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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.
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.
The early involvement of experiences gained through intelligence and data analysis is becoming increasingly important in order to develop new products, leading to a completely different conception of product creation, development and engineering processes using the advantages that the dedication of the digital twin entails. Introducing a novel stage gate process in order to be holistically anchored in learning factories adopting idea generation and idea screening in an early stage, beta testing of first prototypes, technical implementation in real production scenarios, business analysis, market evaluation, pricing, service models as well as innovative social media portals. Corresponding product modelling in the sense of sustainability, circular economy, and data analytics forecasts the product on the market both before and after market launch with the interlinking of data interpretation nearby in real-time. The digital twin represents the link between the digital model and the digital shadow. Additionally, the connection of the digital twin with the product provides constantly updated operating status and process data as well as mapping of technical properties and real-world behaviours. A future-networking product, by embedded information technology with the ability to initiate and carry out one's own further development, is able to interact with people and environments and thus is relevant to the way of life of future generations. In today's development work for this new product creation approach, on one hand, "Werk150" is the object of the development itself and on the other hand the validation environment. In the next step, new learning modules and scenarios for trainings at master level will be derived from these findings.
Teaching at assembly workstations in production in SMEs (small and medium sized companies) often does not take place at all or only insufficiently. In addition to the lack of technical content, there are also aggravatingly incorrect movement sequences from an ergonomic point of view, which "untrained" people usually automatically acquire. An AI based approach is used to analyze a definite workflow for a specific assembly scope regarding the behavior of several employees. Based on these different behaviors, the AI gives feedback at which points in time, work steps and movement’s particularly dangerous incorrect postures occur. Motion capturing and digital human model simulation in combination with the results of the AI define the optimized workflow. Individual employees can be trained directly due to the fact that AI identifies their most serious incorrect postures and provide them with a direct analogy of their “wrong” posture and “easy on the joints posture”. With the assistance of various test persons, the AI can conduct a study in which the most frequently occurring incorrect postures can be identified. This could be realized in general or tailored to specific groups of people (e.g. "People over 1.90m tall must be particularly careful not to make the following mistake...). The approach will be tested and validated at the Werk150, the factory of the ESB Business School, on the campus of the Reutlingen University. The new gained knowledge will be used subsequently for training in SMEs.
Technologies for mapping the “digital twin“ have been under development for approximately 20 years. Nowadays increasingly intelligent, individualized products encourages companies to respond innovatively to customer requirements and to handle the rising product variations quickly.
An integrated engineering network, spanning across the entire value chain, is operated to intelligently connect various company divisions, and to generate a business ecosystem for products, services and communities. The conditions for the digital twin are thereby determined in which the digital world can be fed into the real, and the real world back into the digital to deal such intelligent products with rising variations.
The term digital twin can be described as a digital copy of a real factory, machine, worker etc., that is created and can be independently expanded, automatically updated as well as being globally available in real time. Every real product and production site is permanently accompanied by a digital twin. First prototypes of such digital twins already exist in the ESB Logistics Learning Factory on a cloud- and app based software that builds on a dynamic, multidimensional data and information model. A standardized language of the robot control systems via software agents and positioning systems has to be integrated. The aspect of the continuity of the real factory in the digital factory as an economical means of ensuring continuous actuality of digital models looks as the basis of changeability.
For the indoor localization sensor combinations that in addition to the hardware already contain the software required for the sensor data fusion should be used. Processing systems, scenario-live-simulations and digital shop floor management results in a mandatory procedural combination. Essential to the digital twin is the ability to consistently provide all subsystems with the latest state of all required information, methods and algorithms.
A seamless convergence of the digital and physical factory aiming in personalized Product Emergence Process (PPEP) for smart products within ESB Logistics Learning Factory at Reutlingen University.
A completely new business model with reference to Industrie4.0 and facilitated by 3D experience software in today's networked society in which customers expect immediate responses, delightful experience and simple solutions is one of the mission scenarios in the ESB Logistics Learning Factory at ESB Business School (Reutlingen University).
The business experience platform provides software solutions for every organization in the company respectively in the factory. An interface with dashboards, project management apps, 3D - design and construction apps with high end visualization, manufacturing and simulation apps as well as intelligence and social network apps in a collaborative interactive environment help the user to learn the creation of a value end to end process for a personalized virtual and later real produced product.
Instead of traditional ways of working and a conventional operating factory real workers and robots work semi-intuitive together. Centerpiece in the self-planned interim factory is the smart personalized product, uniquely identifiable and locatable at all times during the production process – a scooter with an individual colored mobile phone – holder for any smart phone produced with a 3D printer in lot size one. Smart products have in the future solutions incorporated internet based services – designed and manufactured - at the costs of mass products. Additionally the scooter is equipped with a retrievable declarative product memory. Monitoring and control is handled by sensor tags and a raspberry positioned on the product. The engineering design and implementation of a changeable production system is guided by a self-execution system that independently find amongst others esplanade workplaces.
The imparted competences to students and professionals are project management method SCRUM, customization of workflows by Industrie4.0 principles, the enhancements of products with new personalized intelligent parts, electrical and electronic selfprogrammed components and the control of access of the product memory information, to plan in a digital engineering environment and set up of the physical factory to produce customer orders. The gained action-orientated experience refers to the chances and requirements for holistic digital and physical systems.