Adaptable and reconfigurable production systems

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Ulf Wagner
• Subject Area: Production Systems, Operations Management, Quality Management and Factory Planning
• Term: from 2011 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 202779947

The rising demand for customized solutions and more and more dynamic product requirements and at the same time shorter product life cycles cause the need for innovative production systems. As adaptability and reconfigurability play a major role in order to be able to supply competitive products on the global market, we will have to develop practice-oriented adaptable production systems.The Department of Factory Planning and Factory Management at Chemnitz University of Technology can provide competent knowledge in this field of research. This knowledge base has been used to install Building blocks for adaptable factory systems in the scope of a modern Experimental and Digital Factory at the Department. This factory system consists of physical building blocks including real components (machines, logistic devices) and virtual factory building blocks, which allow for modeling and simulation of processes and systems. The Intelligent Manufacturing Systems Centre in Windsor/ Canada also considers changeability to be highly relevant for future production systems and shows strong competence in this area. Consequently, the IMS Centre is building a physical model factory, which will be connected with software of the Digital Factory. This enables an adaptable planning of production means and processes.The planned collaboration between the IMS Centre and the Department of Factory Planning and Factory Management will create synergetic effects, as both research institutions analyze the reconfigurability of production systems by means of innovative laboratories. The goal of the research project is to develop practice-oriented solutions for the design of planning, production and logistics processes, production and logistics means as well as information flows, whereat the focus is set on adaptability.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Canada
• Host: Professorin Hoda A. ElMaraghy, Ph.D.