Train-the-Trainer Concept for the “Industrie 4.0-CheckUp”

The digitalization of society is causing companies’ environmental conditions to change. New customer demands, a change in employee thinking and a market situation altered by new competitors are making the digital transformation of companies a necessity. Identifying capabilities in a company, recommending actions and then implementing actions necessitates ascertaining the company’s level of development in terms of digital transformation. A multitude of capability maturity models and different approaches to use exist to meet the needs of SMEs and large companies. Since the dimensions of Industrie 4.0 are understood slightly differently all over the world, this paper formulates a train-the-trainer approach that ensures a global baseline understanding based on a dedicated capability maturity model. The paper concludes with a discussion of future applications for this method

Investigation of Material Supply Strategies to Increase Resilience in Matrix Production Systems

In order to design a resilient production system, individual system elements have to be flexible and adapt towards changing requirements. In contrast to the prevailing paradigm that complexity in production systems is reduced by standardisation or cycle production, complexity in resilient production systems offers great potential in terms of adaptiveness, robustness and anticipation. Within production control, matrix production is seen as a resilient and versatile system. Flexible routing between work-stations makes it possible to compensate for failures more quickly in the event of a malfunction, flexible logistics and control processes allow the workstations to be controlled and used in a job-specific manner. In this paper, challenges and operating principles of material supply strategies are investigated that have the biggest influence on the design of resilient processes in matrix production. Using a simulation model and scenarios from the automotive sector, the potentials, requirements and parameters for describing resilience are specified

Evolving Neural Networks to Solve a Two-Stage Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Family Setup Times

We present a novel strategy to solve a two-stage hybrid flow shop scheduling problem with family setup times. The problem is derived from an industrial case. Our strategy involves the application of NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies - a genetic algorithm, which generates arbitrary neural networks being able to estimate job sequences. The algorithm is coupled with a discrete-event simulation model, which evaluates different network configurations and provides training signals. We compare the performance and computational efficiency of the proposed concept with other solution approaches. Our investigations indicate that NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topologies can possibly compete with state-of-the-art approaches in terms of solution quality and outperform them in terms of computational efficiency

Electrification of waste collection vehicles: Techno-economic analysis based on an energy demand simulation using real-life operational data

Waste transport plays an important role in the decarbonization of the transport sector. In this paper diesel-powered (dWCV) and electric waste collections vehicles (eWCV) and their operation are analysed regarding energy demand and total cost of ownership (TCO) integrating Well-to-Wheel emission costs. Further, an open-source simulation tool with a route synthetization approach is presented using extensive real-life operational data of five different route types. Determined WCV energy demand varies greatly between vehicle topologies and analysed route types. eWCV show a mean distance-specific energy demand of 1.85 kWh·km-1, while values for dWCV increase to 5.43 kWh·km-1 respectively. The factors route distance and number of waste containers collected show the highest influence on results. Therefore, battery capacity should be sized according to specific route types. eWCV show higher TCO than dWCV under current economic constraints but fuel price level and annual vehicle mileage show a high influence on economic feasibility. Taking the planned emissions price mechanism of the German Government into account, economic scenarios could be identified, which make eWCV advantageous yet in 2021. In technical terms, there is nothing to stop for the electrification of WCV, and with suitable political instruments eWCV could become profitable in the short-term

Economic benefits through system integration of electric waste collection vehicles: Case study of grid-beneficial charging and discharging strategies

Electrification of a waste collection fleet as part of vehicle-to-grid can be used in a grid- beneficial way, which in turn can increase the economy of these vehicles. In this study the system and grid integration of fully battery-electric waste collection vehicles (eWCV) is examined. The possibility to shave power peaks of a lightweight packaging plant and to provide balancing power by eWCV are analyzed. For this, performance and market models are developed using an ex-post analysis, considering also levies and charges. Building on this, various scenarios for the grid-beneficial integration of eWCV are designed. These are assessed based on the resulting energy consumption of the eWCV, charging costs and feasibility for real-life implementation. It is shown that using electricity generated by thermal waste management plants for charging can reduce the operation costs of eWCV. Also, peak shaving is viable from an economic point of view. Network charges and well as the complexity of the system prevent an economical provision of balancing power by eWCV

Optimal sizing of Solar Home Systems: Charge controller technology and its influence on system design

Solar Home Systems are a promising solution to enable access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for non-electrified areas, especially in the Global South. In this study, the influence of the charge controller technologies Maximum Point Tracker (MPPT) and Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) on the optimal system design and system performance is analyzed. Therefore, a multi-objective optimization that minimizes the number of days with Power-Cut-Offs and the Levelized Cost of Electricity for three Solar Home System sizes and three sub-saharan locations is conducted. Cost savings of the MPPT controller are in the range of 4.0% to 8.6% compared to the PWM controller. This is achieved by a reduction of the optimal installed photovoltaic peak power by 31.2% to 38.6% and the battery capacity by 2.8% to 8.8%. A sensitivity analysis shows the high robustness of cost savings regarding a variation in solar irradiance, load profile, and charge controller investment costs. Therefore, MPPT charge controllers are a promising solution even for the smallest Solar Home System sizes to reduce system costs compared to PWM controllers. The applied numerical simulation tool is open-source to enhance openness and transparency in modeling studies

Integrated, sustainable planning of urban logistics - a joint system of objectives

Urban logistics is increasingly facing the need to transform its system design in urban areas. Not just the global megatrends of urbanization and global warming, but also severe local challenges of each city like high levels of congestion and a critical air pollution are forcing municipalities and logistics service providers (LSP) to reconfigure layout, means of transport, nodes and the service design [1] of the logistics systems within a city. Nevertheless LSPs are playing a dominant role in this respect, municipalities and corresponding stakeholders are highly influencing this planning by centralized urban planning and decentralized stakeholder individual actions, shaping the urban form in which logistics takes places and is determined by

Matrix Production Systems - Requirements and Influences on Logistics Planning for Decentralized Production Structures

In the context of the digital transformation of industry and within the framework of Industrie 4.0 and Factory Planning 4.0, new production-organizational principles with decentralized, modular and freely linked production cells are increasingly being discussed. The principle of matrix production with categorized and standardized work-stations offers an extremely versatile production environment. This can be used to meet the challenge of an increasing number of product variants in variable quantities. This concept is predominantly only considered from a theoretical point of view. Therefore, many aspects regarding the planning and operation of such systems are still open. With the focus on logistics processes, this paper describes the requirements for such flexible, dynamic routing and self-organizing resources in material supply. Fur-thermore, they are investigated in a generic, conceptual model for a matrix production. Based on a reference scenario from the automotive industry, classical parameters from logistics and production organization are taken up. The influences with regard to decentralized material supply concepts and structural differences to flow production are shown by the results of simulation experiments with the generic model