Experience the development path to Industry 4.0

Petra-Foith Förster (center), Head of the Industry 4.0 Application Center at Fraunhofer IPA and Deputy Susann Kärcher (left) accept the award from Ministerial Director Günther Leßnerkaus. (Source: Fraunhofer IPA)

With the demonstrators, companies experience the systematic development process towards Industry 4.0 at the application center of Fraunhofer IPA. (Source: University of Stuttgart IFF/Fraunhofer IPA, Photo: Stephan Maier)

On December 6th, the Fraunhofer IPA Application Center Industry 4.0 was awarded at the competition "100 Places for Industry 4.0 in Baden-Württemberg." In the innovation environment, companies experience how they can systematically introduce Industry 4.0 into production. Baden-Württemberg's Ministerial Director Günther Leßnerkaus presented the award to Petra Foith-Förster, Head of the Application Center, at the Old Castle.

Especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can test in the Application Center which Industry 4.0 applications are suitable for them. The IPA scientists support them in selecting, customizing, and implementing the solutions within their companies. In this way, the latest scientific insights are directly applied. Furthermore, IPA experts can adapt their research to the needs of the industry.

Demonstrators tell the story of benefits

The development areas of the Application Center are largely based on the study "Industry 4.0: Development Fields for SMEs" by Fraunhofer IPA from 2016. Here, the Stuttgart researchers defined four stages of Industry 4.0 and arranged them in a systematic sequence. Since then, the Application Center has continuously developed demonstrators and application scenarios that bring the development fields to life. "This way, companies experience not just individual demonstrators, but a connected story of the benefits of Industry 4.0," says Petra Foith-Förster, Head of the Application Center. The researchers do not develop static exhibits but continuously improve the demonstrators and showcases.

In the development field "Digitalization of Value Creation," visitors can see how all machines and systems are connected to the cloud via an IT interface. A mixed reality headset displays machine data in real-time on a virtual dashboard. For the stage "Autonomous Production," the researchers developed an application scenario where driverless transport vehicles move autonomously within production. As part of an edge-cloud architecture, the vehicles use locally or centrally processed data depending on the situation. Because they share a map in the cloud, they can avoid each other and independently adjust their routes.

About the competition

The "100 Places for Industry 4.0 in Baden-Württemberg" competition was launched in 2015 by the Industry 4.0 Alliance. Solutions that have already been implemented and practically demonstrate the added value of digitalization and networking are awarded. In addition to the degree of innovation through digitalization and intelligent networking, the competition criteria mainly include market relevance and the feasibility of the development. The jury consists of representatives from business, science, industry and commerce chambers, trade unions, and politics.