Complex products do have the knowledge about the components they are made of, how they are manufactured and assembled, as well as what need to be considered during their maintenance. In the factory of the future, these products are able to manage the manufacturing and assembly process on their own using cyber-physical systems (CPS). This allows more flexible production.
In the project SmartF-IT technologies are developed that enable a real-time production of products in small quantities at maximum qualities with still low cost. These aid manufacturing companies to stay profitable in fluctuating markets and keep track in global trends by fulfilling individual customer requirements providing a high number of variants in small quantities. The project solve this challenge with the use of adaptive cyber-physical IT systems at all levels of production. It is used to introduce, implement and operate holistic production systems. Mastering the complexity of planning, operating, maintaining and managing failures of cyber-physical production systems in Smart Factories is one of the core main tasks.
The focus of the research at DiK is the development of an integrated process model, the impelmentation of a sensor management, the human-centered software design and the adaptive production process, regarding individual characteristics of the employees. SmartF-IT is funded as a part of the high-tech strategy “Industrie 4.0” of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a term of three years and supported by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Department of Software Systems and Knowledge Technologies.
