good forecasting models, such as providing sufficient training data. The recent major advances of artificial intelligence in applications are largely based on transfer learning. In this paper, we investigate whether this method, originating from computer vision, can improve the forecasting quality of intermittent demand time series using deep learning models. Our empirical results show that, in total, transfer learning can reduce the mean square error by 65 percent. We also show that especially short (65 percent reduction) and medium long (91 percent reduction) time series benefit from this approach.
Forecasting intermittent and lumpy demand is challenging. Demand occurs only sporadically and, when it does, it can vary considerably. Forecast errors are costly, resulting in obsolescent stock or unmet demand. Methods from statistics, machine learning and deep learning have been used to predict such demand patterns. Traditional accuracy metrics are often employed to evaluate the forecasts, however these come with major drawbacks such as not taking horizontal and vertical shifts over the forecasting horizon into account, or indeed stock-keeping or opportunity costs. This results in a disadvantageous selection of methods in the context of intermittent and lumpy demand forecasts. In our study, we compare methods from statistics, machine learning and deep learning by applying a novel metric called Stock-keeping-oriented Prediction Error Costs (SPEC), which overcomes the drawbacks associated with traditional metrics. Taking the SPEC metric into account, the Croston algorithm achieves the best result, just ahead of a Long Short-Term Memory Neural Network.
Forecasting demand is challenging. Various products exhibit different demand patterns. While demand may be constant and regular for one product, it may be sporadic for another, as well as when demand occurs, it may fluctuate significantly. Forecasting errors are costly and result in obsolete inventory or unsatisfied demand. Methods from statistics, machine learning, and deep learning have been used to predict such demand patterns. Nevertheless, it is not clear for what demand pattern, which algorithm would achieve the best forecast. Therefore, even today a large number of models are used to forecast on a test period. The model with the best result on the test period is used for the actual forecast. This approach is computationally and time intensive and, in most cases, uneconomical. In our paper we show the possibility to use a machine learning classification algorithm, which predicts the best possible model based on the characteristics of a time series. The approach was developed and evaluated on a dataset from a B2B-technical-retailer. The machine learning classification algorithm achieves a mean ROC-AUC of 89%, which emphasizes the skill of the model.
Real estate markets are known to fluctuate. The real estate market in Stuttgart, Germany, has been booming for more than a decade: square-meter price hit top levels and real estate agents claim that market prices will continue to increase. In this paper, we test this market understanding by developing and analyzing a system dynamics model that depicts the Stuttgart real estate market. Simulating the model explains oscillating behavior arising from significant time delays and endogenous feedback structures – and not necessarily oscillating interest rates, as market experts assume. Scenarios provide insights into the system's behavior reacting to changes exogenous to the model. The first scenario tests the market development under increasing interest rates. The other scenario deals with possible effects on the real estate market if the regional automotive economy suffers from intense competition with new market players entering with alternative fuel vehicles and new technologies. With a policy run we test market structure changes to eliminate cyclical effects. The paper confirms that the business cycle in the Stuttgart real estate market arises from within the system's underlying structure, thus emphasizing the importance of understanding feedback structures.
SF-failure, the inability of people to correctly determine the behavior of simple stock and flow structures is subject of a long research stream. Reasons for SF-failure can be attributed to different reasons, one of them being lacking domain specific experience, thus familiarity with the problem context. In this article we present a continuation of an experiment to examine the role of educational background in SF-performance. We base the question set on the Bathtub Dynamics tasks introduced by Booth Sweeney and Sterman (2000) and vary the cover stories. In this paper we describe how we developed and tested a new cover story for the engineering domain and implemented the recommendations from a prior study. We test three sets of questions with engineering students which enables us to compare the results to a previous study in which we tested the questions with business students. Results mainly support our hypothesis that context familiarity increases SF-performance. With our findings we further develop the methodology of the research on SF-failure.
