Initial situation

Digitalisation measures in production can also lead to cost and resource savings for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In order to identify and implement the potentials, a concept for integrating resource-efficient production management into existing production networks has already been developed in the ArePron project. Building on this, the newly launched project ReOptify (Resource Optimisation along the Product Lifecycle) will further explore the topic of resource efficiency in production networks. The project is accompanied by an industry advisory board, which supports in particular the transfer of research results into practice.

Objective

The project is divided into three main topics. The first focal point includes, on the one hand, the expansion of the production network to include new machines and production variants and, on the other hand, a real-time value stream management system that is used to display and manage production information. The second focus is on an in-depth examination of the process infrastructure for compressed air supply. For this purpose, systematic tests are carried out in the ETA and CiP learning factories, based on industrial practice, to determine consumption data for different compressed air levels and leakage rates. These serve as a basis for the identification of resource efficiency potentials as well as the creation of ecological and economic key figures. The findings obtained in this way will be made available as application-oriented recommendations for action, especially for SMEs. Within the scope of the third focal point, data from product development will be linked with data from production in order to derive conclusions on resource efficiency and possible measures for increasing it.

Acknowledgements

The one-year project started in January 2021 and is funded by the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Energy, Transport and Housing and by European funds (ERDF). The project executing agency is the Wirtschafts- und Infrastrukturbank Hessen. The project is being carried out in an internal TU Darmstadt cooperation with the Department of Material Flow Management and Resource Economics (SuR) and the Department of Computer Integrated Design (DiK).

Funding source