Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries

The Cluster of Excellence Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries is an interdisciplinary research project of RWTH Aachen University combined in the “Aachen House of Integrative Production”. It pursues the long-term goal to increase the competitiveness of German manufacturing technology. The Cluster of Excellence was founded in October 2006 as part of the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the German Research Foundation. It was re-announced as a Cluster of Excellence on June 15, 2012.

Goals
It is the goal to ensure the production in high-wage countries during the changing conditions of the globalization. Based on the Cluster of Excellence, theories are developed that combine economical, ecological, and social aspects for the producing industry with the help of necessary methods and equipment. The aim of the academic researchers is to contribute seminal and sustainable production technologies to help enterprises with the problems of the location. The Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries” is aiming to maintain the competitive ability of German Production Technology.

Research areas
Companies have to compete in an environment of increasing global competition. It has to be the concern of high-wage countries to evaluate and define the conditions under which domestic businesses can successfully develop and produce corresponding products. In order to meet the challenges, a fundamentally new understanding of product and production interrelations is required.

The Cluster of Excellence aims at developing a viable, production-scientific strategy and theory of production including necessary technology approaches. Various issues of individualisation, virtualisation and hybridisation of industrial production, self-optimisation are addressed, which are divided in four Integrative Cluster Domains (ICD).

ICD-A: Individualised Production
In contradiction to the incompatibility of economies of scale and economies of scope, manufacturing companies in high-wage countries are facing increasing challenges. This challenge corresponds to a resolution of the scale-scope-dichotomy. Product production systems have to be adjusted to one another regarding their specific degree of standardisation in order to resolve the dichotomy.

An integrated assessment model classifies product productions systems in four quantifiable fields of tension. Based on the model, the current operating point of a production system can be analysed. A configuration logic - derived from the results of the analysis - provides the means to control a production system's configuration process.

ICD-B: Virtual Production Systems
The planning of production processes is characterised by unlinked simulations of specific aspects, which are based on standard assumption. The impact of ustream production processes cannot be taken into account. To increase simulation quality, individual simulations have to be linked and combined to a simulation chain.

The Virtual Production Systems researches a method to link simulation resources, data sets and access rights to the generated integrative simulation platform. The general concept also contains subsequent analysis of simulation results by methods of visualisation.

ICD-C: Hybrid Production Systems
An important part in securing the competitiveness of industrial production is advancing the manufacturing processes as it currently pushes existing boundaries of manufacturing technologies and taps new fields of applications.

The issue of Hybridisation of manufacturing technologies is the systematic development and early assessment of possible application. The integration of knowledge of different disciplines of production engineering is crucial to its success.

ICD-D: Self-optimising Production Systems
Cognitive technologies can enable production systems to adapt self-optimizingly to variable conditions. The primary objective is to ensure product quality by aligning the considered process chain to the fulfillment of the required product features by designing inter-process control loops. Therefore the production system can dynamically permit deviations of other goals during the production process or compensate deviations by specific reactions and increase it flexibility and competitiveness.

Research partner
More than 20 research institutes, 25 professors of engineering, materials, mathematics, economics, and psychology work with their research assistants in co-operation with the international industry.

Industrial Partner
Amongst others:

Literature

 * Brecher, Christian (Hrsg.): Integrative Produktionstechnik für Hochlohnländer, 1. Auflage, Springer Verlag, 2011
 * Brecher, Christian (Ed.): Integrative Production Technology for High-Wage Countries, 1. Edition, Springer Verlag,2012