Coopetitive endeavors offer valuable strategic options for firms. Yet, many of them are failure-prone as partners must balance collective and private interest. While interpartner trust is considered central for alliance success, paradoxically, the role and dynamics of trust is still not understood. We synthesize a computational model, capturing relational dynamics of an alliance, encompassing coevolution of trust, partner contributions, and (relative) alliance interactions. Analyzing alliance dynamics using simulation we find and explore a tipping boundary, separating a regime of alliance failure and success. We identify implications for collaborative (aspirations) and private strategies (openness). Our analyses reveal that strategies informed by a static mental model of partner trust, contributions, and openness tend to yield subpar alliance results and hidden failure-risk. We discuss implications for management theory.
Strategic alliances have become important strategic options for firms to achieve competitive advantage. Yet, there are many examples of alliance failures. Scholars have studied this phenomenon and identified many reasons for alliance failure, including lack of trust between the partnering firms. Paradoxically, the concept of trust is still not fully understood, specifically how and under what conditions trust comes to break down within the broader process of alliance building. We synthesize a process model that describes the “alliance capability”, including trust, openness, partner contributions, and relational rents. We then translate this framework into a formal simulation model and analyze it thoroughly. In analyzing trust dynamics we identify and explore a tipping boundary, separating a regime of alliance failures and successes. We apply our core findings to openness strategies – decisions about how much knowledge to share with partners. Our analyses reveal that strategies informed by a static mental model of trust, contributions, and openness, under undervalue openness. Further, too little openness risks early failure due to the being trapped in a vicious cycle of trust depletion.
In this paper we claim that a competitive analysis with new players entering a market requires a specific and systems-based analysis. System dynamics provides such an approach. We infer from our study that established premium automobile manufacturers could have identified a possible threat by a newcomer like Tesla earlier with using system dynamics. In particular, we postulate that a feedback view supports decision makers to better understand the significance of competitive information and perceive information faster and more reliably.
It is assumed that more education leads to better understanding of complex systems. Some researchers claim, however, find indications that simple mechanisms like stocks and flows are not well understood even by people who have passed higher education. In this paper, we test people’s understanding of complex systems with the widely studied stock-and-flow (SF) tasks (Booth Sweeney and Sterman 2000). SF tasks assess people’s understanding of the interplay between stocks and flows. We investigate SF failure of domain experts and novices in different knowledge domains. In particular, we compare performance on the original study’s Bathtub task with the square wave pattern (Booth Sweeney and Sterman 2000) with two alternative cover stories from the engineering and business domains on different groups of business and engineering students from different semesters. Further, we show that, while engineering students perform better than business students, with progressing in higher education, students seem to lose the capability of dealing with simple SF tasks from domains other than their field. We thus find hints on déformation professionelle in higher education.
Prior studies ascribed people’s poor performance in dealing with basic systems concepts to different causes. While results indicate that, among other things, domain specific experience and familiarity with the problem context play a role in this stock-flow-(SF-)performance, this has not yet been fully clarified. In this article, we present an experiment that examines the role of educational background in SF-performance. We hypothesize that SF-performance increases when the problem context is embedded in the problem solver’s knowledge domain, indicated by educational background. Using the square wave pattern and the sawtooth pattern tasks from the initial study by Booth Sweeney and Sterman (2000), we design two additional cover stories for the former, the Vehicle story from the engineering domain and the Application story from the business domain, next to the original Bathtub story. We then test the three sets of questions on business students. Results mainly support our hypothesis. Interestingly, participants even do better on a more complex behavioral pattern from their knowledge domain than on a simpler pattern from more distant domains. Although these findings have to be confirmed by further studies, they contribute both to the methodology of future surveys and the context familiarity discussion.
Wasted paradise – imagining the Maldives without the garbage island of Thilafushi : Version 1.2
(2016)
To address the high level of waste production in the Maldives, the local government decided to transform the coral island of Thilafushi into an immense waste dumb in 1992. Meanwhile, each day, 330 tons of waste is ferried to Thilafushi. The policy had the positive consequence of relieving the garbage burden in Malé, the main island, and surrounding tourist atolls. However, it can also lead to serious environmental and economic damage in the long range. First, the garbage is in visual range of one of the most prominent tourist destinations. Second, if the wind blows a certain way, unfiltered fumes from burning waste travels to tourist atolls. Third, water quality can erode as hazardous waste from batteries and other toxic waste is floating in the ocean. Over time, these effects can accumulate to significantly hamper the number of tourists that travel to the Maldives – one of the state’s main sources of financial income. In our paper, we lay out the situation in more detail and translate it into a simulation model. We test different policies to propose the Maldives government how to better solve the waste problem.
