Combining Theory and Practice in Integrity Control: A Declarative Approach to the Specification of a Transaction Modification Subsystem

Integrity control is generally considered an important topic in the field of database system research. In the database literature, many proposals for integrity control mechanisms canbe found. A large group of proposals has a formal character, and does not cover complete algorithms that can be used in a real-world database system with multi-update transactions. Another group of proposals is system-oriented and often lacks a complete formalbackground on transactions and integrity control; algorithms are usually described in system terms. This paper combines the essentials of both groups: it presents a declarative specification of a transaction-based integrity control technique that has a solidformal basis and can easily be applied in real-world database systems. The technique, called transaction modification, features simple semantics, full transaction support, and extensibility to parallel data processing. These claims are supported by a prototype implementation of a transaction modification subsystem in the high-performance PRISMA/DB database system. This paper shows that it is well possible for an integrity control technique tocombine a formal approach with complete functionality and high performance

Advancing Smart Manufacturing in Europe: Experiences from Two Decades of Research and Innovation Projects

In the past two decades, a large amount of attention has been devoted to the introduction of smart manufacturing concepts and technologies into industrial practice. In Europe, these efforts have been supported by European research and innovation programs, bringing together research and application parties. In this paper, we provide an overview of a series of four content-wise connected projects on the European scale that are aimed at advancing smart manufacturing, with a focus on connecting processes on smart factory shop floors to manufacturing equipment on the one hand and enterprise-level business processes on the other hand. These projects cover several tens of application cases across Europe. We present our experiences in the form of a single, informal longitudinal case study, highlighting both the major advances and the current limitations of developments. To organize these experiences, we place them in the context of the well-known RAMI4.0 reference framework for Industry 4.0 (covering the ISA-95 standard). Then, we analyze the experiences, both the positive ones and those including problems, and draw our learnings from these. In doing so, we do not present novel technological developments in this paper—these are presented in the papers we refer to—but concentrate on the main issues we have observed to guide future developments in research efforts and industrial innovation in the smart industry domain

Provide Enough Attention to Digitization

De digitale transformatie moet - vanwege de coronacrisis - voor veel bedrijven plotseling met stoom en kokend water worden bespoedigd; het gaat allemaal veel vlugger dan gepland. Dit is niet zonder risico, stelt hoogleraar Paul Grefen. Wat betekent digitalisering voor de waardepropositie van het bedrijf

Digital Literacy and Electronic Business

Digital literacy is a term that traditionally describes the extent to which a person is able to use interactive digital devices for living and working, such as computers and smartphones, as well as services delivered through these devices. The advent of the digital society at large and electronic business, specifically in the past decades, has broadened the use of digital devices beyond the isolated uses of working and simple communication; this advent has created digital ecosystems in which workers and consumers are embedded to various degrees, such as social media platforms or integrated shopping and media platforms. This embedding implies that a traditional, narrow notion of digital literacy needs to be extended and made more precise. For this purpose, we use the related notions of digital dexterity, digital proficiency and digital awareness. The term digital dexterity describes the extent to which an individual can handle or operate digital devices or services from a physical perspective. The term digital proficiency describes the extent to which an individual can use digital means to effectively and efficiently facilitate their living and working. The term digital awareness describes the extent to which individuals can understand what their position in digital ecosystems is, including the opportunities and threats of participating in these ecosystems. Digital literacy in the modern, broad interpretation is then the combination of digital dexterity, digital proficiency and digital awareness

Eerst het Business Model, dan de Technologiekeuze

De technologische ontwikkelingen in de supply chain volgen elkaar razendsnel op. Volgens professor Paul Grefen van de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven blijft het potentieel ervan echter vaak onderbenut. “Veel organisaties wenden artificiële intelligentie, IoT of cloud logistics enkel aan voor om bestaande samenwerkingsvormen te verbeteren, terwijl disruptieve tools net uitnodigen om op een andere manier naar de supply chain te kijken”, luidt het. De professor adviseert bedrijven om eerst over nieuwe businessmodellen na te denken, alvorens de technologiekeuze op de agenda te plaatsen

Provide Enough Attention to Digitization

De digitale transformatie moet - vanwege de coronacrisis - voor veel bedrijven plotseling met stoom en kokend water worden bespoedigd; het gaat allemaal veel vlugger dan gepland. Dit is niet zonder risico, stelt hoogleraar Paul Grefen. Wat betekent digitalisering voor de waardepropositie van het bedrijf

Geef Digitalisering Voldoende Aandacht

De digitale transformatie moet - vanwege de coronacrisis - voor veel bedrijven plotseling met stoom en kokend water worden bespoedigd; het gaat allemaal veel vlugger dan gepland. Dit is niet zonder risico, stelt hoogleraar Paul Grefen. Wat betekent digitalisering voor de waardepropositie van het bedrijf

Designing an Integrated System for Smart Industry: The Development of the HORSE Architecture

The application of smart industry frameworks and technologies propels manufacturing into a new era with increased production flexibility, closed-loop quality management, more efficient use of resources, and more agile production processes. These characteristics lay the basis for the support of highly customized production, short lead times and increased product quality at lower prices – all characteristics that are demanded by the global market in which modern manufacturing finds itself. This book presents the approach and results of the five-year European HORSE project in the field of smart manufacturing. HORSE focuses on bringing flexible, safe human-robot collaboration and vertical and horizontal process support in an integrated fashion to the manufacturing work floor. The HORSE system is realized on the basis of a highly modular architecture, such that the system can be configured to the manufacturing context at hand. This architecture is aligned with the ISA95 and RAMI 4.0 frameworks. The book presents the development of the architecture, the realization of the prototype system, and the application of the system in ten industrial cases across Europe, discussing the details of seven of these. The book is aimed at manufacturing professionals, system integrators and consultants, researchers in the smart manufacturing domain, as well as advanced students in manufacturing curricula