Changing States of Multistage Process Chains

Generally, a process describes a change of state of some kind (state transformation). This state change occurs from an initial state to a concluding state. Here, the authors take a step back and take a holistic look at generic processes and process sequences from a state perspective. The novel perspective this concept introduces is that the processes and their parameters are not the priority; they are rather included in the analysis by implication. A supervised machine learning based feature ranking method is used to identify and rank relevant state characteristics and thereby the processes’ inter- and intrarelationships. This is elaborated with simplified examples of possible applications from different domains to make the theoretical concept and results more feasible for readers from varying domains. The presented concept allows for a holistic description and analysis of complex, multistage processes sequences. This stands especially true for process chains where interrelations between processes and states, processes and processes, or states and states are not fully understood, thus where there is a lack of knowledge regarding causations, in dynamic, complex, and high-dimensional environments

Editorial: System-Integrated Intelligence – New Challenges for Product and Production Engineering

AbstractThe editorial introduces the SysInt conference series and the motivation behind it. It describes the structures and content as well as the scientific and technological background to the SysInt 2016 event held in Paderborn from June 13th – 15th, 2016, and provides an outline of the organizing institutions, detailing their individual perspectives on the general topic of system-integrated intelligence

Editorial: System-Integrated Intelligence – Intelligent, Flexible and Connected Systems in Products and Production

The editorial introduces the SysInt conference series and the motivation behind it. It describes the structures and content as well as the scientific and technological background of the SysInt 2020 conference held online and hosted in Bremen from November 11th to 13th, 2020. It provides an outline of the organizing institutions, detailing their individual perspectives on the general topic of the system-integrated intelligence. Furthermore, the editorial acknowledges the collective contribution of the program committees for the benefit of the successful scientific event

Exchange of knowledge in customized product development processes

If Customized Product Development is perceived as developing products that fulfill the customers individual requirements and in parallel reflect production constraints, such as manufacturing capabilities, a direct demand can be derived for solutions to adapt a given design easy and fast to new requirements based upon the companies production knowledge - at best in an automated way. The latter is usually covered by Knowledge Based Engineering systems. KBE systems are capable to automate repetitive engineering tasks, such as the automated calculation of ship structural design. However, while the efficiency of implemented KBE projects is non controversial, the development or modification of an existing KBE solution usually requires substantial investments due to knowledge acquisition, codification and software implementation. In addition most solutions are still case based and not grounded in structural frameworks. Knowledge is often written in a proprietary language; rules and algorithms are not compatible with other KBE-frameworks and are usually not on a level that is comprehensible for the engineers or domain experts. While this may not be crucial for long development cycles, it may become a hurdle in terms of Customized Product Development with its short cycles. In other words, future KBE must support an incorporation of knowledge from different domains and business units. Thus the objective of the paper is to explain the need for a change in collaborative knowledge sharing and re-use in context of KBE. Based upon, the constraints for a KBE related interchange format are drafted. A three layered approach is proposed in order to adequately represent and exchange KBE knowledge. Each layer addresses different levels of abstraction: an upper layer describing just the core knowledge at a glance, a middle layer in order to codify the knowledge on abstract level, but with purpose of software development and a base layer covering the software code itself. Utilizing an independent format for management of KBE knowledge, the users of CAx systems are able to exchange codified knowledge and gain the rationale behind. Hence the full paper attempts to deliver a substantial contribution for the development of systems, which are capable to easily adapt a given design to upcoming user-requirements, while facing the production challenges

An idea model for distributed Idea Management

Processes of Open Innovation and innovation in Living-Labs applying the co-creation paradigm do involve many participating innovators across different organisations and stakeholder groups. This is especially true when dealing with disruptive or radical innovations instead of incremental ones. Any methodology and/or tools supporting such processes are distributed and need to be able to transfer knowledge artefacts such as ideas from one application to another. This paper describes how a repository storing ideas has to be organised in order to address the most important requirements coming from the tasks of creating and evaluating ideas. A model is presented which can be implemented using Internet standards like REST.Peer ReviewedPreprin

Modelling Dynamics in Collaboration: An Extension to the Collaborative Network Relationship Analysis

Abstract. This is a concept paper which introduces a dynamic extension to a collaborative network relationship analysis approach. The extension is based on the MetaMatrix approach known from the Dynamic Network Analysis field. Several entity classes representing agents, tasks, resources and knowledge are introduced and possible relations between entities of the different classes are analysed. All entity classes and relation classes are attributed with time related data which allows dynamic changes the system. Finally, some illustrative examples of typical collaborative interactions are introduced and explained

Virtuelle und experimentelle Methoden bei der Produktentwicklung einer Handhabungseinheit zur automatisierten Ablage technischer Textilien

Inhalt In diesem Beitrag wird die Kombination von virtuellen und experimentellen Methoden im Produktentwicklungsprozess am Beispiel einer Handhabungseinheit zur automatisierten Ablage technischer Textilien thematisiert. Um das Automatisierungspotenzial in den Fertigungsprozessen zum Aufbau von Faserverbundstrukturen zu erschließen, entwickelt das Institut für integrierte Produktentwicklung (BIK) seit längerem Handhabungseinheiten für technische Textilien. Eine automatisierte Fertigung soll die Reproduzierbarkeit und die Qualität von Bauteilen erhöhen, um z.B. den Beanspruchungen bei größer werdenden Rotorblättern von Windenergieanlagen gerecht zu werden. Ein weiteres Ziel der Automatisierung besteht in der Reduzierung von Prozesszeiten und Fertigungskosten, um den Fertigungsstandort Deutschland in Zukunft attraktiv zu gestalten. Die erfolgreiche Umsetzung der Produktentwicklung erfolgt am BIK unter kombinierter Anwendung von virtuellen und experimentellen Methoden. Insbesondere bei der Handhabung von technischen Textilien, deren biege- und schubweichen Materialeigenschaften nur mit hohem Aufwand in einer virtuellen Umgebung abgebildet werden können, ist das Durchführen von experimentellen Methoden bei komplex ablaufenden dynamischen Prozessen notwendig, um nicht vorhersehbares Materialverhalten zu identifizieren

Current trends on ICT technologies for enterprise information s²ystems

The proposed paper discusses the current trends on ICT technologies for Enterprise Information Systems. The paper starts by defining four big challenges of the next generation of information systems: (1) Data Value Chain Management; (2) Context Awareness; (3) Interaction and Visualization; and (4) Human Learning. The major contributions towards the next generation of information systems are elaborated based on the work and experience of the authors and their teams. This includes: (1) Ontology based solutions for semantic interoperability; (2) Context aware infrastructures; (3) Product Avatar based interactions; and (4) Human learning. Finally the current state of research is discussed highlighting the impact of these solutions on the economic and social landscape