Im Februar 2011 wurden die Autoren von der Metropolitan School Frankfurt eingeladen, in einer vierstündigen Unterrichtseinheit die Grundlagen von systemischem Denken und System Dynamics einer vierten Klasse mit Kindern im Alter von 9 und 10 Jahren zu vermitteln. Inhaltlicher Themenschwerpunkt sollten Ökosysteme sein, die im Curriculum eine mehrwöchige Fokuslehreinheit bilden. Als Ergebnis eines Austauschs mit dem Klassenlehrer wurde der Fokus auf zwei Handlungsstränge gelegt: Räuber-Beute-Systeme sind für Viertklässler inhaltlich interessant und fügen sich passsend in die Unterrichtseinheit der Jahrgangstufe ein. Als weiteres, komplexeres Themengebiet wurd der Klimawandel gewählt. Beide Themen haben den gewünschten inhaltlichen Bezug zum Schwerpunkt "Ökosysteme".
Industry 4.0 predicts that industrial processes, technological infrastructure and all corresponding Business processes, with the help of information and communication technology (ICT), will advance to integrated, ad-hoc interconnected and decentralized Cyber-Physical Production Systems (CPPS) with real-time capabilities of selfoptimization and adaptability. Considering this change, the human being will remain in a dominant role, because it is not expected that the human factor with its characteristics and capabilities will be substituted entirely by autonomously acting technology in the foreseeable future. The mechanical intelligence, for instance, is limited to the selection of predefined options, while human creativity, flexibility, the ability to learn and to improve are required to design and configure systems, processes and products. Humans have the expertise and experience to analyze, assess and solve - even in exceptional situations. However, the amount of purely manual tasks for shop floor workers will decrease. Their role will change from a manually executing to a proactive preconceiving worker with increased responsibility. Due to the growing degree of digitalization and interconnectedness, also the tasks and responsibilities for planning and design personnel will continuously expand and become more complex. The work in versatile ad-hoc networks with advanced ICT-Tools and assistance systems will lead to increased requirements regarding the knowledge, capability and capacity of the respective employees. The on-going pervasion of IT and emergence of systems with unprecedented complexity specifically require significantly improved capabilities in analysis, abstraction, problem solving and decision making from future labour. Accordingly, the industry is asking for graduates that are educated interdisciplinary and practice-oriented. Some universities already meet these expectations, using learning factories for realistic, action-oriented classes and trainings. Lecturers are confronted with the challenge to identify future job profiles and correlated qualification requirements, especially regarding the conceptualization and implementation of CPPS, and to adapt and enhance their education concepts and methods adequately and consequently. For the new, virtual world of manufacturing a proper understanding of engineering as well as Computer sciences is essential. Industry 4.0 implies this interdisciplinary split. Integrated competencies for product and process planning and design, methodological competencies for systematical idea and innovation management as well as a holistic system and Interface competence will be crucial to achieve interconnection of physical and digital processes and machines. The Vienna University of Technology and the ESB Reutlingen committed to integrate key aspects of Industry 4.0 into their respective learning factories successively. Thus, the students will act as the coordinators of the CPPS and thereby remain in the center of all learning and implementation activities.
