unternehmen & trends DIGITAL 1/2021

Dr. Sauer, what exactly is a ‘smart fac- tory’? What does it mean, how does it work and what is the basic idea behind it? Dr. Sauer: The Karlsruhe Smart Factory is a joint initiative of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Fraunhofer-Ge- sellschaft, which cooperate in building a factory that is planned to become opera- tional in spring 2021. The idea behind the Research Factory is that we want to try to design production processes that cannot be specified in each and every detail any more in a way that allows us to get ready for series production quickly. The current challenges such as market fluctuations or an ever increasing number of product varieties have the consequence that engi- neers cannot specify manufacturing pro- cesses in every little detail any more. In the past, we used to plan production process- es and derive the production lines from these plans. The production lines were then planned in detail, configured, assem- bled and taken into operation. Today, these steps are carried out simultaneously. In the Research Factory, we try to get process- es running that have not been specified completely, while already manufacturing high-quality products. We aim at getting a new product to the market very quickly with a new process. That is the idea behind the Karlsruhe Research Factory. So this means that the Karlsruhe Smart Factory isn’t just a virtual think tank; rather, a genuine factory is being built in Karlsruhe, where research and man- ufacturing processes will be carried out in real life? Could you tell us a little more about your partners and the sec- tors of industry you address? Sauer: We are in the fortunate position that the KIT owns some largely vacant land on the Eastern campus, where we are jointly building an actual, real-life fac- tory. There are three partners cooperat- ing in this project. For one thing, there is Fraunhofer ICT – the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology – specializing in materials and process engineering. Among other things, these experts fo- cus on combining materials, developing manufacturing processes and specifying systems technology the controls and reg- ulation of which still need to be developed. This plays a decisive role in the field of lightweight engineering, one of the major areas we address, in the flexible assembly of battery modules from individual battery cells and the variant-flexible production of electric motors. Another partner is the KIT and its Institute of Production Science. These are specialists with detailed ex- pertise in machinery and equipment, de- veloping intelligent machine components and later on creating, interlinking and automating systems for the processes that Fraunhofer ICT designs for the var- ious materials. In addition, they establish quality assurance systems. All these is- sues center on production engineering in a rather literal definition. This is added by the competence of information technolo- gy, provided by Fraunhofer IOSB. We have the knowledge about the required actua- tor and sensor technology and how these kinds of processes are controlled, auto- mated and later on monitored by means of IT. This is what we believe: If we want to launch immature production processes like these, which are not fully understood yet, we have to generate the largest pos- sible amount of data, through comprehen- sive instrumentation. From this data we have to learn what adjustments we have to make in the process so we can produce high-quality end products. To this end, we use machine learning and artificial intelli- gence. These are the three disciplines we need – materials and process engineering, the required production technology and the assisting computer science and IT, so these three components form a unit. What is the reason for these immature manufacturing processes? Sauer: Immature processes are process- es for which there is no complete table Oliver Schonschek interviewing Dr. Olaf Sauer Embedded scientists in the smart factory Interview with Dr. Olaf Sauer from Fraunhofer Institute of Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation (IOSB), Karlsruhe, Germany How is Industrie 4.0 doing in Germany? According to the Bitkom digital association, more than one out of five enterprises considers Germany to rank on a top position worldwide with respect to Industrie 4.0, behind the USA but still ahead of Japan and China. Germany as an industrial location is thus a high-wage country that is particularly dependent on its innovative power in developing new products and processes to strengthen its position as a global player. A top position in Industrie 4.0 requires further research and quick innovation. The Karlsruhe Smart Factory and its ‘embedded scientist’ approach are excellent examples of these requirements. 32 S H A R E Images: © IOSB Oliver Schonsckek Dr. Olaf Sauer