Fundamentale Veränderungen der heutigen Arbeitswelt stellen Menschen, Systeme, Prozesse und ganze Organisationen vor erhebliche Herausforderungen. Der Faktor Mensch leistet in allen Bereichen dieses Wirkgefüges einen essentiellen Beitrag zum Wettbewerbsvorteil vieler produzierender Unternehmen am Standort Deutschland. Der Wandel von Automatisierung zu selbststeuernden Unternehmen geht dabei nicht spurlos an dem wandlungsfähigsten Glied dieses Gefüges, dem Menschen, vorüber. Belastungsarten verändern sich, singuläre Bewältigungsstrategien genügen nicht mehr, um einen optimalen Beanspruchungszustand jedes einzelnen Individuums zu erreichen und gleichzeitig das höchstmögliche Potenzial zu schöpfen. Das Belastungs- und Beanspruchungscockpit bildet einen Lösungsansatz zur systematischen und durchgängigen Bewertung von Belastungszuständen und der individuellen Beanspruchung von Beschäftigten an Montagearbeitsplätzen. Es liefert in Echtzeit Informationen zum Belastungs- und Beanspruchungszustand des Mitarbeiters und kann mit Ergonomiebewertungsverfahren verknüpft werden. Der Aspekt der Multidimensionalität umfasst die Bewertung verschiedener Indikatoren unter Betrachtung ihrer Wirkzusammenhänge.
Especially, if the potential of technical and organizational measures for ergonomic workplace design is limited, exoskeletons can be considered as innovative ergonomic aids to reduce the physical workload of workers. Recent scientific findings from ergonomic analyses with and without exoskeletons are indicating that strain reduction can be achieved, particularly at workplaces with lifting, holding, and carrying processes. Currently, a work system design method is under development incorporating criteria and characteristics for the design of work systems in which a human worker is supported by an exoskeleton. Based on the properties of common passive and active exoskeletons, factors influencing the human on which an exoskeleton can have a positive or negative effect (e.g. additional weight) were derived. The method will be validated by the conceptualization and setup of several work system demonstrators at Werk150, the factory of ESB Business School on campus of Reutlingen University, to prove the positive ergonomic effect on humans and the supporting process to choose the suitable exoskeleton. The developed method and demonstrators enable the user to experience the positive ergonomic effects of exoskeletal support in lifting, holding and carrying processes in logistics and production. The new work system design method will contribute to the fact that employees can pursue their professional activity longer without substantial injuries or can be used more flexibly at different work stations. Also new work concepts, strategies and scenarios are opened up to reduce the risk of occupational accidents and to promote the compatibility of work for employees. A training module is being developed and evaluated with participants from industry and master students to build up competence.
Smart factories, driven by the integration of automation and digital technologies, have revolutionized industrial production by enhancing efficiency, productivity, and flexibility. However, the optimization and continuous improvement of these complex systems present numerous challenges, especially when real-world data collection is time-consuming, expensive, or limited. In this paper, we propose a novel method for semi-automated improvement of smart factories using synthetic data and cause-effect-relations, while incorporating the aspect of self-organization. The method leverages the power of synthetic data generation techniques to create representative datasets that mimic the behaviour of real-world manufacturing systems. These synthetic datasets serve together with the cause-and-effect relationships as a valuable resource for factory optimization, as they enable extensive experimentation and analysis without the constraints of limited or costly real-world data. Furthermore, the method embraces the concept of self organization within smart factories. By allowing the system to adapt and optimize itself based on feedback from the synthetic data, cause-effect-relationships, the factory can dynamically reconfigure and adjust its processes. To facilitate the improvement process, the method integrates the synthetic data with advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms as well as and the cause-and-effect relationships. This synergy between human expertise and technological advancements represents a compelling path towards a truly optimized smart factory of the future.
Increasingly volatile market conditions and manufacturing environments combined with a rising demand for highly personalized products, the emergence of new technologies like cyber-physical systems and additive manufacturing as well as an increasing cross-linking of different entities (Industrie 4.0) will result in fundamental changes of future work and logistics systems. The place of production, the logistical network and the respective production system will underlie the requirements of constant changes and therefore sources and sinks of logistical networks have to obey the versatility of (cyber-physical) production systems. To cope with the arising complexity to control and monitor changeable production and logistics systems, decentralized control systems are the mean of choice since centralized systems are pushed to their limits in this regard. This paradigm shift will affect the overall concept under which production and logistics is planned, managed and controlled and how companies interact and collaborate within the emerging value chains by using dynamic methods to generate and execute the created network and to allocate available resources to fulfill the demand for customized products. In this field of research learning factories, like the ESB Logistics Learning Factory at ESB Business School (Reutlingen University), provide a great potential as a risk free test bed to develop new methods and technical solutions, to investigate new technologies regarding their practical use and to transfer the latest state of knowledge and specific competences into the training of students and professionals. Keeping with these guiding principles ESB Business School is transferring its existing production system into a cyber-physical production system to investigate innovative solutions for the design of human-machine collaboration and technical assistance systems as wells as to develop decentralized control methods for intralogistics systems following the requirements of changeable work systems including the respective design of dynamic inbound and outbound logistic networks.
Due to Industry 4.0, the full value creation has the chance to undergo a fundamental technological transformation, the realisation of which, however, requires the commitment of every company for its own benefit. The new approaches of Industry 4.0 are often hardly evaluated, let alone proven, so that SMEs in particular often cannot properly estimate the potentials and risks, and often waiting too long with the migration towards Industry 4.0. In addition, they often do not pursue an integrated concept in order to identify possible potentials through changes in their business models. . As part of the research project "GEN-I 4.0 – Geschäftsmodell-Entwicklung für die Industrie 4.0” ", the ESB Business School at Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization FHG IAO were engaged by the Baden-Württemberg Foundation from 2016 to 2018 to develop tools and an approach how the local economy can develop digital business models for itself in a methodical, beneficial and targeted manner. Through international analyses and interviews GEN-I 4.0 gained and concretized the knowledge required for the evaluation and selection of solutions and approaches for the transfer to develop digital business models. Together with the know-how of the project partners on Industry 4.0 and business model development, the findings were incorporated into the development of two software tools with which SMEs are shown the potentials of Industry 4.0 for their individual business model, online and in selfassessment, and given a comprehensive structured, concrete approach to development, as well as their individual risk. Users of the tools are supported by the selected platform for the networking of different players to implement innovative business models accompanied by coaching concepts for the companies in the follow-up and implementation of the assessment results.
The paper studies the deciding parameters that influence business students' selection of internships in Germany. The findings are based on literature research and a survey amongst students and company representatives and asks to rate the importance of 24 different aspects of internships. The benefits and negative impacts of internships on students, companies and universities are discussed in detail. The results of different demographic groups are compared.
Mit der Überarbeitung der DIN EN 50173 (VDE 0800-173) Serie, wurden unter anderem die optischen Übertragungsstreckenklassen ersatzlos gestrichen. Um die so entstandene Lücke zu schließen, hat das deutsche Gremium DKE GUK 715.3 „Informationstechnische Verkabelung von Gebäudekomplexen“ neue Klassen erarbeitet, die in der DIN VDE 0800- 173-100 „Klassifizierung von Lichtwellenleiter-Übertragungsstrecken“ im Juni 2019 veröffentlicht wurden. Die Norm klassifiziert Lichtwellenleiter Übertragungsstrecken für anwendungsneutrale Kommunikationskabelanlagen nach DIN EN 50173-1.
Sie dient Benutzern, eine breite Palette von Anwendungen zu ermöglichen, die Auswahl des Verkabelungssystems zu erleichtern, eine zukunftssichere Klassifizierung von LWL-Verkabelungen zu generieren und dazu, Systemanforderungen zu beschreiben.
Die in der Norm definierten Klassen beschreiben die Anforderungen an die Übertragungsstrecken und basieren auf einer maximal zulässigen Einfügedämpfung in dB für maximale Übertragungsstreckenlängen, wobei zusätzlich das Bandbreitenlängenprodukt berücksichtigt wird.
Der Beitrag liefert einen Überblick über die Norm und zeigt Anwendungsbeispiele auf.
This paper models the political budget cycle with stochastic differential equations. The paper highlights the development of future volatility of the budget cycle. In fact, I confirm the proposition of a less volatile budget cycle in future. Moreover, I show that this trend is even amplified due to higher transparency. These findings are new evidence in the literature on electoral cycles. I calibrate a rigorous stochastic model on public deficit-to-GDP data for several countries from 1970 to 2012.